(1) Establish a written corporate disclosure policy. A disclosure policy gives you a process for disclosure and promotes an understanding of legal requirements among your directors, officers and employees. The process of creating it is itself a benefit, because it forces a critical examination of your current disclosure practices.
(2) You should design a policy that is practical to implement. Your policy should be reviewed and approved by your board of directors and widely distributed to your officers and employees. Directors, officers and those employees who are, or may be, involved in making disclosure decisions should also be trained so that they understand and can apply the disclosure policy. Your policy should be periodically reviewed and updated, as necessary, and responsibility for these functions (i.e., review and update of the policy and education of appropriate employees and company officials) should be clearly assigned within your company.
(3) The focus of your disclosure policy should be on promoting consistent disclosure practices aimed at informative, timely and broadly disseminated disclosure of material information to the market. Every disclosure policy should generally include the following:
(a) how to decide what information is material;
(b) policy on reviewing analyst reports;
(c) how to release earnings announcements and conduct related analyst calls and meetings;
(d) how to conduct meetings with investors and the media;
(e) what to say or not to say at industry conferences;
(f) how to use electronic media and the corporate Web site;
(g) policy on the use of forecasts and other forward-looking information (including a policy regarding issuing updates);
(h) procedures for reviewing briefings and discussions with analysts, institutional investors and other market professionals;
(i) how to deal with unintentional selective disclosures;
(j) how to respond to market rumours;
(k) policy on trading restrictions; and
(l) policy on “quiet periods”.