Earnings Guidance: The Current State Of Play - By Deloitte and FERF
Aug. 23, 2009
FEI Summary

In July, 2009 Deloitte LLP and the Financial Executives Research Foundation Inc. (FERF, the research affiliate of Financial Executives International) published a report, Earnings Guidance, The Current State of Play. The report follows on an earlier report published by Deloitte and FERF in 2003, Meeting the Street, which explored trends and implications related to the corporate practice of providing forward-looking earnings guidance.

As noted in the Foreword of the July 2009 report:

In the recent past, we have seen corporate failures of an unimaginable magnitude and an even greater collapse of public trust in capital markets. While there is no one factor to blame for the current crisis, many senior financial executives are again weighing the benefits and risks associated with publishing forward-looking earnings guidance.

This report updates corporate leaders on what has changed with respect to corporate guidance practices. Our hope is that companies will continue to evaluate their practices in this area, and that the information presented in this report prove helpful.

Earnings Guidance, The Current State of Play cites quantitative trends and qualitative recommendations relating to earnings guidance from recent studies published by the National Investor Relations Institute, the Aspen Institute, the CFA Institute and Business Roundtable and the Committee for Economic Development. It also includes interviews with leaders from those organizations. Additional interviews and recommendations are provided by leading attorneys and experts.

The report, Earnings Guidance, The Current State of Play, was coauthored by Robert J. Kueppers, deputy chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP, Nicole M. Sandford, a partner in the Deloitte Center for Corporate Governance, and Thomas Thompson, Jr. , a research associate at FERF.  

Copies of the report can be downloaded from the FERF bookstore.