Influence of the growing ETF industry on active investor relations work 39Fundamentals of investor relations IR managers have to make sure that the legal transparency and information requirements are fulfilled and necessary deadlines met Allgäuer and Larisch 2011 p 246 IR takes over the coor dination of the content of those mandatory pub lications Setting up a proactive IR program and constantly communicating the strategy and targets under taken to the financial community will benefit IR in the event of a crisis as investors will be more supporting if there is good communication in advance Defining goals and a plan on how these targets can be achieved and who besides IR will be involved is a key element of the IR department Frankel Lumley and Hennessey 2006 pp 115 3 3 2 IR measures To communicate with the financial community and to provide especially shareholders with informa tion of the company IR uses different instruments Since the IR work is determined and prescribed by legal requirements a majority of the IR instru ments derive from those regulations Therefore the different IR instruments can be categorized into compulsory measures and voluntary mea sures Allgäuer and Larisch 2011 p 247 3 3 2 1 Compulsory measures and legal framework The tasks and work of the IR departments are determined and prescribed by a number of legal requirements regulations and codes in various laws e g regulations against market abuse All gäuer and Larisch 2011 p 247 The Stock Corporation Act AktG regulates the con stitution of a public limited company the duties of the annual general meeting and accounting obli gations In addition to the Stock Corporation Act which is intended to ensure transparency with international standards through regular reforms there are other laws that form the legal framework of IR The Securities Trading Act WpHG contains among other regulations obligations regarding ad hoc disclosures insider trading and directors dealings The Exchange Rules which are required by the Exchange Act BörsG set out the legal framework of the exchange and its admission requirements Schnorrenberg 2008 pp 19 23 The German Corporate Governance Codex contains best practice rules that German listed companies can but do not have to comply with Only the obligation to submit an annual declaration of con formity is mandatory Allgäuer and Larisch 2011 p 252 The Code is intended to provide inves tors with transparency on the rules applicable in Germany with regard to company management and supervision Among other topics measures regarding compliance the development of own corporate guidelines and management and con trol structures as well as transparency in corpo rate communication are recorded Schnorrenberg 2008 pp 24 A distinction can be made between internal e g remuneration or disclosure and external behavior such as ethical guidelines Fran kel Lumley and Hennessey 2006 pp 78 Companies listed in the General and Prime stan dard are obliged to follow the index regulations and to comply with the highest international European transparency requirements Schnorren berg 2008 p 26 Financial statements The preparation and publication of an annual report of which the minimum scope and con tents are prescribed in the Commercial Code is mandatory for all corporations It is a key informa tion source for shareholders and the capital mar ket to obtain information about the strategy and success of a company and therefore be able to obtain an impression of the asset and the over all financial situation Consequently it is one of the most important communication measures of a company and requires an intensive and long preparation period Allgäuer and Larisch 2011 p 248 Planning usually begins six months before

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