The investor relations community supports efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission to give companies broader protection from lawsuits for financial projections corporate officials make in discussions with securities analysts, investors and the press, as well as in annual reports, letters to shareholders and other documents not filed with the agency.
The SEC will to hold hearings on its new proposal Feb. 13 in Washington and Feb. 16 in San Francisco.
The SEC's current rule only protects companies from litigation over financial projections they make in documents they are required to file with the agency.
The National Investor Relations Institute, Vienna, Va., suggests the new rule protect corporate officials from litigation if the estimates are "accurate and truthful to the best of management's knowledge" at the time they are made, Louis M. Thompson, the association's president, wrote in a comment on the agency's proposal.
Mr. Thompson recommends the SEC require those who sue a company for misleading information to prove the intention was deliberate.
