PR Communication Memo - Essay Example

PR Communication Memo PR Communication Memo Press Release California – August 25, – The Board of Directors announced today that the Chief Financial Officer of the company has resigned. The Board has directed the Senior Manager of the Finance Department to act as the CFO of the company with immediate effect. The resigning CFO had been serving the company for five years and his services to the company are highly appreciated. He was a part of the company during the company’s major successes and his contributions to the achievements of the company would always be appreciated.

The company wishes him the best for the future. The Chief Executive Officer of the company has directed the staff to continue with the strategy that was under implementation. Under to Board’s direction, all the financial responsibilities and duties will be transferred to the new CFO following the succession plan of the company. The CEO and the Board of Directors have showed confidence in the abilities of the new CFO and they assure the stockholders that the change in position would not affect the financial position of the company in the future.

According to the Board of Directors of the company, the reasons behind the resignation of the CFO were personal and could not be disclosed, however it was assured that the reasons were completely legitimate. The company is conducting business activities at a large scale and is a profitable company. The company has a huge capital and it promises future successes to its stockholders. Internal Memo TO: The Manager FROM: Assistant Manager DATE: August 25, 2011 SUBJECT: Resignation of the CFO The Chief Financial Officer of the company has resigned and there are some obligations that are required to be met by the company in such scenario.

Chief Financial Officer of a company is one of the key management personnel and the change in position affects the operations of the company, therefore there is a statutory requirement for notifying this fact to the regulatory authorities. The company is required to notify the fact that the CFO has resigned to the regulatory authority. Since the Board has directed the Senior Manager to assume the position of the CFO therefore the company is required to communicate this fact to the regulatory authority as well.

The CFO of a publicly traded company retains a number of powerful authorities including the provision of assurance to the public regarding the fact that the financial statements of the company present a true and fair view of the company’s affairs and they are prepared in accordance with relevant legal and other requirements. Therefore, the company should also communicate this fact to the shareholders through a legitimate public notice. In this scenario, public communication holds very high value.

A slight misrepresentation of the situation to the public communication in this situation can strengthen the image of the company among the shareholders or demolish it completely. It is of utmost importance that the company takes shareholders into confidence regarding the situation and communicates the concrete facts with honesty. The public communication in this situation will also clear out the unsolicited information that is circulating in the public. There is a relationship between the confidence of stakeholders in the company and the ethical consideration of providing all the information that is required by the SEC.

The stakeholders trust the information provided by the SEC therefore any information released by the SEC which is detrimental to the company may demolish the image of the company among the stakeholders and it may also aggravate the panic among stakeholders regarding the situation. Therefore, in this scenario, the company shall fulfill the ethical consideration of providing all the information required by the SEC because it is of utmost importance for maintaining the image of the company among the stakeholders.

If the company does not provide complete information to the SEC and a material fact is missing in the information provided, the company might have to face bigger problems if the fact comes out later. In such scenario, the company might be subject to punitive measures by the SEC and as a result, the panic among the stakeholders would aggravate further. The marketable securities of the company may also face a steep decline in this situation and this may cause a huge loss to the company. The perception of the press release may have a significant impact on the public opinion.

If the press release represents optimism and ensures future profits, it would result in an increased confidence in the company by the public. On the other hand, if the press release shows pessimism regarding the financial position of the company, this would create a negative image of the company among the public. References Apple. (2011, August 24). Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/08/24Steve-Jobs-Resigns-as-CEO-of-Apple.

html Guffey, M. A. (2006). Essentials of Business Communication. 7th Edition. Mason: Cengage Learning.