ANNUAL FINANCIAL EVENTS

The regulatory bodies in the economy, state requirements for organising special events by Financial Institutions. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which monitors the capital market, specifies the company that can be quoted on the capital market with specific minimum number of the Board of Directors and the annual turnover. The same goes to the Central Bank of Nigeria that monitors the monetary institutions. It also dictates the requirements for making public statements, financial advertisement and public pronouncements. The essence of the mandatory requirements is to guide the institutions in

volved to conform to the stated financial standards and to protect the investing public from unscrupulous financial transactions.

For the purpose of public enlightenment, Central Bank of Nigeria has been very consistent in organising rich and quality annual programmes for different players in the economy. It funds courses, seminars and workshops for different groups, including finance journalists and even farmers. Special recognition awards are also offered by the bank annually which serve as motivator for improving productivity.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This is in fact a major and essential milestone charts by well-organised companies. The banks and insurance companies hold Annual General Meetings or AGM, for short to intimate shareholders and other relevant bodies with their positions in the previous financial year.  Public institutions usually have annual press briefings also to highlight their progress in the preceding year.

Some of the advantages of this can be summarised as detailed below:

            (a).       It promotes friendship and free interaction between                     the organisation and its major publics;

            (b).       It develops further interest in the operation of the organisation;

            (c).       It creates opportunities for communication between the organisation and its publics;

            (d).       It gives the financial press enormous information and boosts its image;

            (e).       It builds additional confidence from the investors to the ability of the firm to improve its financial standard; and

            (f).       It gives a sense of pride to the management, employees (internal public) and even the shareholders and encourages them to do more in support of the organisation.

ARRANGING THE MEETING

One thing is to have the idea and the interest of holding the meeting; the other is the ability to arrange a befitting and successful Annual General Meeting. The arrangement is slightly different from other events sponsored by the institution. The difference is that, while the other may be done at the discretion of the organisation or through the proposal of its relevant department, the Annual General Meeting is statutory and mandatory:

There are some basic concepts and settings for arranging the Annual General Meeting.

DATE: The regulatory body has made it compulsory for a financial institution to hold an Annual General Meeting within a particular period of time. Any contrary action may be seen as deviating from the acceptable norm. Apart from that, no shareholder or investor may like to be put in the dark over a long period of time on his investment. Even though some investors may be busy on working days, Annual General Meetings hold on any day of the week so far there is consensus from large stakeholders on their convenience.

            TIME: The point here is to determine other events slated for the meeting. There may be a programme intended to attract the financial press, exhibition, special opening ceremonies where a notable public figure may be invited to declare the meeting opening. The convenient time for the public figure must be sought by the officer, while the media aspect of the event is better fixed in the morning, towards mid-afternoon, so that media men may file their reports in good time for evening news or the following day’s story. The programme schedule must be timed and strictly observed, unless where it is not necessary.

ENVIRONMENT: Any place can be used for the meeting once it can accommodate the number of invited stakeholders. But for prestige a pleasurable and convivial atmosphere is desirable. A conducive, serene and beautiful environment lingers for so long in the mind. It is for this reason that organisations that can afford it annually, change the venue of their general meetings. An institution that has branches throughout the nation, or has products to exhibit, may prefer to expose its shareholders and potential investors to its facilities in its new offices and the product and financial services they offer. At the end of the day, a small tour, sightseeing and cultural events, may be organised for the pleasure of the participants.

HALL SETTING: The sitting arrangement, banner display position, participant identification tag, file and brochure, must be orderly and attractively designed and placed at the right positions. The sitting arrangement may be done in such a way that special groupings are separated and assembled in selected parts of the hall. Some of the groups may be the media, the legal and auditing firm, the shareholders, the management, board members, bankers etc.

QUORUM: Another mandatory requirement of an Annual General Meeting is the quorum, which is the minimum number of approved participants who must be present with the right to vote and contribute to the meeting. The number is the requirement before the meeting can proceed. Until when the quorum is formed, a decision is considered invalid.

AGENDA: The parties list the main itinerary of the meeting for deliberation. The items are listed in sequence for the discussion. These are the issues to be discussed. There is uniformity in the agenda of such meetings by financial institutions. Some include opening prayer, opening remarks, closing prayer and remarks. Ideally, the primary items in most agenda for discussion include the following:

                        (a).       To receive the report of the year and accounts;

                        (b).       To declare dividends;

            (c).       To elect directors and to reappoint auditors and their remuneration;       

            (d).       To consider and pass resolutions; and

                        (e).       To transact any other business.

ENTERTAINMENT: As an alternative to full entertainment, some organisations prefer refreshments. The dignitaries as the guests of the company may be provided with food and drinks and also be entertained with other side attractions for their amusement.

ANNUAL STATEMENT: Some call it Annual Reports, which is a history book of the last financial year and prospects for the current and possible progress in subsequent years.