PRSA’s independent auditor, PKF, recently completed its review of PRSA’s 2012 financial statements and issued a highly desirable “unqualified opinion” on the Society’s finances. This means that, in PFK’s opinion, the financial statements “present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of [the organization],” and are prepared “in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.”

At its quarterly meeting April 25-26 in Washington, D.C., the PRSA Board of Directors voted to accept the results of the audit, officially closing the books on 2012.

Continue reading " Cost Controls, Market Performance Help PRSA Best 2012 Financial Goals "

In the waning days of 2011, many public relations professionals engaged in some aspect of planning, from contemplating whether the plan that was finalized one or more months ago remains aligned with the every-changing environment, to putting the final touches on the thinking and processes that will be implemented with a flip of a calendar page.

Leaders of small- to mid-size agencies and consultancies often have some of the greatest challenges in assessing, anticipating and planning the future. Oftentimes, these organizations are relatively young in years, with limited data points.

With a number of years as the leader of a boutique public relations agency and a stint as a planning consultant within one of the nation’s preeminent voluntary health-service organizations, I’ve seen — and experienced — what seems to be a lifetime of planning successes … and failures.

Here are three less-than-intuitive areas worthy of consideration by both the newcomer and the experienced agency leader in charting a course to the future.

Continue reading " Challenges and Solutions in the PR Agency Planning Process "

There’s a battle being waged in American courtrooms surrounding transparency and, to some people, it may seem inconsistent with key tenets of an important value for public relations professionals..

The Obama Administration has been driving increased enforcement of secrecy laws and policies, while pursuing sanctions against government officials who disclose government secrets and the reporters who use this information to report on issues that concern us all.

Most recently, the focus has been on forcing an author to disclose a source he used in a book about the Central Intelligence Agency. James Risen, who is a reporter for The New York Times, documented the clandestine nature of the federal government in “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”

The battle over disclosure of Risen’s sources for his book, being led by the Justice Department for the past several years, has taken a turn in the author’s favor. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Risen could limit his testimony in the trial of a CIA official charged with providing classified information for the book.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that this ruling has not garnered attention beyond journalism and policy wonks inside the Beltway. After all, what Judge Brinkema did, in essence, was extend protections offered to journalists and their sources by roughly 80 percent of the states and the District of Columbia to the federal level. Interestingly enough, protections for journalists and their sources do not exist in matters involving the federal government.

Continue reading " Protecting Media Sources in the Digital Age "

Once again, public relations professionals are seeing another example of what goes around comes around. More than a decade ago, a battle raged over who “controlled” an organization’s Web presence

Today, the turf in question is social media. Advertising. Marketing. Public relations. We all work in communications disciplines and, accordingly, we each are seeking to lay claim to the new promised land of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media.

Continue reading " It’s Time to End the Social Media Ownership Battles "

The attention being focused on accreditation as a result of the debate about PRSA governance and the requirements for national board service has overshadowed the work being done to raise awareness of the credential and enhance its value. This already has been a particularly active year for accreditation, and it is about to get busier in the coming months.  Here’s a quick status report.

Updating the current APR Examination. The Policies and Procedures of the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB) — the multi-organizational body that maintains the accreditation program — require that an analysis of the public relations profession be conducted every ten years. The 2010 practice analysis was completed earlier this year, providing perspective for the new roles, methodologies and technologies that the profession has adopted over the past decade.

Continue reading " Accreditation Moves Forward "