Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Mr Kojo Yankah, a Communications Expert, on Monday urged corporate bodies to pay more attention to non-visual as well as visual aspects of communication to enhance their image. "People look around the office to define you and your company. Remember everything communicates and good communication demands skills and strategy, Mr Yankah said in a presentation at a Financial Public Relations three-day course in Accra.

Mr Yankah's lecture, which was interactive, was on: "Importance of Communications" on the first day of the course on Understanding Financial Public Relations for Public Relations Officers, and Executives entering Financial Public Relations.

The course, organised by Yankah and Associates in collaboration with the Ghana Stock Exchange, is to deepen the understanding of the participants on financial communications for listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The course is to equip the participants with the skills to initiate debates and discussions, and to make more information available on companies listed on the Stock Exchange for effective interpretation of their performance for public consumption and to generate further public discussion.

Topics being treated include: "How the Stock Market Works;" "Overview of Financial Public Relations;" "Investor Regulations" and "Planning Financial Public Relations Programmes".

Participants would take lessons on: "Introduction to Financial Results and Annual Reports;" "Annual Report and Annual General Meeting as Tools of Financial Public Relations;" and "Flotation Marketing and Marketing Privatisation".

Mr Yankah reminded the Executives that behaviour after work, personal life, the perception of ex-employees of a company and attitude of a company's frontline personnel was linked to the image of the company and underlined the need for a proper management of personal lives of corporate personnel for a better corporate impression.

He cited a Marketing and Public Relations Department of a large corporate organisation in Accra, which was full of cobwebs and said the Head of that Department rather passed the buck on the cleaner rather than promptly arranging to have the place tidied up.

Mr Ekow Afedzi, General Manager of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), announced that the Exchange was in the process of reviewing all the rules that regulated its activities.

He said the Stock Market provided an avenue for raising long-term capital and that investor confidence in the GSE was high because of its sound regulatory mechanisms.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Nn'emeka Maduegbuna of the Lagos based Corporate and Financial, a financial public relations firm, said Financial Public Relations was a new area but it had tremendous opportunities in the West Africa Sub-Region.

He said: "Most economies of the countries in the West Coast are opening up; governments are selling their interests in agencies, the privatisation programmes are in progress and literacy levels are increasing."

Mr Maduegbuna urged companies that were listed on the Stock Exchange to watch their share prices to maintain investor confidence. 31 Aug. 04