The practice of providing guidance is still alive and well, with most companies favoring annual estimates communicated on a quarterly basis, according to a poll of investor relations executives.

Ninety percent of IR executives report that their companies provide forward-looking guidance in some form, down slightly from 93 percent in 2009, according to a survey of 269 National Investor Relations Institute members.

Most respondents to NIRI's 2010 Guidance Survey (219 executives) say their company provides guidance on financial performance measurements such as earnings/earnings per share, revenue, or cash flow. Among those that give financial guidance, revenue guidance (62 percent), capital expenditures (60 percent), tax rate (59 percent), and earnings (58 percent) are most common. By and large, IR execs responding say their companies provide guidance as a range for all financial metrics.

The majority of those polled say their company will continue doing so: 199 out of the 207 IR executives responding to the question say their company is not considering suspending or discontinuing financial guidance.

The most commonly cited reason for providing guidance on financial measurements is to increase transparency (82 percent). Ensuring sell-side consensus and market expectations are reasonable ranked a close second, cited by 78 percent.

The most common methods for providing financial guidance are a press release issued by a paid distribution service (77 percent), fully accessible conference call/Webcast (76 percent) and investor presentation (41 percent). Other methods cited include fully accessible conference call/Webcast (39 percent), company Website (36 percent), 8-K (29 percent), and 10-Q or 10-K (26 percent). Seven percent provide such guidance in an annual report, 6 percent report using a press release targeting major newswire services, and 3 percent use an advisory "notice and access" press release.

Those who said their companies don't provide guidance most frequently cited management philosophy (68 percent) as the reason. Other reasons reported include focus on long-term company performance (44 percent) and increased volatility/economic uncertainty (32 percent).

Among 128 executives who said their company provides guidance on non-financial measurements, 70 percent said they provide qualitative statements about market conditions, 60 percent say they provide trend information that may impact the business of the company, and the same number provide industry-specific information. Other non-financial measures provided include market growth (42 percent); estimates or forecasts of factors that may drive earnings (34 percent); qualitative statements about high-level performance measures and non-financial metrics or key performance indicators (26 percent each); and environmental, social, and governance factors (15 percent). Again, most executives surveyed say their firms provide those as annual estimates on a quarterly basis.

Among those who say their company stopped providing any form of guidance, the majority (70 percent) did so more than two years ago, while the remainder did so during the last 13 to 24 months. Of the 10 respondents who say their companies have discontinued any form of guidance, 40 percent say there's been no appreciable change to the spread of analyst estimates. While 30 percent say the spread has widened and 10 percent say it's too soon to tell, the other 20 percent had no analyst coverage.