FPR By Yushau A. Shuaib

GETTING STARTED

A traditional role of financial management, according to Alan Walter Steiss, in his book Financial Management in Public Organisations, is that of score keeping. He noted that reports of past performances are prepared for internal management as well as outside groups, such as stockholders, creditors and the general public. Such reports, which are necessary, may pinpoint responsibility for deviations from previous approved plans. He emphasised that the extent to which these deviations can be attributed to specific components of the organisation depends on the degree of sophistication built into the accounting and related control mechanisms. Therefore, a good financial management requires careful consideration of the alternative scorekeeping and reporting method at informing the relevant publics adequately.

Major public relations activities revolve around the use of printed words, spoken words and images for effective communication as explained below:

Printed Words involve the publication of newspapers, magazines, bulletins, posters, brochures, banner/billboards, handbooks, personalised letters and also the provision of notice boards for the placement of press releases, special announcements and pictorials.

Spoken words are relevant during the participation of the organisation at seminars, workshops, tours, launching, exhibitions, trade fair, visits, courtesy calls, display and condolence visits.

Images refer to the vision from electronic media, video, films, Information Technology, computers, satellite, amongst others.

Large organisations that relate with the public, create a special department or unit to be responsible for projecting and publicising the activities for achieving better public understanding.  Public institutions like the Ministry of Finance, Federal Inland Revenue Service and even the Nigeria Customs Service, have Public Relations Units. The Public Relations Officer in some of those organisations, is usually called Press Secretary or Corporate Affairs Officer who is assigned to monitor media reports, study public perceptions of the organisation’s policies and reacts accordingly with the information at his disposal.

Unlike in the privately owned companies, whose public affairs responsibilities are similar, Public Relations Units in the fiscal and monetary agencies of government interpret financial decisions just as it operates in other financial institutions. In fact, their operation can be seen as that of public finance, while that of financial institutions operate within the private finance regulation.

In most institutions’ organograms, Public Relations Units are situated under the office of the Chief Executive Officer of the organisation. The major responsibilities of the unit include, monitoring daily newspaper reports, writing press/media reviews, issuing press releases, writing feature articles, organising press briefings and conferences, coordinating media interviews, cutting newspaper clips relevant to the functions of the organisation and responding to media enquiries.

Big institutions too, like banks, insurance firms, industries and other such organisations, do have such a special unit for maintaining cordial and favourable relationship with the various publics they relate with. In the banking sector, they prefer to call the section Corporate Affairs Department and headed by a management staff.

As it must be understood, most of the listed companies do make financial statements and present financial reports, which is understood by few.  It is, therefore, the responsibility of the image-making unit to interpret such financial reports in a more informative and educative style for the understanding of its publics.

Specifically, financial institutions are known to widely express their operations and activities in figurative terms, which are factual, such as Annual Reports, Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss Accounts.  Even to those in the financial world, the need to analyse or calculate figures to fully understand the position of the firm is quite inevitable.  It is therefore, not surprising that finance managers must understand such ratio formula to understand the financial position of a firm through a better understanding of financial ratios and economic indices.  It is worth noting here that, though financial management is a subject on its own right with its own body of literature and identifiable philosophy, a good public relations officer in the financial setting will require adequate knowledge of financial management to be able to discharge his functions effectively.  The officer must be awake to the challenges of the financial world by acquiring sound financial knowledge on subjects such as economics, taxation, accounting and financial management as they will be of immense benefit in disseminating accurate information and understanding the constraints within which the activities of his organisation take place.

The knowledge of the field becomes necessary for an officer in the public finance organisation too, to grapple with the operations of the establishment, which is related to the financing of state activities.  That is where the knowledge of public finance is also helpful since public finance is defined as “a subject, which discusses the financial operations of the fiscal public treasury”.

THE PR UNIT

Different names are given to the section that handles public relations activities. While in the public sector, they prefer to call it Press and Public Relations Unit/Department, the private sector, for style and befitting functions, which may be attractive or acceptable to their operations, mostly call the section various names, ranging from Corporate Affairs, Public Affairs, Government/External Relations to Reputations Management Department. The designation may be different but they all refer to the same functions of managing the image of the organisation with the various publics.

A Public Relations Unit maintains maximum goodwill, public support and also safeguards the image of its organisation by responding promptly to public criticisms, even that of the internal publics. 

Most heads of Press and Public Relations in federal ministries are posted through the Federal Ministry of Information, after their recruitment by the Federal Civil Service Commission. Officers are posted to relevant ministries based on their qualifications and experience.  The Federal Ministry of Information is responsible for information dissemination at all levels of government.  It has special departments for the general press and public relations activities of the federal government.  The operational departments of the Ministry of Information are the Press and Internal Publicity Department that is responsible for posting Resident Information Officers (Press Secretaries) to all ministries, including Finance and extra-ministerial departments. Public Relations department is assigned with the role of projecting the good image of the government and the nation, while External Publicity Department is charged with handling diplomatic press related issues and posting of Information Attaché abroad. Resident Information Officers are posted with the responsibility of heading the Press and Public Relations Unit of ministries.  The officers are usually called Press Secretaries to Chief Executives. Similar sections and departments exist at the state and sometimes at the local government levels.

TOOLS

Every profession has its tools and paraphernalia of office for discharging assigned duties creditably and satisfactorily. Failure to acquire pre-requisite tools may result in a woeful failure at the end of the day. For the manager to handle various functions relating to the organisation and its publics, the following are necessary and recommendable equipment for in-house practitioner or consultants to discharge the duties effectively.

Basic Tools: One of the qualities of a good public relations officer is a flair for writing, which includes ability to script, analyse and edit write-ups for internal and external publics in form of press releases, features, and advert scripts. Therefore, the basic tools of a good writer include the possession of writing materials like pencils, pen, papers and even files for separating documents and specifying issues and matters for his professional calling. A jotter should also, at all times, be handy during meetings, special events and during interviews to note relevant points. It is here too that we have some small but impetus tools like scissors, staplers, gums and cello-tape for paper cuttings and placement of notices, bulletins and photographs on notice boards.

Electronics: The modern society depends largely on sophisticated equipment for gathering, editing and sending messages across. These apparatuses include television and radio for monitoring events and news as they unfold. It enables the organisation to be acquainted with the current happenings in the society. As the video/photo camera and radio recorder are useful in covering activities for use in public enlightenment programmes and for documentation for future references, so also is a public address system for communication to reach large audiences during special functions. Midget tape recorder too is required in recording speeches made by chief executives and respondents during interview sessions and at press conferences. 

Information Materials: To keep track of happenings and monitor adequately, the provision of regular daily newspapers, magazines, and journals is paramount. Relevant textbooks like dictionaries and   encyclopedias help in accurate comprehension of words, terms and events. Books of quotations are also useful while researching for features and speeches. Most well-organised diaries have relevant directories of addresses of offices, media establishments and institutions that are imperative to the interaction and operation of any organisation. The public relations officer should compile the directory of the offices and residences of board and management staff where not available, and update it from time to time.