HOW TO EARN THE INVESTOR RELATIONS CHARTER
To earn the Investor Relations Charter (IRC)®, applicants must meet each of the following four requirements:
1) Pass the IRC examination.
2) Meet one of the following educational and professional work experience options:
OPTION 1: U.S. bachelor’s degree or equivalent with three or more years of qualifying full-time work experience as an IR corporate professional or IR counselor.
OPTION 2: Six years of qualifying full-time work experience as an IR corporate professional or IR counselor.
OPTION 3: Hold a current certification relevant to IR practice with three or more years of qualifying full-time work experience as an IR corporate professional or IR counselor.
3) Achieve at least seven of the following IR domains of practice with a publicly traded company as an IR corporate professional or IR counselor:
| Domain 1: IR Strategy Formulation |
| Domain 2: IR Planning, Implementation and Measurement |
| Domain 3: Corporate Messaging Development |
| Domain 4: Investor Marketing and Outreach |
| Domain 5: Corporate Financial Reporting and Analysis |
| Domain 6: Business Insight |
| Domain 7: Strategic Counsel and Collaboration |
| Domain 8: Capital Markets and Capital Structure |
| Domain 9: Corporate Regulatory Compliance |
| Domain 10: Corporate Governance |
| Domain 11: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) |
4) Comply with the NIRI Code of Ethics and the IRC Code of Conduct.
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
At least 50% of duties should be directly focused on IR activities. Alternate work experience and paid IR internships will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
NIRI membership is not a prerequisite for certification.
RELEVANT CERTIFICATIONS
Relevant Certifications to the investor relations practice include:
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
• Other certifications may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
Based on the eligibility option selected, one or more of the following documents must be submitted with the completed and signed exam application:
- Current resume or curriculum vitae (CV) with detailed information about the IR qualifying work experience (required from all applicants).
- Verification of work experience form or written statement from human resources department confirming the IR work experience stated in the application.
EXAMINATION BLUEPRINT
| Domain |
Percentage of items |
Number of items |
| 1. IR Strategy Formulation |
13% |
22 |
| 2. Corporate Messaging Development |
13% |
22 |
| 3. Investor Marketing and Outreach |
12% |
21 |
| 4. IR Planning, Implementation and Measurement |
10% |
17 |
| 5. Corporate Financial Reporting and Analysis |
10% |
17 |
| 6. Business Insight |
8% |
13 |
| 7. Strategic Counsel and Collaboration |
8% |
13 |
| 8. Capital Markets and capital Structure |
8% |
12 |
| 9. Corporate Regulatory Compliance |
6% |
8 |
| 10. Corporate Governance |
6% |
8 |
| 11. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) |
6% |
8 |
EXAMINATION LANGUAGE
The IRC is a U.S.-based program and the examinations are administered in English only worldwide.
EXAMINATION FORMAT AND TIME
The examination is three hours long and consists of 170 multiple choice questions. It is administered in a computer-based format online and on demand with live remote proctoring nationwide and internationally.
EXAMINATION FEES
| EXAM FEES |
Member Fee: $1,095
Non-member Fee: $1,295 |
| Exam Retake Fee: $250 |
Refund/Withdrawal Fee: $200
(Applies to all refund requests if the request is received before the testing window begins) |
Transfer/Rescheduling Fee: $125
(Applies when transferring or rescheduling an exam appointment more than once and/or transferring the exam appointment to the next year. the same fee applies for missed exam appointment) |
| Duplicate Score Report: $25 |
| Score Verification: $25 |
EXAMINATION SCORING
IRC examination score is based on your total number of correct answers. You should answer all items, as there is no penalty for incorrect responses. However, choose only one response per item. If more than one response per item is selected that item will be scored as an incorrect response.
The passing score for the IRC exam is 112 correct answers of the 160 scored items. The remaining 10 pre-test unscored items are used for developing future exams and, accordingly, are not scored and have no impact on an applicant’s pass/fail status. Individual raw exam scores are confidential.