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10 disclaimer examples.

What is a Disclaimer Statement?

How do i write a disclaimer, customizing your disclaimer, types of disclaimer, legal considerations for disclaimers, 10 disclaimer statement examples, 1. testimonial disclaimer, 2. affiliate disclaimer, 3. trademark disclaimer, 4. copyright disclaimer, 5. views expressed disclaimer, 6. warranty disclaimer, 7. fair use disclaimer, 8. errors and omissions disclaimer, 9. past performance disclaimer, 10. legal disclaimer, disclaimer template.

Every business needs a disclaimer to protect itself from potential liabilities and to set clear expectations for its users. While each disclaimer should be tailored to the specific business and its offerings, using a template can serve as a helpful starting point. Here’s a more comprehensive outline you can customize to suit your needs:

Do I need a disclaimer?

Where do i put my disclaimer, updating your disclaimer.

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Disclaimers for Presentations

Written by John Lister (FreePrivacyPolicy Legal writer) and last updated on 11 October 2022.

When creating a presentation, you'll be focused on including all the key information you want to convey. But you'll also want to make sure you establish credibility and authority in yourself or your organization.

One thing that's easy to overlook when creating a presentation is the need for disclaimers. Disclaimers can help with both conveying information in a professional way, establishing your credibility, and limiting your legal liability for any of your presentation's content.

Here's what you need to know about drafting and displaying the most important disclaimers to consider adding to your presentation when applicable.

Our Free Disclaimer Generator is designed to help you comply with the requirements of various affiliate programs, such as Amazon Associates. It also includes various disclaimers like medical disclaimer, fitness disclaimer, website disclaimer and so on.

Just follow these few simple steps and generate a Free Disclaimer for your site or your app:

• Start by choosing the " Free Disclaimer Generator " on our site.

Then select where your Disclaimer will be used on :

Follow with adding your website/app information :

Enter the country and click on the " Next Step " button:

Continue with building your Disclaimer and answer on questions about your business from our wizard:

Now just enter your email address where you'd like your Disclaimer sent and click on the " Generate " button.

You're done! You can copy and paste your Disclaimer code into your website/app, or link to your hosted Disclaimer page.

• 1. What Disclaimers Should My Presentation Have?
• 1.1. Views Expressed
• 1.2. For Educational Purposes Only
• 1.3. Copyright
• 1.4. Fair Use
• 1.5. Errors and Omissions
• 1.6. Use at Your Own Risk
• 1.7. Confidentiality
• 2. How to Write a Presentation Disclaimer
• 3. How to Display a Presentation Disclaimer

What Disclaimers Should My Presentation Have?

There are a number of different types of disclaimers that your presentation may benefit from.

Depending on the content of your presentation, the industry you're in, and who your audience is, you may need any or all of the following possible disclaimers in your presentation.

Very few disclaimers are legally required (such as affiliate disclaimers ), yet all disclaimers convey legal benefits when you use them. The biggest legal benefit is that they help you avoid legal liability.

For example, say you give a presentation on how to tackle a health issue. A medical disclaimer can help you avoid being held responsible if someone follows your health advice and does not heal or get better from the health issue.

Let's take a look at a variety of different disclaimers that may be perfect for your presentation.

Views Expressed

A views expressed disclaimer is all about making clear who you represent when giving the presentation. Including such a disclaimer reduces the risk that something you say or show could be attributed to somebody else, such as an organization you're affiliated with.

This disclaimer can be very beneficial and help to avoid problems in the following cases:

• You're discussing a controversial topic
• The organization has a different official view than the one your presentation expresses
• The organization intentionally does not express views on the subject or must remain neutral, yet your presentation takes a stance on something
• You are giving a presentation where you are introduced as holding a position in, or being certified by, an organization but you are not speaking on its behalf
• You need to make clear your views aren't necessarily shared by the organizers of an event where you are giving a presentation

Here's an example of a views expressed disclaimer in a presentation for UNCTAD :

A views expressed disclaimer simply needs to make it clear that the views are yours alone , and then specify that they don't necessarily represent the relevant organization's point of views or opinions.

For Educational Purposes Only

While describing a presentation as being for "educational purposes only" appears to involve teaching, what really matters is that this disclaimer removes any suggestion it could serve another purpose .

Some of the possible misinterpretations of the presentation you could avoid with a disclaimer are as follows:

• It is intended as an instruction or advice on what audience members should do.
• It represents expert advice in a regulated field such as law, finance or medicine.
• You are guaranteeing that the presentation is accurate and that people can rely on the information.

On rare occasions, you may use the term "educational purposes only" to indicate that people cannot use any of the content of the presentation in the course of business.

Because "for educational purposes only" can cover a wide range of situations, you should not simply use the phrase without context. Instead, always make clear exactly what you are disclaiming by using the phrase.

The Society of Actuaries gives a clear disclaimer that includes the necessary context:

When mentioning copyright in a presentation, you could be addressing:

• Your copyright on the content of the presentation
• Your use of copyrighted materials in the presentation

When covering your copyright , you need to note:

• You hold (and are asserting) the copyright on the presentation
• If and how you give permission for people to use the copyrighted material

In many jurisdictions, it's not strictly necessary to have a copyright statement as you automatically hold the copyright once you create the presentation .

In some jurisdictions, asserting your copyright may make it easier to seek damages from somebody who infringes your copyright. In either case, the copyright statement may deter people from intentionally infringing your copyright and reduce the chances of unintentional infringement.

This University of Rochester presentation clearly establishes copyright ownership and restrictions:

A fair use disclaimer is not about the audience using material from your presentation. Instead, it addresses your use of other people's material in your presentation, specifically material that's protected by copyright.

The rules on fair use vary significantly across jurisdictions, so you should always check prevailing laws before relying on it.

As a very generalized principle, "fair use" allows you limited exemption from the usual ban on using copyright material, in limited and specific situations. These can include using the material for teaching, news reporting, criticism and research .

Whether something counts as "fair use" may depend on:

• How much material you reproduce
• What proportion of the entire copyrighted work this represents
• Whether you make money from using the material
• Whether your use affects the copyright holder's ability to make money from the work

A fair use disclaimer should establish:

• Who holds the copyright (and your acknowledgement that this is the case)
• That you are relying on the fair use exemption
• That you are not endorsing, condoning or encouraging other people to use the material

The All-Creatures site covers all the key elements of fair use in this disclaimer:

Errors and Omissions

An errors and omissions disclaimer is most commonly associated with contracts and Terms and Conditions agreements , but it also plays a role in presentations.

In both contexts, the key point is that you are making clear you aren't responsible for anything you get wrong or forget to include in your content, such as a presentation.

In most jurisdictions you can't simply rely on this as an absolute disclaimer. Instead, it's usually only valid in cases where you make a genuine mistake or accidentally leave something out. It's also unlikely to have much effect in cases where you've acted recklessly, for example by giving information without checking if it's accurate.

You shouldn't rely on an errors and omissions disclaimer as a guaranteed protection against legal action. Think of it more as establishing "fair play" with the audience. You'll do your best to give accurate and complete information and they'll keep an eye out for any possible mistakes rather than simply assuming everything is guaranteed to be correct.

Le Bonheur Children's Hospital goes into detail with its disclaimer, which it displays before the sign-in link to a virtual presentation:

Use at Your Own Risk

In principle, this disclaimer is saying that people can't hold you responsible if they claim you said they could or should have done something and then something goes wrong.

The key is that you establish that the reader or listener must make their own decision about doing something and then they must take responsibility for the consequences. Not you.

In some cases this disclaimer may seem redundant. It's most suited for cases where:

• You are (or appear to be) explaining how to do something
• There is a risk of injury, damage or other negative outcomes from the activity you're discussing or promoting

Remember that even if you have such a clause, you should also make clear if your presentation is or is not meant to give advice in regulated areas such as investment or health.

The "use at your own risk" warning comes as part of a wider disclaimer in this Swiss Re Centre For Global Dialogue presentation:

Confidentiality

A confidentiality disclaimer highlights that some or all of the information in a presentation must not be repeated or shared elsewhere. A common example would be when discussing financial information about a company or talking about internal operational matters.

Ideally your disclaimer would make it clear:

• What information is confidential
• Why the information is confidential (if it's not obvious)
• The audience agrees to respect this confidentiality as a condition of viewing or attending the presentation

Moovly set out its confidentiality rules in a presentation to investors:

Now that you've seen some examples of the types of disclaimers your presentation should have or could benefit from having, let's look at some tips for drafting your own disclaimer.

How to Write a Presentation Disclaimer

When you use text in a presentation, you often need to make it quicker and easier to read than with a contract or other legal document that people can read at their own pace. You'll also be limited in how much text you can show on screen at a time.

The key is to convey the most important elements of the disclaimer without wasted words.

Some ways to do this include:

• Cut out anything that is repetitive or padded. You only need to make each point once.
• Try to keep to making only one point in a sentence.
• Use an active voice ("We hold the copyright on this presentation") rather than the passive voice ("The copyright on this presentation is held by us"). Using an active voice usually leads to clearer and shorter sentences.
• Watch out for terms and phrases that sound "more legal" but don't add any meaning or clarity. Avoid legalese whenever possible.

How to Display a Presentation Disclaimer

When and how to present a disclaimer in a presentation will usually depend on what disclaimer or disclaimers you are using. The idea is to balance making sure people will see them, without overloading the audience and distracting from the presentation itself.

Here are some guidelines:

• The most important disclaimers could appear at the bottom of every page, slide or screen. This will often include confidentiality disclaimers where you don't want any ambiguity.
• Some disclaimers work best directly alongside (or immediately before) the relevant information. This could include fair use disclaimers that likely cover only specific parts of your presentation.
• Many disclaimers work best at the start of your presentation. If you put them only at the end, there's a risk people may not see them. In most cases, you are safe putting most or all of your disclaimers at the start.

23andMe started a presentation with a detailed confidentiality notice, but put this reminder at the bottom of every page to make clear the entire presentation was confidential:

Let's recap what you need to know about disclaimers in presentations.

You may benefit from any or even all of the following disclaimers:

• Views expressed makes clear when you are or are not speaking on behalf of an organization.
• For educational purposes only makes clear you aren't giving advice or instructions.
• Copyright disclaimers can cover your own copyright in the presentation or your use of copyrighted material.
• Fair use clarifies how and when you use copyrighted material without getting permission.
• Errors and omissions disclaimers mean you don't take responsibility for any mistakes or anything you've left out.
• Use at your own risk is most suited to cases where you explain how to do an activity that carries risk of harm or damage.
• A confidentiality disclaimer makes clear when an audience can and cannot share or repeat information from the presentation.

Disclaimers could work best at the bottom of every page or screen, immediately before the relevant text, or at the start of the presentation. The context is key .

Use clear language, familiar words, the active voice and short sentences when writing disclaimers for presentations. Avoid unnecessary formality and complexity.

About this article

Last updated

This article was last updated on 11 October 2022.

John Lister

FreePrivacyPolicy Legal writer

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Forward-Looking Statements Example

Below is an example of a common forward looking statements disclaimer used in investor presentations.

Example of Forward-Looking Statements

This is an example of forward-looking statements for an investor relations presentation on behalf of a public company.

Note: this example is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any other use.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this presentation contains “forward-looking information”, including “future-oriented financial information” and “financial outlook”, under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company’s business, projects, and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company’s vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company’s projects; (vi) completion of the Company’s projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company’s current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management’s beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment.

These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company  believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

When to Use the Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer

The forward-looking statements disclaimer should be used whenever a company makes written or oral statements about any of the following types of information:

• Projected financial performance
• Expected development of the business
• Execution of the vision and growth plans
• Future M&A activity and global growth
• Financing for the company’s business and projects
• Completion of projects that are underway, in development, or under consideration
• Renewal of current customers, suppliers , and other material agreements
• Future liquidity, working capital , and capital requirements
• Anything else that deals with the future performance of the business

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Example of Forward-Looking Statements. To continue advancing and developing your career we highly recommend the following resources:

• All transaction templates
• Valuation resources
• Financial modeling guide
• The role of investor relations
• See all accounting resources

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PitchDeckGuru

The Must-Have Legal Disclaimers in Pitch Decks for Startups

✍️ in this blog.

Creating a compelling pitch deck is crucial for startups seeking funding, covering key components such as the problem and solution, product or service, market opportunity , business model, competitive advantage , and financial projections. These pitch decks serve as a vital tool for startup founders, allowing them to succinctly communicate their vision, business model, and growth strategy to potential investors and partners. By highlighting the startup’s unique selling points and core team expertise, a well-designed pitch deck can significantly impact securing the necessary venture capital or angel funding .  

Furthermore, a pitch deck goes beyond simple presentation templates; it encompasses a comprehensive communication strategy, integrating elements of design, marketing, and data visualization to tell a cohesive story. Tailored disclaimers are integral to these decks, safeguarding the startup and its founders throughout the funding process . This article will explore must-have legal disclaimers for every startup pitch deck , ensuring founders are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of raising seed funding while maintaining a professional and engaging narrative.  

The Essence of Legal Disclaimers in a Pitch Deck  

In the realm of startups, particularly when it comes to securing funding through a pitch deck , legal disclaimers play a pivotal role in safeguarding the company and its founders from potential legal liabilities. These disclaimers are not merely a formality but a necessary component of a well-prepared pitch deck . They serve multiple purposes, from protecting the company’s intellectual property to ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and managing investor expectations. Here are some key aspects of legal disclaimers in pitch decks :

1. Forward-Looking Statements: 

• Purpose : To clarify that any projections or expectations about the future are not guarantees but are based on current plans and assumptions.  
• Example : “This presentation contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations discussed.”  

2. Compliance and Legal Protection: 

• Regulatory Compliance : Ensures the startup adheres to securities laws and regulations, crucial for avoiding penalties and maintaining transparency.  
• Protection from Legal Action : Shields the presenter and the company from potential lawsuits by explicitly stating the limitations of the information provided.  

3. Managing Expectations and Clarifying Information: 

• Investor Awareness : Makes potential investors aware of the risks associated with investing in the startup.  
• Clarification of Information : Helps in setting the right expectations by clarifying that the information presented is based on current knowledge and conditions.  

In addition to these, seeking legal counsel is strongly recommended to tailor disclaimers to the startup’s specific needs and ensure comprehensive protection. Startups must understand and comply with applicable securities laws, which include but are not limited to, restrictions on general solicitation and advertising, compliance with regulatory filings, and the strategic use of disclaimers. This legal foundation not only protects the startup from future legal challenges but also builds trust with potential investors by demonstrating a commitment to transparency and regulatory compliance.

Must-Have Disclaimers for Every Startup Pitch Deck  

In crafting a startup pitch deck , incorporating the right legal disclaimers is crucial to mitigate potential liabilities and ensure clarity for potential investors . Here is a breakdown of the must-have disclaimers for every startup pitch deck :

• Purpose : These statements protect the company by clarifying that projections and expectations about the future are speculative and are based on current assumptions and forecasts. They alert investors to the inherent risks and uncertainties in any forward-looking information.  
• Example : “This pitch deck may contain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could materially differ from those anticipated.”  

2. Disclaimer on Legal Advice: 

• It’s important to clarify that the information provided within the pitch deck is not legal advice. This disclaimer ensures there is no misunderstanding regarding the nature of the content and its purpose.  
• Example : “The content presented in this pitch deck is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this presentation.”  

3. Avoid Disclaimers on Projections: 

• According to insights from Dana H. Shultz, a seasoned lawyer specializing in startups, including disclaimers specifically about projections is not recommended. This approach aligns with the practice of focusing on the current state and potential of the business rather than speculative forecasts.  

Additionally, startups can leverage resources like Termly for creating comprehensive and compliant legal documents necessary for their pitch decks. Termly’s offerings include:  

• Policy Generators : These tools help create essential legal documents, including Privacy Policies, Terms and Conditions, and Disclaimers, ensuring startups meet legal requirements and best practices.  
• Compliant Consent Solutions : Tools like Cookie Consent Banners and Consent Management Platforms assist startups in managing user preferences and complying with data protection regulations, crucial for businesses with an online presence.  

By incorporating these disclaimers and utilizing available resources , startups can safeguard their interests and maintain transparency with potential investors.  

Tailoring Disclaimers to Your Startup’s Needs  

When tailoring disclaimers to your startup’s needs , it’s crucial to consider various factors to ensure they serve their intended purpose effectively. Here’s a guide to crafting disclaimers that align with your startup’s unique requirements:  

1. Understanding the Scope and Purpose: 

• Forward-looking Statements : Acknowledge that while investors understand projections can be incorrect, clarity in these statements helps manage expectations.  
• Valuations and Market-based Assessments : Highlight the importance of valuations, especially for revenue-generating businesses, and explain that market-based valuations consider numerous factors, emphasizing the uniqueness of each business.  

2. Legal and Industry-Specific Considerations: 

• Compliance and Industry Standards : Ensure your disclaimers comply with relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards. This is particularly important for startups in regulated sectors like healthcare, finance, and technology.  
• Features and Limitations of Services or Products : Clearly outline the extent of your startup’s liability for both tangible and intangible goods, protecting rights and limiting responsibility for third-party actions.  
• Privacy and Data Usage : Incorporate a privacy statement detailing customer information gathering and usage, reinforcing transparency and trust.  

3. Implementation and Management: 

• Visibility and Consent : Place disclaimers prominently on your website or app, ensuring they’re visible and that users acknowledge them. Tools like PandaDoc Waivers can streamline this process by allowing for easy creation, management, and collection of legally binding signatures.  
• Regular Updates : Keep disclaimers up-to-date with changes in your business model, legal obligations, or user feedback. Regular monitoring and management help maintain compliance and effectiveness.  
• Features of Management Tools : Utilize features offered by document management platforms, such as processing documents in bulk, building and storing waiver forms, and automating waiver expiration, to enhance efficiency and compliance.  

By carefully considering these elements and employing recommended practices and tools, startups can craft disclaimers that not only protect their interests but also foster trust and transparency with their users and investors.

Common Mistakes Startups Make with Legal Disclaimers

Startups often embark on their journey with enthusiasm and innovation at the forefront. However, when it comes to the legal aspects, particularly legal disclaimers in pitch decks , common mistakes can derail their efforts. Understanding these pitfalls is crucial for any startup looking to secure funding while maintaining legal integrity.  

1. Misleading Statements and Lack of Clear Agreements: 

• Avoid phrases like “These are conservative projections.” Such statements can mislead investors about the certainty of future success.  
• Not having a founder agreement clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and equity splits can lead to disputes and misunderstandings.  

2. Legal Form and Compliance Oversights: 

• Choosing the wrong legal form for the business (e.g., sole proprietorship instead of an LLC) can expose founders to unnecessary liability and tax implications.  
• Failing to comply with federal and state securities laws when issuing stock or securities can result in severe penalties.  

3. Intellectual Property and Contractual Missteps: 

• Neglecting trademark clearance and thorough research can lead to infringement issues.  
• Using poorly drafted standard form contracts instead of well-crafted agreements can leave startups vulnerable to disputes and misunderstandings.  

4. Documentation and Policy Gaps: 

• Not maintaining proper corporate and HR-related documentation, and failing to regularly update these documents, can lead to compliance issues.  
• A lack of a comprehensive Terms of Use Agreement and Privacy Policy for the startup’s website can expose the business to legal risks related to user interaction and data handling.  

5. Common Pitfalls in Disclaimers: 

• Vague or ambiguous language in disclaimers, omission of key information , and copying disclaimers without customization can render them ineffective.  
• Neglecting industry-specific regulations and failing to update disclaimers can lead to legal challenges and loss of investor trust.  

Understanding and avoiding these common mistakes can significantly impact a startup’s ability to navigate the legal landscape effectively. By focusing on clear communication, proper legal forms, comprehensive agreements, and up-to-date policies and disclaimers, startups can position themselves for success in the competitive funding environment.  

Through this exploration of the essential legal disclaimers necessary for startup pitch decks , we have delineated the critical role they play in safeguarding a startup’s interests, ensuring regulatory compliance, and building trust with potential investors. The article elucidated the importance of forward-looking statements, compliance and legal protection, and the strategic management of investor expectations, along with highlighting common pitfalls startups face in incorporating legal disclaimers. It also provided actionable insights into customizing disclaimers to suit a startup’s specific needs, emphasizing the significance of legal counsel in navigating the complexities of securities laws and regulatory requirements.  

As startups venture into the competitive landscape of securing funding , the integration of targeted legal disclaimers within their pitch decks emerges as a non-negotiable element of their strategy. This practice not only protects the startup from potential legal challenges but also reinforces its commitment to transparency and ethical business practices. By adhering to the guidelines and considerations outlined, startups can navigate the intricacies of investor relations with confidence, paving the way for sustainable growth and successful partnerships.  

Yes, incorporating a disclaimer in your startup pitch deck is essential. While the main goal is to present a compelling case for investment, a disclaimer is crucial for safeguarding against potential legal issues in the future.

To build a credible and effective pitch deck, consider these key tips:  

• Limit the deck to 15-20 slides.  
• Maintain a single message per slide.  
• Have a clear introduction and conclusion.  
• Structure the presentation strongly.  
• Embrace a minimalist approach with content.  
• Consider professional assistance rather than doing it all yourself.  
• Use visuals extensively to enhance the presentation.

A pitch deck should typically include the following elements:  

• Introduction  
• The problem your startup aims to solve  
• Target market analysis  
• Your proposed solution  
• Current traction and progress
• Marketing and sales strategies
• Competitve landscape overview
• Information about your team

A well-rounded pitch deck should feature 10 key elements:  

• The problem being addressed  
• Your solution to the problem  
• Key features of your product or service  
• Market fit analysis  
• Competitive landscape  
• Revenue and operating models  
• Evidence of traction  
• Financial projections  
• An introduction to your team  
• Details of your funding request

Further Exploration

Pitch decks, executive summary.

We at Pitch Deck Guru produce several growth accelerations features for our clients according to their business needs. Most common tools include Whitepapers, eBooks, Business Reporting, Executive Summaries, and Research Articles. Email us today!

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Disclaimer Examples

Sara Pegarella

Widener University School of Law graduate, Managing Legal Editor at TermsFeed.

Disclaimers are statements of information that help limit your legal liabilty for things such as errors and omissions, giving instructional guidance and sharing your personal opinions.

They can also be used to keep your users informed about different things such as affiliate link usage, medical risks, atypical results and other things they would surely like to know.

This article will give you an overview of some of the most common and imortant disclaimer types with practical examples, while giving you a better idea of what options you have for your own website or mobile app when it comes to posting disclaimers.

Our Disclaimer Generator can generate a legal disclaimer for your business, website or mobile app. Just follow these steps:

At Step 1, select where your Disclaimer will be used.

At Step 2, add in information about your website/app and business.

Answer some questions about your business practices.

Enter an email address where you'd like to receive your Disclaimer and click "Generate."

Done! You'll be able to instantly access and download your new Disclaimer.

• 1. Disclaimer Examples
• 1.1. "Views Expressed" Disclaimer
• 1.2. "No Responsibility" Disclaimer
• 1.3. "Past Performance" Disclaimer
• 1.4. "Use at Your Own Risk" Disclaimer
• 1.5. "Errors and Omissions" Disclaimer
• 1.6. "Fair Use" Disclaimer
• 1.7. "Investment" Disclaimer
• 1.8. "Copyright Notice" Disclaimer
• 1.9. "Email" Disclaimer
• 1.10. "Medical" Disclaimer
• 3. Disclaimers FAQ

Generate a Disclaimer in just a few minutes

"Views Expressed" Disclaimer

A "views expressed" disclaimer informs readers that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Another common use of a "views expressed" disclaimer is by people who are endorsing or critiquing a product that a company they work for produces or is involved with .

This type of disclaimer is typically seen on blogs or other online media publications, posts or articles that are more opinionated than factual in nature. They're seen most often in personal opinion writing by experts or professionals working in the same field of study as their post.

For example, a climate change scientist writing an editorial or opinion piece that involves the topic of climate change may include a disclaimer saying that the opinions are his own and not that of his employer.

Otherwise, what one employee says may be construed as being what the entire company believes, thinks or condones, and this may be very inaccurate and even damaging to reputations.

In this situation, a disclaimer will let readers know that the writer is speaking solely for herself, not for the company or as a formal representative of the company.

It's not uncommon for companies, universities and organizations to have some sort of social media policy in place to dictate how and when these disclaimers must be used .

Here's how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) handles how employees of the NIH or US government must use disclaimers.

At NIH, official duty activities carried out on behalf of the government don't need a disclaimer.

However, when engaging in outside activities, such as a personal blog or as a member of an organization, an employee " may not use or reference their titles or NIH affiliation " except if it's as part of a multi-detailed biographical summary, or if a disclaimer is included.

Writing a "views expressed" disclaimer is very easy . All you have to do is basically state that the opinions and views you're expressing at that time are yours and not your employers or anyone else's.

Here are a few examples of "views expressed" disclaimers.

Examples From Blog Posts and Articles

If you have a personal website or a blog, a "views expressed" disclaimer helps make it clear to your readers that what they're reading is a product solely of your own.

Rigaku has one "Disclaimer" page where it combines a number of disclaimer types and text into one. Here you can see the views expressed section highlighted. It notes that " the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the offical policy or position of Rigaku. "

Examples from Podcasts

Even podcasts can have "views expressed" disclaimers.

This is seen below in the disclaimer for The World of Anesthesiology podcast series , where listeners are told that " the views, information, or opinions expressed during [the] series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and its employees. "

Examples from Slideshows and Presentations

If you're giving a presentation, you may want to (or even be required to) include a "views expressed" disclaimer.

This type of disclaimer will inform viewers that you created the presentation, not your employer.

In the example below, even though the creator of the slideshow works for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas , and that bank is also hosting the event where the presentation is given, the presenter still adds a disclaimer stating that the views in his presentation are his own and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve:

"No Responsibility" Disclaimer

A "no responsibility" disclaimer works to keep your business from being held responsible for or held liable for things like damages that arise from using your website or app.

A "no responsibility" disclaimer is not disclaiming any warranties, either implied or specific/required by law.

CNN Money has a disclaimer of liability for LIBOR rates:

"responsibility or liability for the frequency of provision and accuracy of the BBA LIBOR rate or any use made of the BBA LIBOR rate by the subscriber, whether or not arising from the negligence of any of BBAE or the Suppliers."

Here it is:

Limitation of liability clauses are common in end user license agreements so that users are aware that they will not be able to hold the company liable for any damages arising out of the use of the application.

"Past Performance" Disclaimer

A "past performance" disclaimer informs people that past performance doesn't guarantee future results .

The "past performance" disclaimer is seen commonly in investment and other financial markets where there are unpredictable and ever-changing results and outcomes.

Nordea posts a "past performance" disclaimer:

"the performance represented is historical" and that "past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and investors may not recover the full amount invested."

Here it is, highlighted:

You can even include a "past performance" disclaimer slide in a slideshow about investing or investment strategy, as seen here from Anand Rathi .

"Use at Your Own Risk" Disclaimer

A "use at your own risk" disclaimer will make it so that you cannot be held legally responsible for sharing your method when it doesn't work for someone. Otherwise, someone may attempt to sue you and claim that following your advice landed him in the hospital.

This type of disclaimer is handy for websites or app that share things like recipes, instructions, advice, medical information, articles and more.

Whenever you're sharing information with people that they may actively use or follow, you should include the "use at your own risk" disclaimer so that your business can't be held liable.

Here's an example why it's useful to include this type of disclaimer.

Imagine you write an article telling people about a method you've used to successfully treat a skin condition, and someone who reads your article decides to follow your method and has a terrible allergic reaction and ends up in the hospital.

Wikipedia has a disclaimer that states:

"none of the authors, contributors, administrators, vandals, or anyone else connected with Wikipedia, in any way whatsoever, can be responsible for your use of the information contained in or linked from these web pages."

Additionally, Wikipedia users are informed that they should " take all steps necessary to ascertain that information you receive from Wikipedia is correct and has been verified " by doing things like checking references and revision history, double-checking information with independent sources and remembering that " anyone can post " on Wikipedia:

"Errors and Omissions" Disclaimer

An "errors and omissions" disclaimer works to let users know that if there are any errors in the material, or omission of information that turns out to be material, the site-owner/author isn't to be held liable for damages that arise out of them.

At Forensic Accounting , a disclaimer states:

"[The author] assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this site. The information contained in this site is provided on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness..."

PwC includes a paragraph that states:

"PwC is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in this site is provided "as is", with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information..."

If your website contains information about topics that a user may rely on for practical information, such as legal advice, medical diagnosing, financial subjects and others, consider including an "errors and omissions" disclaimer just in case you accidentally leave something out or get something wrong that may affect your users.

"Fair Use" Disclaimer

A fair use disclaimer is where you state that you're using certain copyrighted material under the Fair Use Act. This helps protect you from being accused of copyright infringement.

While using copyrighted work can lead to copyright infringement issues, the "Fair Use" doctrine is an exception to this.

Under the "Fair Use" Act, a copyrighted work can be used, cited or incorporated within another author's work legally without needing a license if it's being used explicitly for things like news reporting, researching purposes, teaching, commentary, criticism, and other such uses.

Things like movie reviews that quote the movie, or using sections of a published book for a teaching lesson in a classroom are examples of common scenarios that are protected under this act.

There is four-factor balancing test considered when deciding if a particular use of a copyrighted work is a "fair use":

• What's the purpose and character of the use? Is it commercial, or educational? Is the material transformed, or reproduced?
• What's the specific nature of the copyrighted work being used? Is it a work of fiction, or factual research? How much personal creativity and unique expression went into the work?
• How much of the original work is used?
• Will the use drastically affect the market or potential market for the copyrighted, original work?

Clean Air Revival has a Fair Use Notice that lets users know that " this site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. "

Clean Air Revival states that it's using this material as part of its "effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc." and that it believes that this constitutes a "fair use" of the material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 .

Mass Equality has a "Fair Use Policy and Legal Disclaimer" that includes the same standard notice:

"this site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner."

The disclaimer from Mass Equality then continues on to lets users know that:

"making such material available to advance understanding of same-sex marriage and efforts to codify anti-gay discrimination in Massachusetts."

Here's a screenshot:

With a "fair use" disclaimer, all you have to do is inform the public know that you're using parts of copyrighted work, and using them under the "Fair Use" act for appropriate purposes.

"Investment" Disclaimer

The "investment" disclaimer informs users that you're not an investment advisor, broker or dealer and that you don't have any insider information.

If you have an investment website or app that provides general news, publicly-available information, analyses, or other materials that would help someone while making investment decisions, you're going to want to have an "investment" disclaimer in place.

The Sequoia disclaimer page has a section at the bottom of its first paragraph where investment advice is mentioned.

Sequoia states:

"website and the information contained herein is not intended to be a source of advice or credit analysis with respect to the material presented, and the information and/or documents contained in this website do not constitute investment advice."

The Investment Blog includes a paragraph in its disclaimer that addresses investment advice and disclaims it as being based on "personal opinion and experience" and that it "should not be considered professional financial investment advice."

The author of the Investment Blog goes on to add that " the ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional. "

Stockopedia has a very robust "investment" disclaimer section with a lot of sections relating directly to the issue of investment advice:

• First, users are presented with a " Do Your Own Research " section where they're encouraged to "do their own research." Users are told that the content on Stockopedia is " intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only " and that they should " take independent financial advice from a professional " and " independently research and verify " information.
• The next section titled " No Investment Advice " lets users know that the website is " a financial data and news portal, discussion forum and content aggregator " as well as an " educational forum for analysing, learning and discussing general and generic information. " It is " not a broker/dealer " nor an investment advisor" and the site-operators or authors have " no access to non-public information about publicly traded companies. "
• Then, users are told that " this is not a place for the giving or receiving of financial advice, advice concerning investment decisions or tax or legal advice. "

Here's a screenshot of this disclaimer from Stockpedia:

"Copyright Notice" Disclaimer

A copyright notice lets the world know that your website material is yours, and commonly contains the copyrighted year, the author's name, the copyright symbol and the reservation of rights the author wishes to copyright.

Here's how Credit Karma includes a copyright notice in its website footer:

Books include a copyright notice on one of the first few pages. This example shows a different copyright in place for the introduction of the book, as well.

Etsy has a very simple and short copyright notice, but it works just fine. Copyright notices are very common and universally understood, so this basic notice will still suffice:

"Email" Disclaimer

"Email" disclaimers are added to at the end of an email, usually in the signature section, so that the disclaimer automatically becomes a part of every email sent. They can include any type of disclaimer content that you wish to send with every email.

While it hasn't been determined whether having an "email" disclaimer actually helps you avoid liability in a court of law, having the "email" disclaimer in place does come with some general benefits .

These benefits include:

• Informing the recipients of your email of confidentiality, potential computer viruses and more
• This disclaimer may also deter the recipients from trying to file a lawsuit against you for something covered by your disclaimer

The most commonly used "email" disclaimer is a " breach of confidentiality " disclaimer .

This "breach of confidentiality" disclaimer used in email informs the recipient of the email that the communication is of a confidential nature, and that the information within the email is meant solely for the person to whom the email is addressed.

Below is an example of a common "breach of confidentiality" disclaimer used in emails:

"Medical" Disclaimer

Medical disclaimers are a great way to let people know that your content is not a substitute for a doctor.

The Fitbit mobile app includes this medical disclaimer with its heart rate variability information screen so users are aware that the information on the screen is not medical advice:

To summarize, disclaimers are a very important aspect of limiting your liability and keeping your users informed. The nature of your website or business will dictate what types of disclaimers you may need. For example, you won't need a disclaimer addressing using information at your own risk if you don't share any information.

Include disclaimers in a way that makes them easy for your users to notice and understand. You can include them in your website footer if they're short enough. Or, if you have a number of disclaimers, consider creating a specific Disclaimer page where you can note them all.

Disclaimers FAQ

Here is a list of frequently asked questions that you may find useful.

1. Do I need to use disclaimers?

There are a few disclaimers that are regulated by law and mandatory in certain situations, but generally disclaimers are optional and used to benefit business owners.

For example, affiliate disclaimers are required by the FTC and by many third parties . Disclaimers like "Views Expressed" and "Errors and Omissions" disclaimers are not required, but having them will help limit your legal liability.

2. Why should I use disclaimers?

You should use disclaimers because they help limit your legal liability and keep your users informed. In some circumstances, you should use disclaimers because they're legally required.

For example, if you operate a blog that gives financial advice, having a "Use at Your Own Risk" disclaimer can help limit your liability in the event that someone takes your advice and loses a fortune. The disclaimer makes it clear that you aren't responsible for anyone who uses your advice and has adverse consequences.

If you engage in affiliate marketing , the FTC and many third parties require you to post a disclaimer informing the public that you use affiliate links. You should use a disclaimer here to avoid violating the law.

3. What type of disclaimer should I use?

This depends on the nature of your website, business or blog.

Here are some of the most common disclaimers and when each should be used:

• Views Expressed : Used by experts or professionals when writing personal opinion content that's in the same field of study as their career. For example, a climate change scientist would use this disclaimer when writing an editorial or opinion piece that involves the topic of climate change. The disclaimer would say that the opinions are his own and not that of his employer.
• No Responsibility/Disclaimer of Liability : Used mostly by ecommerce companies, software companies and others that offer products or services. This disclaimer limits liability for any damages that may arise by the use of the products or services.
• Past Performance : Used mostly with products and services that seem to promise results. For example, a diet pill company or a financial planning company can disclaim that " past performances don't necessarily indicate future results. "
• Use at Your Own Risk : Used often with businesses that sell products that may be considered dangerous or risky to use. For example, a company selling chainsaws can disclaim that you're using their chainsaws at your own risk and if injury arises during the use, it isn't the company's fault.
• Copyright Notice : Used almost universally to protect personal content, intellectual property, website designs and other proprietary creative content.
• Errors and Omissions : Used universally to protect businesses in the event that the website content has an error or omission in content that a user may rely on to some detriment.
• Affiliate Links : If you use affiliate links, the FTC and third parties such as Amazon require this to be disclosed.
• No Professional Relationship : Used mostly with professional bloggers. For example, a lawyer who runs a personal blog dissecting legal cases and explaining laws would use this disclaimer to let her readers know that there is no professional relationship formed between her and her readers. Her blog is simply there for information and entertainment purposes, not professional purposes.

4. Where do I display my disclaimer?

Disclaimers should always be displayed somewhere conspicuous .

Some people choose to create a separate "Disclaimers" webpage and link it to their website footer alongside other important legal pages (such as a Terms and Conditions agreement and Privacy Policy).

Others choose to place the disclaimer text directly on webpages or directly in the website footer .

You can include disclaimers in your Terms and Conditions agreement .

Note that legally-required disclaimers like affiliate disclaimers must be displayed as close to the affiliate links as possible .

Comprehensive compliance starts with a Privacy Policy.

Comply with the law with our agreements, policies, and consent banners. Everything is included.

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This article is not a substitute for professional legal advice. This article does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor is it a solicitation to offer legal advice.

Last updated on

12 May 2024

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Disclaimers for Presentations

Disclaimers are statements that limit liability by informing users that you (or your organization or employer) aren't responsible for real or perceived damages that may arise from using your product or service.

Disclaimers are found on most websites and mobile apps, but they're also common with in-person and online presentations because they minimize risk and promote transparency.

In this article, we'll cover what disclaimers are, why they're vital for presentations, and what to include in yours.

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• 1. Why Have a Disclaimer for Your Presentation?
• 2. What to Include in Your Presentation Disclaimer
• 3. Common Disclaimers for Presentations
• 3.1. Limitation of Liability
• 3.2. Errors and Omissions
• 3.3. Fair Use
• 3.4. Confidentiality
• 3.5. Views Expressed
• 3.6. Affiliate Links
• 3.7. Copyright
• 3.8. Use at Your Own Risk
• 4. When, Where and How to Display Your Presentation Disclaimer

Why Have a Disclaimer for Your Presentation?

Disclaimers aren't legally required for most presentations, but you may need one if you'll be sharing information that could be construed as legal, medical, or financial advice .

Even when not legally required, it's wise to include a blanket disclaimer or a number of specific disclaimers.

The more thorough and specific your disclaimer, the more protections it will afford you, the host, and the venue.

What to Include in Your Presentation Disclaimer

When crafting a disclaimer for a presentation, it's important to consider your intent as well as the nature of the event and the information you'll be presenting.

For example, is your presentation for entertainment or educational purposes? Will you be presenting facts to support your claims and assertions, or will your presentation consist mainly of opinion or speculation? Will you be giving advice or anything that can be construed as advice?

You may want to address the following in your presentation disclaimer:

• Your education, experience, and qualifications
• Whether information from outside sources will be used
• The limitations of your liability
• Whether the event will be filmed or recorded
• Who's sponsoring the event
• Any conflict of interest issues

Common Disclaimers for Presentations

Here are some of the most commonly used disclaimers . While not all will apply to all situations, having one or more of them may be the way to go.

Limitation of Liability

As with websites and mobile apps, presentation attendees and remote viewers can have negative experiences , and when they do, they may choose to claim damages .

Without a limitation of liability disclaimer , the sky's the limit for claims and potential liability.

Here's how TED discloses its limitations of liability:

TED makes it clear that it isn't liable for any damages and includes a concise summary to the right of the main text to ensure users can't claim they didn't understand the legal jargon . This is a great way to get this information across in your presentation in a way that covers legality while being user friendly.

Errors and Omissions

Errors and Omissions disclaimers are important for presentations because, despite your best efforts, you may have inadvertently misstated facts , incorrectly analyzed data, or drawn erroneous conclusions .

By including an errors and omissions disclaimer, you'll protect yourself from liability and financial damages in the event of either errors or omissions.

Fitness Blender addresses errors and omissions as follows:

It's also important to address issues of age and inaccuracy if your presentation was posted on say a YouTube channel years ago but is still being watched. If so, viewers may assume that the information is timely and relevant even if it's outdated and obsolete.

A disclaimer noting this can help ensure users are aware that the information may be outdated, and that if it is, it isn't your fault if damages arise from following it.

Fair use disclaimers aren't required for presentations, but it's wise to include one if you'll cite or use material from outside sources.

Under the terms of the Fair Use Act , you may be permitted to use certain copyrighted material in your presentation without a license or permission, especially if you'll be commenting on or critiquing it or using it for educational or research purposes.

You can also use a fair use disclaimer to let presentation attendees, viewers, and participants know that they may be able to use some or all of the information that you present.

Here's how Multiple Chronic Conditions Resource Center addresses Fair Use:

It's worth noting that fair use isn't always cut and dry, and that even a well-written disclaimer won't protect you if you're using someone else's material inappropriately or without the proper authorization.

Confidentiality

Many presentations aren't open to the public or shared on public platforms like YouTube. In fact, sensitive and proprietary information is usually only intended for registered guests who attend private meetings reserved for company shareholders, board members, or executives.

When this is the case, a confidentiality disclaimer will let attendees know that the information you'll be delivering is for their eyes and ears only.

Here's how the Royal Academy of Music notes that materials it sends out, such as presentations, may contain confidential information that is not meant to review, distribute or otherwise do anything with the content:

Views Expressed

It's not uncommon for presenters to add personal opinions that may not necessarily align with those of the employer, organization, or host venue.

That's where a views expressed disclaimer is helpful because it provides a separation between you (the presenter) and the other parties involved in the event.

In your views expressed disclaimer, you can let users know that your opinions are your own and do not reflect that of anyone else.

In its Podcast Disclaimer, the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) informs listeners that podcasts are a public service and that the information contained in them shouldn't be mistaken for official statements of policy:

Though specifically for podcasts, the FCC's disclaimer could be easily adapted for virtual, in-person, or prerecorded presentations as well. The general concept remains the same no matter how, where or when such a disclaimer is used.

Affiliate Links

Oftentimes presentations are given to promote a product or a service. In these cases, there will often be affiliate links included or promo codes shared where if the viewers purchase the product in the presentation, the presenter will get a financial reward from the company.

If you engage in affiliate marketing like this, you are legally required by the FTC in the United States to include an affiliate disclaimer . Amazon also requires a disclaimer if you're part of its affiliate program.

In your affiliate disclaimer you need to disclose that you use affiliate links, and that you may earn money or other material benefits if the links are used.

Here's how Dr. Lyss includes a disclaimer on a page where she promotes products she sells via affiliate links:

You can see how this format can translate nicely into text in a presentation slide before you post affiliate links that users can click on.

For added protection for your creative content and intellectual property used in your presentation, you can include a copyright disclaimer .

This simple notice will help remind viewers that they can't just take the presentation and show it to others as they want, or take parts of it to use in their own presentations.

You can include a short copyright notice at the bottom of every slide if you want, like Reuters does here:

Or for a more discreet style, include the copyright information with the rest of your disclaimers. Here's how a more wordy copyright disclaimer can look, from Reuters:

Use at Your Own Risk

To help protect yourself against liability, it's a smart idea to remind users that any information you provide is to be used at the person's own risk. For example, say you give a presentation about a new diet. It may actually be harmful for some people in some conditions to practice the diet. This is where a "use at your own risk" statement can be legally helpful to you.

Other scenarios where this is common is if the viewers of the presentation may incur financial loss by acting on information you provide, or if you address topics where data changes rapidly, such as with stock, commodity, and precious metal prices.

In its Risk Warning, Gold Price warns users that it provides information deemed to be reliable. However, the company doesn't guarantee accuracy , and its precious metals charts are provided without warranty or claim of reliability:

In addition, it states that readers are responsible for doing their own due diligence before acting on any of the information provided.

When, Where and How to Display Your Presentation Disclaimer

It's a good idea to present your disclaimer before jumping into your presentation.

You may want to provide attendees with a copy of your disclaimer prior to them showing up to the event by including a link or a full copy at registration, or checkout if they're paying via credit card.

Even if you've made your disclaimer available before the event, it's still wise to read it in its entirety, give attendees a physical copy, or present it in slide form before beginning.

Disclaimers may be delivered orally as well, in addition to the other methods of delivery.

If you give presentations on YouTube, there are a number of ways to include disclaimers there. Check out our feature article for more information: Disclaimers for YouTube Videos

Disclaimers are often linked to on website footers . This is especially true when there's an online component to an in-person or web-based presentation or when an organization has one overarching disclaimer.

Website footers are popular locations for disclaimers because they often contain links to other important information such as Privacy Policies , and most users know to look for important information there.

In the example below, Gold Price places its disclaimer link between its Risk Warning and Terms links at the bottom of its website:

Many health and fitness-related YouTube channels display disclaimers before getting into the main content of their videos.

Here's how Dr. Sten Ekberg Disclaims liability before a video in which he documents his experience eating 100 tablespoons of butter in 10 days:

Likewise, the popular fitness and weight training channel More Plates More Dates typically displays disclaimers similar to the one below before any content is delivered:

Because much of its content could be mistaken for health or medical advice, the disclaimer states that the presenter isn't a doctor , that videos are for entertainment, informational, and educational purposes only , and that viewers should consult a physician for actual medical advice.

In addition, disclaimers for presentations can be included on or linked to in the following places:

• Marketing copy or emails
• Pop-up notifications on websites and mobile apps
• Online registration forms and checkout pages
• At the bottom of each slide in a multi-slide presentation

As with websites and mobile apps, presentation attendees and remote viewers may feel like they're entitled to damages when they have negative experiences.

In addition to promoting transparency, disclaimers for presentations protect presenters by limiting liability.

Disclaimers aren't legally required for most presentations, but you may need to include one if you'll be sharing legal, medical, or financial information.

Even when not legally required, it's wise to protect yourself by including a well-written disclaimer.

When crafting your disclaimer, you may want to address the following:

• Your experience, education, and qualifications
• Will you be presenting supporting facts ?
• Will your presentation include opinions and theories ?
• Whether the event is being filmed or recorded
• Your relationship with hosts and sponsors (and any other conflict of interest issues)

Though they're generally tailored to the particulars of each presentation, you may want to include the following sections in your disclaimer:

• Limitations of Liability - Neither you, your employer, your organization nor the venue are liable for real or perceived damages
• Errors and Omissions - You're not responsible if the information presented contains errors or omissions
• Fair Use - Some copyrighted material can be used without license or permission, especially for comment, critique, research, and education
• Confidentiality - Presentation viewers may have access to sensitive and proprietary information not meant for other parties
• Views Expressed - The views expressed in your presentation are yours only and not anyone else's
• Affiliate Links - You will get a material benefit when viewers use your links to purchase products or sign up for services
• Copyright - Make clear that your content is yours and is not to be reused elsewhere without your permission
• Use At Your Own Risk - The presentation viewers are using any of your advice or information solely at their own risk

Include your disclaimers within the presentation itself, such as on a title screen and/or at the bottom of your slides.

Matthew Copes PrivacyPolicies.com Legal writer

Last updated on 10 May 2023

Legal information, legal templates and legal policies are not legal advice. Please read the disclaimer .

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Data & Finance for Work & Life

Management Presentation: 8 Tips, Examples & a Template

In a corporate context, presenting works wonders for a career. Most professionals get exposure to presenting to informed colleagues and department managers. It’s an ideal way to get visibility and show value. But a management presentation to senior executives who aren’t familiar department nuances is a different ballgame.

A management presentation is a high-level summary to senior executive that optimizes reports to include only the details relevant to directorial decisions . They are notoriously difficult to navigate for two reasons: 1. most executives do not have working knowledge of the nuances in each department , 2. presenters rarely have time to understand executives’ preferences .

More than anything else, good management presenters learn how to strike a balance in the degree of detail: they provide enough detail so executives make informed decisions, but not so much detail that they cause confusion.

This article explores how to make a good management presentations in PowerPoint using 4 management presenting best practices , 4 management presenting techniques , providing examples for each, and finishing with a management presentation template you can apply in real life. You can use it as a jumping off point for deeper communication curriculum .

5 management presenting best practices are:

• Ask what managers prefer ahead of time.
• Have 1 message, and 1 message Only.
• The only words should be “Thought Starters.”
• Keep it short.
• Practice 7 times in advance.

4 management presenting techniques are:

• Use a CSP model – Challenge, Solution, Progress.
• Begin with a summary of exactly 3 points.
• Use only these 3 chart types: bar, line, scatter.
• Design slides with the company logo.

I will use a financial analyst perspective in this article, but everything here applies to data and business analysts as well.

Ask Executives Their Preference Ahead of Time

If you’ve ever taken a class on presentation techniques, you’ve heard the old adage “know your audience.” It’s true, the best way to deliver a great presentation is to align your message with what your audience already understands. The same applies to a management presentation.

The challenge is that, more often than not, executives are too busy for you to get to know them well. This means you hardly get the chance to understand how they like presentations. So what can you do? Well, ask them! There’s no harm in sending an email to understand better. And what’s more, once you know, you can always defer to their preferences in the future.

For a financial management presentation, common questions to ask include the following:

• Do you prefer to see raw data, or only visualizations?
• Do you prefer charts or table summaries?
• Would you like a written explanation on paper for each slide?
• Do you like averages alone, or do you prefer means, or standard deviation?
• What interests you most in a presentation?

If you gather some helpful insights, then your presentation will be that much better. That said, you may not get a response, or it may be quick and not insightful. But most senior executives will appreciate you asking .

The best part is you will be able to surprise them. Using the best practices and techniques below, in additional to any insights gathered form your email, will work wonders for you.

Have 1 Message, and 1 Message Only

The easiest mistake to make on a management presentation is trying to deliver multiple messages. Senior executives go through loads of meetings every day, and each meeting they have includes a wave of information. Your mission should be to deliver 1 essential message so they can easily understand and compartmentalize it.

This is no easy task. When I try to narrow down the focus of my management presentation message, it seems like I leave out critical information along the way. The key is to tell a story to incorporate critical information as part of a story towards the essential message.

For example, imagine you work for a wholesale watch company called Batch Watch . You want to explain a financing operation in which the company has the option of two loans to fund the initial costs of 10,000 watches. These loans have different interest rates and maturity dates. Loan A is better if the company expects to sell the watches within 3 months, while Loan B is better if the company expects to sell over more than 3 months. Each has cancellation fees and cash flow impacts.

Instead of showing the cancellation fees and cash flow impact of the each loan, all you need to say is “ we expect the company to sell them within 3 months, and we recommend loan A for that reason.” If the executives disagree on the sale timeline, they will ask for more information.

This is how you keep senior executives engaged, by integrating them in the story you tell. Ultimately, the essential message of your presentation should be how much profit the company will make from the watch funding operation. Senior executives should leave feeling like the project is in good hands with you, and they only feel that way when you tell a story around the essential message .

Whatever the Message, Use Data

Whatever message you want to send, it needs to be backed up by data. In the example above the data was financial, but it’s not always that simple. Context may require you to provide KPIs and perform extensive data analysis that culminates in a small output that your viewers can easily digest.

You need to be strong with data to deliver a good management presentation. To get started or refresh your memory, you can read AnalystAnswers’ free Intro to Data Analysis eBook .

The Only Words Should be “Thought Starters”

As a general presentation principle, you should not write many thoughts down on presentation slides. Words have two negative impacts on the audience: they demand energy from the reader, and they make the reader feel compelled to read, lest they misunderstand.

If you can avoid putting text blocks altogether, do. If you don’t need any writing at all, don’t. However, if you need guidance as you speak or want to provide reminders for a later data, use “Thought Starters.”

Thought starters are phrases of 3 words maximum that contain ideas leading to the essential message. People often call them “bullet points,” which is common for list-style thought starters. Personally, I prefer to place thought starters at different places on a slide. When I use a chart, for example, I put thought starters at relevant places on the slide.

Keep it Short

Your presentation should never consume more than 80% of the allotted timeframe. This means that if you plan a 5 minutes meeting, deliver the presentation in 4 minutes. If you’re given 30 minutes, do it in 25 minutes. If you have 1 hour, do it in 45 minutes.

By keeping the presentation short, you relieve the audience and you allow for some question buffer. Have you ever sat in a meeting planned for 1 hour, and at 45m it ends early? It’s a pleasure for everyone. Most of us feel like we’re running behind — when you put us ahead of schedule, we love you!

At the same time, senior executives may bombard you with questions throughout the presentation. If you planned to fill the whole timeframe, you won’t finish. But if you planned to finish early, you still have a chance.

And if you use the rest of these best practices and techniques, those senior executives shouldn’t need to ask too many questions!

Practice 7 Times in Advance

There’s a mix of opinions on the number of times you should rehearse a presentation before doing it live, but most people agree that it’s somewhere between 5 and 10 times. If you take nothing else from this article, take this. To deliver a good presentation, prepare excellent slides; to deliver a great presentation, practice presenting them 7 times.

To deliver a good presentation, prepare excellent slides; to deliver a great presentation, practice presenting them 7 times. AnalystAnswers.com

But just practicing isn’t enough, there are a few criteria you must meet:

• Practice in the room you will present in. There’s something about envisioning yourself live that really makes a difference. When you practice in a space other that where you’ll present, it’s good. But when you practice in the “live” room, you’re able to sensitize yourself to the environment, which calms nerves so you can focus on the message.
• Have an audience. We all behave differently when there’s stimulus of other people around. Whenever possible, get one or two people to whom you can present. In addition to getting used to having an audience, you’ll also get some feedback.
• Use the same volume of voice. When we’re not “live,” we have a tendency to hold back on our voice. This is detrimental to the presentation because you feel taken off guard by your own voice. Make sure to envision yourself in front of the senior execs when you practice.

Best Practices Recap

We’ve addressed 5 best practices — now let’s turn our attention to 4 specific techniques you can easily implement. And when you do, that work wonders for management presenting.

Use a CSP Model (Challenge, Solution, Progress)

Every presentation needs structure, but it’s easy to forget that we need to guide our audience. A great way to structure management reports is using the CSP model. CSP stands for Challenge, Solution, Progress, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

You need to explain the challenge or goal, explain what the solution to the challenge is (or how to achieve the goal), and show where you are in the steps to completing that goal.

For example, let’s look at our Batch Watch case. Imagine you need to find funding for a new product launch — $100,000 to be exact. A sample CSP model for this would be a slide that shows:

By using the CSP model, you guide the audience. However, it’s important to note that the CSP model is not a summary . It’s an overview of the process, but a summary should always come before. Let’s talk about it now.

Begin with a Summary of Exactly 3 Points

Any good presentation begins with a summary. And a good summary communicates the essential message simply in 3 points. However, the summary is not the same thing as the CSP model. Instead, it provides an alternative view on the challenge and and solution.

For example, using our Batch Watch case of funding a new product, you could address a summary in the following way:

• Challenge, Solution, Progress
• Funding acquisition
• Project Timeline

This provides additional details that are most relevant to the project and carry added value to the CSP model.

Use only Bar Charts (aka Column Charts), Line Graphs, and Scatter Plots

Whether it’s for data, financial, and business analyst topics , management presentations should only ever have bar charts, line graphs, and scatter plots. They are common, rich in information, and well understood. Any other kind of graph is distracting more than anything else.

A bar graph is useful when you want to compare like variables. For example, if you want to show the average size of Canadian trout versus American trout. A common mistake, though, is to use bar graphs to show change over time. While it’s not incorrect to do so, line graphs are better for this purpose.

A line graph is useful when you want to show change in one variable over time (we call this time series data). For example, if you want to show the progression of revenues over time, line graphs are the perfect way to do so.

A scatter plot is best when you want to compare a set of observations of one variable to a set of observations of another. It’s the ideal way to quickly visualize the relationship between two variables. For example, if you want to see how company revenues compare to GDP, you could use a scatter plot like this:

For example, let’s look at our Batch Watch case. If we want to see how our company is performing compared to the economy as a whole, we could use this scatter plot. As you can see, we have a positive (bottom left to top right) relationship, but a weak one (points not clustered closely).

Design Slides Using the Company Logo

When you’re presenting to senior executives, you want your slides to look professional. The best way to do that is by putting your company logo on them, including any corporate design standards (colors, fonts, etc). Show through your presentation that you belong to the same company, and that you’re in it in spirit. For example, let’s add the AnalystAnswers.com logo to our CSP slide:

Techniques Recap

Here’s a sample management presentation template below. I hope you understand after reading this article that management presentation is more about your delivery than it is about the slides you prepare.

Download Management Presentation Template for Free

While the techniques we’ve discussed will help you build a good presentation, your success really depends on how well you deliver the ideas needed to help senior executives make decisions. At the end of the day, it’s all about balance.

If you only remember two things from this article, remember that great management presenters give enough detail to inform senior executive but not too much that they cause confusion, and great management presenters make sure they do so by practicing 7 times in advance. You’ll have to practice, practice, practice.

About the Author

Noah is the founder & Editor-in-Chief at AnalystAnswers. He is a transatlantic professional and entrepreneur with 5+ years of corporate finance and data analytics experience, as well as 3+ years in consumer financial products and business software. He started AnalystAnswers to provide aspiring professionals with accessible explanations of otherwise dense finance and data concepts. Noah believes everyone can benefit from an analytical mindset in growing digital world. When he's not busy at work, Noah likes to explore new European cities, exercise, and spend time with friends and family.

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Sample Disclaimer Template and Examples

If you are visiting this page, you likely want to know how to legally protect yourself and your business from liability risks. To help you do so, we’ve come up with a generic disclaimer template to get you started, as well as some great examples of different types of commonly used disclaimers.

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PRO TIP: Take the hassle of writing your own disclaimer away with our disclaimer generator trusted by over 200,000 businesses. It’ll save you hours of work and possible costly legal mistakes.

Sample Disclaimer Template

A disclaimer is a notice that appears on a blog, website, document, or product to provide a warning to your users and to limit your liability when it comes to specific aspects of your business.

This generic disclaimer template will help you understand how to form a legal agreement. Keep in mind that this is just an example disclaimer template and does not cover many of the important topics.

Disclaimer Examples

Here are 15 disclaimer examples from different industries and website types to give give you a better idea of what kind of clauses your own disclaimer has to include.

Fair Use Disclaimer

The law has made it acceptable, under very specific circumstances and for very specific purposes only, for one to use someone else’s copyrighted work without first requiring their consent.

The following purposes are explicitly considered to be “fair use” under Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Code and thus should not be considered copyright infringement:

• News reporting
• Scholarship

Fair use is not limited to the above and is to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Here is an example of a fair use disclaimer from  CUInsight , a website for the credit union community, that notably has a news section and a blog:

CUInsight’s website fair use policy specifies that the copyrighted material made available is in the effort of advancing the understanding of the credit union industry and issues.

If you are summarizing or quoting someone else’s work,  including a fair use disclaimer  on your website could protect you from being accused of copyright infringement, as you are recognizing and informing your readers that the text quoted is not your own words and that you consider said use to be fair.

Copyright Disclaimer Notice

Conversely, a  copyright disclaimer  is used to protect the ownership of your work; you would include it on your website to warn users that the content materials are your property and should not be reproduced without your authorization.

Your copyright notice doesn’t have to be very long, as long as it contains:

• The copyright symbol
• The name of your company/owner of the copyrighted work
• The year of publication
• The mention “All Rights Reserved” or “Some Rights Reserved”, depending on which rights you wish to retain

For example, here is a screenshot of  Hootsuite ’s copyright disclaimer notice:

This is the simple copyright statement that appears on the social media management platform Hootsuite’s homepage.

While having such a disclaimer is generally not essential for your work to be protected by copyright, it is an easy step to take to put everyone on notice that the content of your website is proprietary and should not be used without your permission.

Affiliate Disclaimer

It is essential that you let your website visitors know that you may receive financial compensation if they choose to use one of your affiliate links; it is actually legally required by the  Federal Trade Commission (FTC)  in the United States.

An affiliate disclosure statement should clearly indicate the nature of your relationship with the brand/product that you are promoting or endorsing and it should stand out to your readers.

Here is a short but easy-to-understand affiliate disclaimer example from a  DigitalMarketer  blog post:

DigitalMarketer’s affiliate disclosure statement appears at the top of their blog post, which recommends must-read books for marketers.

And here is a longer sample affiliate disclaimer from popular blog  WellnessMama , which appears on a dedicated page on the website and specifically mentions the FTC and Amazon:

In addition to the above statement, WellnessMama also discloses her affiliate relationship in each one of her blog posts.

In addition to the above, you should always check the requirements of the affiliate program that you are working with as some, such as the  Amazon Associates program ,  have stricter requirements  and  preferred wording  that should be used by their affiliates.

Financial and Investment Disclaimer

If you are sharing any kind of financial information on your website, you should consider having a financial and investment disclaimer.

Indeed, this will warn your website visitors that you cannot be held liable for the financial or investment decisions that they make as a result of consuming your content. It also warns them that the information that you are sharing does not constitute financial advice and is for educational or informational purposes only.

Here is an example from advisory firm  Harrington Investments, Inc. :

This “no investment advice” disclaimer specifies that the content provided on Harrington Investment’s website does not constitute financial or professional advice.

And from cryptocurrency tracking tool  CoinMarketCap :

CoinMarketCap’s disclaimer addresses the accuracy of the information provided and encourages website users to do their own research before making any investment decisions.

Considering the volatility of the stock market and the financial industry as a whole, this type of disclaimer is a must to avoid being held liable should one of your website users make poor investment decisions based on an article that they read on your blog.

Health and Medical Disclaimer

Similar to the financial and investment disclaimer above, a health and medical disclaimer is used to warn your readers that the information provided on your website is not to be taken as professional medical advice and is for educational purposes only.

With most of us now looking up our symptoms online before seeking medical advice, having such a disclaimer should be standard on any website sharing medical information. After all, even if the information provided is correct, it cannot replace a doctor as every person has a unique health history that should be taken into account.

Online publishers of medical information, such as the ever-popular WebMD, have them, as do hospitals that have an online presence such as  St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton :

St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s disclaimer specifies that the information provided does not create a doctor-patient relationship.

This also goes for anyone offering health-related advice, such as fitness or lifestyle professionals. Motivational speaker  Tony Robbins  has a health disclaimer on his website:

Tony Robbins shares information regarding mental health, such as how to deal with anxiety and depression, on his website, which is why it is wise for him to have such a disclaimer.

And  MelissaWoodHealth , who offers online pilates training through her website, includes the following fitness disclaimer:

MelissaWoodHealth’s disclaimer encourages users to seek professional advice before starting a new fitness program and emphasizes that by doing her workouts, you are doing so at your own risk.

Legal Disclaimer

Any website sharing legal-related news, content, or advice should have a legal disclaimer in place that specifies that the information provided is for informational purposes only and does not create a lawyer-client relationship.

Here is a sample legal disclaimer from  Dentons , one of the world’s largest law firms:

This is part of Denton’s terms of use, which also include various other disclaimers and limitations of liability.

Video and YouTube Disclaimer

A YouTube channel, like a blog, is a great way for a business to share information with potential customers. However, the fact that it’s in video format doesn’t protect you from a lawsuit: you still need to include the  proper disclaimers in your videos  and on your channel as your words do carry weight.

You need to assume that people could act upon the information contained in your videos so, depending on what you are sharing with your viewers, you may want to add one of the following disclaimers (this list is non-exhaustive, these are just common examples):

• Use at your own risk
• Affiliate disclosure
• Professional liability (medical, legal, health and fitness)
• No responsibility disclaimer
• Copyright disclaimer

You could include these disclaimers in the first few seconds of your video or in its description.

Here is a screenshot from  ClearValue Tax  Preparation’s YouTube Channel – their accountant, Brian Kim, is particularly active on the platform and their channel now has over 815K subscribers:

This is the disclaimer that appears on their YouTube channel’s “About” page, which they also include in part in each one of their video descriptions.

Views Expressed Disclaimer

A “views expressed” disclaimer is used to notify your readers that the views expressed on your website are yours, and yours only, and not those of any employer or organization that you are affiliated to.

This type of disclaimer is also frequently used on social media, especially on LinkedIn, when an employee wants to make it clear that the comments that they make or the posts that they share are not endorsed by their employer, even though it may be on a topic that is related to their professional field of expertise.

Here is a “views expressed” disclaimer from the  American Bar Association  (ABA), as multiple lawyers and members contribute to their website content:

This “views expressed” disclaimer on the ABA’s website makes it clear that the lawyers that contribute to the platform do so in their individual capacity, and not as employees of the law firms that employ them.

Having such a disclaimer is also essential if you own a website on which readers or other third parties share their opinions on a subject or review products.

For example, here is a “views expressed” disclaimer for user-generated content that can be found in  The Guardian ’s terms of service:

The Guardian’s terms and conditions of use make it clear that they do not necessarily endorse the views and opinions expressed by its readers.

While this does not make it acceptable to write just anything online, at least your opinions will not be wrongly attributed to someone else, which could have devastating consequences.

No Responsibility Disclaimer

A “no responsibility” disclaimer (also known as a “liability disclaimer”) serves to protect your business from  being held liable or responsible  for damages that could arise from someone consuming content on your website or following links to third-party websites that you share.

Here is an example of a disclaimer of liability from  Nanyang Technical University  in Singapore:

Nanyang Technical University’s liability disclaimer addresses content on their website as well as to websites that they link to.

No Guarantee Disclaimer

A no guarantee disclaimer serves to warn your website visitors that, while you are doing your best to ensure the accuracy of the content that you publish, you cannot provide a guarantee for it and, thus, cannot be held responsible for incorrect information and the consequences that could arise from acting upon it.

By way of example, here is a no guarantee disclaimer that appears on the  Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation  website:

While the department makes this list available to its constituents to make financial assurance requirements more intelligible, it does not guarantee the validity of the information.

This type of disclaimer can often be found on websites owned by an organization or people who share their expertise or knowledge on a specific subject, especially if the topic is complex or ever-evolving.

Trademark Disclaimer

A trademark disclaimer should be displayed on your website if you are using another company’s registered trademark. This could be the case if you are talking about a brand in a blog post and include their trademarked logo, for example. Or if you are selling products from various brands and include their company logo on the product description page.

Native Instruments , a leader in digital music production, display the following disclaimer on its website:

This disclaimer is followed by a list of all the registered trademarks used on their website as well as the names of the companies that own them, which clears up any confusion for their users.

By including a trademark disclaimer, you will be making it clear to your website visitors that you are referring to a registered trademark that is not yours, which could help protect you against a trademark infringement complaint.

Confidentiality Disclaimer

Confidentiality disclaimers often appear in the footer of an email, after the signature block. They are used by most companies that exchange sensitive or confidential information over email with the goal of limiting their liability should the email end up in the wrong hands.

Here is a very detailed email disclaimer used by  Sevocomm , a global telecommunication company,

This confidentiality disclaimer by Sevocomm is displayed on their website; one can imagine that the disclaimer in their employees’ email signatures is a condensed version of the above.

Confidentiality disclaimers can be general or more specific, depending on the nature of your business.

Past Performance Disclaimer

Past performance disclaimers are notably used by financial institutions, investment firms, and trading platforms to warn potential and current clients that past performance does not guarantee any future results: this is due to the volatile nature of the financial markets.

It serves to protect them from lawsuits brought on by disappointed clients that were expecting a good return on investment or specific results.

Here is the past performance disclaimer that appears on  Wealthsimple ’s website:

Wealthsimple’s past performance disclaimer refers to its investment risk disclosure, which summarizes the risks of investing in various financial products.

Zero commission stock-trading platform  Robinhood  includes this text in their website footer:

This past performance disclaimer addresses the risk inherent to investing in securities and encourages investors to think about their objectives before getting started.

Testimonial Disclaimer

Having raving customer reviews and testimonials on your website or social media profiles can be a great way to attract new business however, you must ensure that you have the proper disclaimer.

IdealShape is a company that sells meal replacement shakes, bars, and supplements that promote weight loss; it uses testimonials and success stories on its websites to promote its products. Here is its testimonial disclaimer:

IdealShape’s testimonial disclaimer mentions that some people may have received compensation in exchange for their testimonials, in the form of free products or discounts.

A testimonial disclaimer is essential if you want to comply with applicable laws. It should mention that your previous customers’ experience does not guarantee that any future user will have the same results and, if the individual received any kind of compensation for the review, it should be clearly disclosed.

“As Is” and No Warranty Disclaimer

Frequently included in website terms and conditions, an “as is” or no warranty disclaimer warns users that by choosing to use your website, software, or product, they are assuming the inherent risks. It also underlines that you are not making any guarantees other than what is expressly provided for.

Kayako  is a customer service and help desk software provider. Here is the disclaimer of warranties that is part of their terms and conditions:

Kayako’s disclaimer of warranties specifically mentions the risks inherent to Internet connectivity, which could potentially have consequences for which they disclaim liability.

Twitter ’s terms of service also include an “as-is” disclaimer:

Twitter’s no warranty disclaimer is detailed and specifically mentions the situations or events in which they disclaim liability.

Your no warranty disclaimer should be hard to miss for your users, as they have to be made aware that such a clause exists before choosing to do business with you or use your software or website.

How do I Write a Disclaimer?

A disclaimer is an important piece of the puzzle when you are assembling a website. Will a good disclaimer completely protect you against any possible legal action? No, there is nothing you can do to prevent possible legal action.

However, a valid disclaimer is a great way to protect yourself against many different claims of liability. As long as your disclaimer is well-written and relevant to your site, it will play an important role in the legal side of your business.

Simply copying and pasting a disclaimer from another website is not a good idea, you need to have one that is tailored to the needs and requirements of your business.

Use our  online generator  to come up with an attorney-drafted disclaimer based on your specific needs and requirements. It’s fast, simple, and reliable.

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What is a Management Presentation: Templates, Tips & Topics 

Written by: Zain Zia

Management presentations are a big deal. They help leadership teams present high-level company information to potential investors or buyers.

These meetings have a lot at stake, as they ultimately drive decisions that could impact an organization’s future and success. Hence the need to make your presentation as impactful as possible.

If you’re creating and giving a management presentation for the first time, this article is your handy guide. We’ll cover key elements to include in your presentation and topic ideas to influence, persuade and impress stakeholders.

You’ll also find tips for preparing and presenting your management presentation, common pitfalls to avoid along the way and templates you can use to create beautiful and professional management presentations in minutes.

Table of Contents

What is a management presentation, the purpose of a management presentation, 10 management presentation templates, best management presentation tips, 12 management presentation topics.

• Management presentations contain high-level company information to help stakeholders, such as board members or potential buyers make informed decisions.
• Key components of a management presentation are the company overview, organizational structure, business offerings, market and competitor analysis, sales and marketing strategy, financial health, operational performance, risk assessment and future projections.
• The purpose of a management presentation is to facilitate decision-making, highlight achievements and milestones, identify and mitigate risks, demonstrate financial health and build trust and credibility.
• Visme is an all-in-one design tool that helps you create professional and interactive management presentations within minutes. Pick a ready-made template to get started, or use our AI presentation maker to create branded templates. Browse through our extensive asset library of icons, images, and videos, and use our AI capabilities to take your presentations to the next level.

A management presentation is a document or slide deck prepared by your company’s management to present to key stakeholders like board members or potential buyers. It typically covers high-level information, such as financials, strategy and performance data.

These presentations provide an excellent opportunity for managers to showcase their expertise, leadership capabilities and strategic foresight. They also prove to stakeholders why they should be trusted to steer the organization towards success.

Key Components of a Management Presentation

Here are some of the key components of a management presentation:

• Agenda. Create an agenda slide that lists the main topics or sections you’re going to cover in your presentation, similar to a table of contents.
• Company Overview. Provide a brief history of your company, including the mission statement, core values, and key milestones and achievements.
• Organizational Structure and Team. Provide an overview of your company's organizational structure and introduce your management team and their roles within the company.
• Product or Service Offerings. Share a brief overview of your company's products or services and highlight their unique selling points and competitive advantages.
• Market and Competitor Analysis. Present an analysis of your industry, including key customer segments, market size and market share. Include a SWOT analysis to assess your company's strengths and weaknesses and identify any opportunities and threats that could impact your strategic position.
• Sales and Marketing Strategy. Outline your company's approach to reaching and engaging customers, including an overview of marketing channels and sales performance metrics. Also, highlight your plans for boosting market reach and sales.
• Financial Performance. Present your company's historical financial data, current financial health and future projections.
• Operational Performance . Discuss your company's efficiency, workplace productivity, supply chain management and quality control measures. Mention any significant operational achievements that you may have or improvements you’d like to see in the future.
• Strategic Initiatives and Growth Plan. Discuss the different ways your company can grow. Specify any strategic initiatives that are already planned and explain how they align with the company’s overall strategic goals.
• Risk Analysis. Identify potential risks and challenges your company faces and discuss strategies to overcome those challenges.
• Future Projections. Outline your company's vision for future growth, including strategic partnerships, new market expansions, product innovations, operational improvements and financial forecasts.

A management presentation is primarily used to communicate important information to stakeholders. But these presentations have other use cases too:

• Facilitate Decision-Making: Management presentations enable stakeholders to make informed decisions about the company's future direction, investments and resource allocation by sharing relevant data and insights with them.
• Highlight Achievements and Milestones. Sharing your company's progress toward its goals helps boost employee and stakeholder morale, motivation and confidence.
• Identify and Mitigate Risks. A management presentation breaks down potential risks and challenges faced by the organization and presents strategies for overcoming those problems.
• Build Trust and Credibility. Build trust with stakeholders by providing transparent, accurate and reliable information, and demonstrating your team’s skills, competence and strategic vision to guide the company toward its goals.
• Demonstrate Financial Health. Reassure stakeholders of your company’s growth potential by providing them with a clear picture of the company's financial performance and future projections.

Management presentations can impact your company’s future, which is why it’s important to make them count. Starting with a template can ensure you’re covering the right sections, have a solid design and layout in place, and save you valuable time.

Visme’s management presentation templates are a must-have for companies looking to create professional, branded slide decks in minutes.

If you’re looking for inspiring management presentation examples, here’s a quick round-up of 10 of the best presentation templates to help you get started:

1. Management Business Case Presentation

If you’re proposing mergers and acquisitions between companies and want all your company stakeholders on board, this management presentation M&A template is exactly what you need. It covers most aspects of the merger process, including stakeholder analysis, cost-benefit analysis, implementation timeline and SWOT analysis.

The M&A management features a clean, modern design with a professional-looking color combination of blue, red and gray. It also has a well-organized layout and eye-catching fonts to make the content more readable.

Use Visme’s AI brand wizard to create unique, branded templates in a matter of minutes. Simply enter your web URL and let AI automatically pull your logos, fonts and colors from the website. Edit and customize these templates to your heart's content.

2. Management Consultant Presentation

Use this management consultant presentation template to effectively communicate your management and corporate strategies to key stakeholders. It comes with professionally designed pages to outline your methodologies, deliverables and team members.

It features a modern design with a bold blue color scheme that conveys a sense of professionalism and trust. And a variety of icons, images and data widgets are used to enhance its visual appeal.

Share and publish your management presentations with stakeholders via a link or QR code, or embed them anywhere online. Then track essential analytics such as views, unique visits, average time and average completion to manage presentations more effectively.

You can also use tools like Dynamic Fields to tailor specific content automatically for multiple stakeholders and investors.

3. Project Management Presentation

This project management presentation template is an excellent pick for project managers looking to effectively communicate crucial information in a clear and organized manner to their stakeholders. It includes brilliantly designed pages for you to enter your project scope, milestones, roadmap, budget and risk assessment.

The management presentation template features a professional design and uses a mix of high-quality images, icons and data visualizations to not just enhance its visual appeal but also boost its readability.

4. Human Resources Presentation Template

This presentation template is exclusively designed for HR professionals looking to showcase their amazing work and win over their audience. It comes with fully editable slides that let you present your organization structure, strategic focus areas, company culture and more.

It features a unique visual layout, eye-catching color scheme, strong typography, data widgets and high-quality images and icons to break up text and add visual interest to the slides.

If you’re sharing your management presentation online, you can add animation and interactivity in Visme to make them more engaging and functional. For example, add animated characters, motion effects, slides transitions, links and hover effects, and even embed videos.

5. B2B Marketing Lead Growth Presentation Template

Break down your lead generation strategy and demonstrate your expertise in the field using this B2B marketing presentation template. It has slides on B2B lead generation challenges, lead scoring models, campaign analysis and performance metrics.

This presentation  features a bold design with a vibrant green color scheme that conveys energy and growth along with a brilliant selection of high-quality vector icons and high-res stock photos to make content engaging.

Present your results or break essential financial data with Visme’s data visualization tool . Using our drag-and-drop editor, you can incorporate customizable charts and graphs, add colors or interactivity, and much more.

6. Executive Presentation Template

If you're preparing for an executive meeting and need a template to make a great first impression, then this executive presentation template is for you.

It comes with pre-designed slides to enter your project updates, business insights, cost projections, etc. It features a sophisticated design with a contrasting color scheme of purple and white, stylized text boxes, icons, images and easy-to-read fonts.

Get your team members to work on content or design in real time with Visme’s team collaboration and workflow features. Assign tasks, set deadlines, share comments and feedback, view progress and much more.

7. CRM Management Presentation Template

This management presentation template is designed for managers to effectively communicate their company's CRM strategy, mission, products, business model and more. It’s a great pick if you’re looking to align teams, secure buy-in from stakeholders and boost CRM initiatives.

It features a professional and modern design with a yellow and black color scheme and a mix of text, data widgets and photos to convey information in an engaging way.

8. Financial Projections Presentation Template

Present your company’s current financial performance and projections in the best possible way using this financial management presentation template.

It features a consistent purple color scheme, giving the template a professional look.The layout is perfectly organized with ample whitespace, making the information easy to read. It also uses data widgets like charts and tables to visualize important financial data, making it ideal for presenting financial reports and internal reviews and projections.

9. Azure Startup Presentation Template

Share important startup information with potential partners or investors, and win them over using this startup management presentation template. It comes with professionally designed pages for you to add your company history, workflow details, implementation timeline and important financial details.

It features a professional design with a blue and white color combination, high-res images and icons, modern fonts and interactive charts and graphs to make the financial information more engaging.

Facing difficulty writing content under a specific heading? Don't worry, just use Visme’s AI text generator to draft high-quality first drafts. Enter a detailed prompt describing what you’re looking for and let AI do all the heavy lifting for you—use the content as it is, edit it or regenerate it for accuracy and style.

10. Sales Strategy Presentation Template

If you want to shed light on your sales strategies and the results you've achieved through those strategies, this is one of the best business presentation examples.

This template comes with slides on customer acquisition, sales cycle pitfalls, reducing the sales cycle and more—all of which are completely editable. Just replace the placeholder text with your own and you're good to go.

The design layout of this sales management presentation template nicely balances text and visuals. Photos of business interactions convey a sense of collaboration and progress, and quantifiable data is presented through clear charts and tables.

Pro Tip: If you’re running out of time or facing a creative block, Visme’s AI presentation maker can get you started on the right foot. Simply type in a prompt, choose your style and color theme and the tool will generate a custom presentation design for you.

Creating and delivering a successful management presentation requires thorough preparation, effective communication skills and a clear understanding of your audience.

Here are a few useful tips to consider:

How to Prepare a Management Presentation

• Understand Your Audience. Take time to research and analyze your audience—their background, knowledge level and expectations, and tailor your content accordingly.
• Clearly Define Your Objectives. Identify key goals and takeaways you want your audience to have after your presentation. Reinforce these key points throughout your presentation.
• Gather and Analyze Relevant Data. Collect reliable data that supports your points and strengthens your arguments. Present your findings in a way that's easy to understand by everyone.
• Rehearse What You're Going to Say. Practice and rehearse your presentation over and over again to familiarize yourself with the content and improve your delivery. Pay close attention to your pacing, tone and body language to maximize the impact of your presentation.
• Dress Smartly. Dress according to the audience and setting of your presentation. This will help boost your confidence and create a positive first impression.

How to Present a Management Presentation

• Open Strong. Capture your audience's attention from the get-go with a funny one-liner, an image or a video, a personal story, or a shocking statistic. This will set the tone for the rest of the presentation and establish the importance of your topic.
• Use Storytelling Techniques. Use real-life examples, case studies, or anecdotes to make your points more relatable and memorable.
• Communicate Effectively. Speak clearly and at a moderate pace to keep your audience engaged. Maintain eye contact to reel them in the conversation.
• Interact with Your Audience. Ask questions, encourage participation and seek feedback to keep your audience involved.
• Use Visual Aids. Incorporate icons, photos, videos and charts and graphs to break the monotony, simplify complex information and make the presentation more compelling.
• Apply the 10-20-30 Rule. Aim for 10 slides for a 20-minute presentation, using a 30-point font size for readability. This rule ensures your slides are to the point, visually appealing and easy to follow.
• End on a High. Close your presentations with a summary that reinforces key points.

Management Presentation Mistakes to Avoid

• Overloading Slides. Avoid cluttering slides with too much information, as this can overwhelm your audience and detract from your main message. Keep slides simple and focused on key points to maintain audience attention.
• Using Jargon. Using technical terms and industry-specific jargon might confuse your audience. Use simple language to ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Reading from Slides. Reading text directly from your slides can disengage your audience. Instead, use them as prompts to elaborate on your points.
• Neglecting Visual Aids . Failing to incorporate visual elements such as images, icons and charts and graphs can make your presentation less engaging. Use visuals to break up text, illustrate key concepts and keep your audience interested.
• Lacking Enthusiasm. Presenting with a dull tone or a disengaged demeanor can cause your audience to lose interest quickly. Maintain a positive, energetic presence throughout your presentation to keep your audience engaged.
• Ending Abruptly. Failing to properly end your presentation is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Summarize key points and be open to questions.

Managers can create several types of business presentations depending on the audience and objectives. Here are 12 management presentation ideas to consider:

• Company overview (history, vision, mission and values)
• Organizational performance and growth
• Product or service offerings (pricing, roadmap, USPs and distribution strategy)
• Customer segmentation and target market
• HR, employee engagement and talent management
• Change management
• Marketing and brand strategy
• Financial performance and projections
• CSR and sustainability initiatives
• Strategic alliances and partnerships
• Risk assessment
• Tech adoption and digital transformation

Create Powerful & Engaging Presentations with Visme

Management presentations are important tools for communicating with stakeholders, building trust and influencing decisions that could decide the organization’s future.

But let's be honest: it's not always easy to create a presentation that ticks all the boxes. That’s the beauty of Visme—our presentation software helps you do just that.

With Visme, you can create presentations that not only look polished and professional but also keep your audience hooked from start to finish.

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Our data visualization tools make even the most complex information easy to understand. You can also take your slides to the next level with multimedia, such as videos, animations and interactive elements like links and hover effects.

Finally, work seamlessly with your team using Visme’s collaboration tools, making sure everyone's on the same page.

Learn about more features or sign up for free and start creating a management presentation for your company right away.

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About the Author

Zain is a freelance writer for eCommerce and SaaS businesses. When he’s not crafting converting copy and insightful content, he can be found making travel videos or discussing soccer on social media.

• Due Diligence

How to Prepare for M&A Management Presentations

Management Presentations in M&A Due Diligence

The banker said to block my calendar for management presentations.  Excuse me, what are management presentations?  And for two weeks?

Yes, and this is only the halfway point.  The real “fun” in due diligence comes after the management presentations.  However, before we get too far, let’s break down what happens at management presentations and how you can prepare your company and leadership team.

What are Management Presentations?

Management presentations are an opportunity for your leadership team to showcase your company to a handful of potential buyers that you have invited to participate in the final bidding process.  You’ll meet with one bidder per day and present a complete overview of your business.

All presentations have a different flavor, but you’ll generally cover the following topics in your 50-plus slide CIM, or Confidential Information Memoranda.

• Quick facts about your company
• Market overview and total addressable market (TAM)
• Areas for revenue growth
• Your products
• Your services
• People/organization structure
• And last, but definitely not least, finance

Financials, Financials, Financials

There is a reason that I saved the last bullet for finance.  Although it’s just one of many important bullets, your CFO, financials, and forecast will be stress tested during the bidding process.

From junior analysts to partners to CEO’s, all eyes will be on your historical AND forecasted financials.  Laptops and calculators will be out, and they’ll be re-crunching your numbers.

It goes without saying that this is a little nerve-wracking.  It’s like having your very own final exam graded, out loud, by your classmates and professor.

Tim McCormick, CEO at SaaSOptics, puts it this way, “on the tactical front, an automated order-to-payment and renewal process is vitally important to investors and acquirers. If these processes are disconnected or, or worse, tied to spreadsheets, you open yourself up to errors and risk. That’s a recipe for inaccurate historical and projected data. You will not want potential investors or acquirers uncover this during due diligence, so be prepared ahead of time.”

The “Model”

During the process, you and your bankers will work on the “model,” a detailed long-term financial forecast of your business.  I will not sugar coat this.  This will be painful if you have not been regularly forecasting your financials prior to running a process.

You’ll have to forecast your revenue lines, COGS, operating expenses, and headcount to a detailed level.  For example, you’ll want to forecast your revenue by product line and itemize your assumptions for churn, expansion, migrations, and so on.

The more backup behind your assumptions, the better.  Meaning, I can point to this historical number or metric to substantiate why I am forecasting 25% growth.

And, of course, you will be asked about the metrics.  What’s your CAC payback period?  How’s your sales and marketing efficiency?

“We’ve worked with hundreds of B2B SaaS businesses who have pitched their business to investors and acquirers,” says McCormick. “The right metrics and analytics not only provide insight into performance and growth, they are now table steaks. Being financially prepared to have these conversations is crucial – and that means having bullet proof GAAP financials and subscription performance metrics. If you don’t, you run the risk of a lower valuation or having your business overlooked completely.”

SaaS Metrics

I am a big believer in the philosophy that you can’t forecast your business accurately if you don’t know where you’ve been.  Before you enter a sell-side process, you need to establish your baseline SaaS metrics (CAC , CAC payback period , LTV , etc.) to be able to speak intelligently about your business and help bidders become more comfortable with your business model.

These answers should be at the tip of your tongue – ready to fire off answers as soon as their asked.  What’s your CAC Payback Period?  Twelve months.  Next question.

You will not have an answer for everything, but preparation is key.

The time is now to invest in improving your financial processes and financial data.  Even if you are not thinking about taking on an investment, it takes time to improve your technology, reporting, and processes.  And, yes, you’ll need GAAP recurring revenue by customer for the previous three to five years.  If that scares you, start planning today for the time when you are sitting in your own management presentation.

Doing your homework now will save you 2x the time and headache during the process.  The better technology and data you have prior to entering, the smoother the process will go and your numbers will be more believable.

Thank you for the added comments, Tim.  Tim McCormick is CEO of SaaSOptics , a cloud-based subscription management platform that enables emerging and growth B2B subscription businesses the ability to eliminate their dependency on spreadsheets and streamline their financial operations, reporting and performance metrics.

I have worked in finance and accounting for 25+ years.  I’ve been a SaaS CFO for 9+ years and began my career in the FP&A function.  I hold an active Tennessee CPA license and earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and MBA from the University of Iowa.  I offer coaching, fractional CFO services, and SaaS finance courses.

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Disclaimer Template

by Masha Komnenic CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT, FIP

May 10, 2023

Having a website disclaimer is vital to protect your business from liability if you conduct business online. A disclaimer can be your defense against legal claims from your content or product users.

We’ve put together this guide to help you create a comprehensive disclaimer on your own, using our free disclaimer generator or with our disclaimer template .

What Is a Disclaimer?

Types of disclaimers, are you legally required to have a disclaimer, do you need a disclaimer on your website.

• What’s Usually Included in a Disclaimer

What Makes a Good Disclaimer?

Where to post your disclaimer, good website disclaimer examples, sample disclaimer template [free download], disclaimer faqs.

A disclaimer is a legal statement that can help reduce a business’s legal liability. For example, they may protect a business from legal claims arising from users and third-party risk.

Your disclaimer serves as a warning notice when people visit your blog or website. It informs readers that following your advice, purchasing your products, or using your services may harm them and that you are not liable.

Depending on the nature of your business and the information you share on your website, you may need one or more of these types of disclaimer:

Affiliate Disclaimer

An affiliate disclaimer lets your website users know you may earn affiliate commissions from products you recommend. If you have affiliate links in any part of your website, the 2009 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 2009 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising mandates that you inform your site visitors.

A good example of this type of disclaimer is the Amazon affiliate disclosure , which is required by the Amazon Associates program, one of the most popular affiliate programs on the internet.

Testimonial Disclaimer

A testimonial disclaimer is a statement that informs readers that the experience they’ll have when using your products or services may differ from what they see in your testimonials or reviews. See our testimonial disclaimer examples if you’re unsure what kinds of testimonials need to be disclosed.

Legal Disclaimers

If you run a legal website, you may need to include some important legal disclaimers to comply with various professional rules and ethics and protect yourself from liabilities or misconceptions.

• No Attorney–Client Privilege : This disclaimer states that when a client contacts you through your blog, it does not create an attorney–client privilege. In other words, it tells clients that any emails, contact forms, or chats submitted through your site are not confidential.
• Attorney Advertising : You also need to include the phrase “Attorney Advertising” on a prominent page on your legal site. Some jurisdictions have different requirements — to make sure your site complies with the law, you should check your state’s regulations.
• Misleading Information : Your attorney advertising cannot contain false or misleading information that would deceive clients. Advertising must be based in fact, and shouldn’t promise specific results or make claims that would lead a client to have unreasonable expectations concerning a case’s outcome.
• Specializations : Don’t claim or suggest you’re an expert in any areas of the law on your legal site unless you’re aptly certified. Using the correct legal disclaimer language is critical so you don’t mislead your users.
• Identify Attorneys : Most states require you to identify which attorneys are responsible for your site. This implies that you should also include your firm’s name and address.
• Liability for Costs : Are your clients responsible for costs, no matter the outcome of their case? Whether payment depends on a case’s outcome is up to you, but you need to clarify on your website what your policy is.

Medical Advice Disclaimer

If you run an online business or app that offers medical advice — such as a health website — you need to inform users that the information on the site is only meant to educate and is not intended to replace medical advice from a healthcare provider. This is known as a medical advice disclaimer .

You may also include that using your site or application does not establish a doctor-patient relationship.

Professional Blog / Services Disclaimer

If you run a professional blog or have a professional service platform, you need to state that the content on your site is strictly for educational purposes and does not amount to professional advice.

Product Disclaimer

A product disclaimer helps you protect your business against any liability that may come from the use of your product. For example, product disclaimers often state that the seller does not offer any warranty for the products.

You can also use it to protect your business from claims that arise from injuries sustained by misusing your products.

Copyright Disclaimer

A  copyright disclaimer  informs your site users that the site’s content — text, images, and video — are subject to copyright protection. In addition, you can state the rules guiding the use of your content. 

On the other hand, if you use any copyrighted content on your website without permission, identify it clearly, and include that you’re using it lawfully under the  principle of fair use .

Views Expressed Disclaimer

A views expressed disclaimer asserts that the opinions expressed in an article or any written material are those of the author and not the opinion of the website. Publishers usually use this to protect themselves from liability. Also, persons belonging to an organization use this disclaimer to clarify that anything they say is their individual opinion, not their organization’s official stance.

Past Performance Disclaimer

A past performance disclaimer informs users that any past performance they know about does not guarantee future results. So you’re letting them know that what happened previously won’t necessarily happen again.

This disclaimer statement is popular among investment advisers or consultants that offer investment or financial advice to the public.

Use at Your Own Risk Disclaimer

If you have a site where you share tips on how people can achieve results in specific areas, you may want to include this disclaimer. For instance, if you run a website that shares recipes or skincare advice, a user may have an allergic reaction from following your recommendation. This disclaimer may protect you from any claim they may bring against you.

Warranty Disclaimers

Warranty disclaimers can help you protect your business from liability if your any of your goods or services don’t meet the expectations of your customers or if your products are misused.

Confidentiality Disclaimers

A confidentiality disclaimer is commonly used in email to inform the recipient that the information in the email is for their eyes only and should not be shared with others.

Confidentiality is an especially important principle in education, law, and healthcare, which are industries that transfer lots of sensitive information via email.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires persons sending protected health information to US medical patients to include a confidentiality disclaimer. So, you’ll need a confidentiality disclaimer statement if you do this.

No-responsibility Disclaimers

A no-responsibility disclaimer, otherwise known as a no-liability disclaimer , is a statement that helps you prevent claims of civil liability by your customers.

While some disclaimers are not mandated by law, others, like affiliate disclaimers , are legally required. The FTC requires you to include an affiliate disclosure if you receive any compensation, whether in cash or in-kind, from a company for reviewing or recommending their product.

You should have a disclaimer on your website and any online platform you use.

Even if all you have is a platform where you share content for free, a website disclaimer helps you protect yourself from liability claims from people who get injured from using your content. A disclaimer can help protect your business.

Some affiliate programs, such as the Amazon Associates Program, require their affiliate partners to have an affiliate disclosure on their sites. So, having an affiliate disclaimer is both legally mandated and a best business practice.

An earnings disclaimer is another type of disclaimer that the FTC mandates for websites offering investment advice, financial advice, or money-making opportunities. 

If you have a website where you share information on any of the above — especially if you use reviews or testimonials to promote your offerings — the FTC requires you to let users know that results are neither typical nor guaranteed.

In some professions, such as law, professional rules and ethics mandate the use of certain disclaimers. For instance, in some states, you must be clear that your legal site is used for advertisement. For example, according to Rule 7.1(f) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct , lawyers in New York must include the words “Attorney Advertising” on their website’s home page.

Does a Disclaimer Legally Protect You?

Yes, a disclaimer legally protects you in some instances. You should include disclaimers in different parts of your online platform because, when done well, they can protect you from liability claims.

Having a disclaimer on your website warns users of the risk involved with using your products, services, or content , which will help set your website users’ expectations. A disclaimer may discourage them from bringing a civil action if they are injured by or dissatisfied with the information or products you offer.

However, it’s important to note that you can’t use a disclaimer to protect yourself from your own inappropriate behavior . For example, if you make false claims in your advertising or intentionally share misleading information, a disclaimer won’t save you from the repercussions.

You also can’t use a disclaimer to shield yourself from liability for defaulting on your legal obligation to your website users or customers.

While the laws governing the use of disclaimers may not be as clear cut as the use of a privacy policy — which is compulsory in many countries — or the use of terms and conditions , you can take certain steps — which we will discuss later in this guide — to give your disclaimers a stronger chance of being enforceable.

Most likely, yes, you need a disclaimer on your website. However, you also need one on any online platform you use in your business — such as your mobile apps or emails.

You’ll see disclaimers everywhere. For example, your gym informs you in the membership form that you’re responsible for any injury you sustain while working out in their facility. You can also see disclaimer statements on your TV screen and in your favorite novels, informing you that all the characters are fictitious and any resemblance is a coincidence.

Having a website disclaimer may not be one of the exciting parts of doing business, but it is one of the crucial things that may save your time, money, and business reputation down the line.

So, why exactly should you have a disclaimer on your website?

Reasons To Have a Disclaimer

Here are some reasons you should have a disclaimer:

Safeguard Your Rights

Having a disclaimer can help protect your rights. For example, a  copyright disclaimer on your website will notify users that all the materials on your site are subject to copyright laws. So, it’ll protect your copyright and discourage others from infringing on your intellectual property.

If you have a website where you use other people’s copyrighted material under the law, a  fair use disclaimer can help protect your right to do so.

By stating clearly your rights to use copyrighted materials without permission, you’re notifying users and the owners of the materials that you’re aware that the law protects your actions. This will help prevent you from being barraged with legal actions like cease-and-desist letters and litigation.

Limit Your Liabilities

Every business comes with risk, but a disclaimer can help you significantly reduce your risk exposure. Specific disclaimers like  medical disclaimers and  use at your risk disclaimers can protect you from liability claims from persons who may claim to have suffered injuries from following your suggestions.

Imagine a situation where anyone can visit your website, act on the information you share, and sue you if they suffer any harm because of it. Without these disclaimers, it would be challenging to run an online business successfully without being drowned by liability claims.

Disclaim Third-Party Liability

Disclaimers help ensure you are not responsible for the actions of others. By informing users that you work with third parties and you don’t make any guarantee as to the effectiveness or accuracy of their content, services, or products, you can ensure you won’t be liable for other people’s failings.

Having a disclaimer on your website can prevent you from being held responsible for people’s comments on your site or social media platforms. 

Also, if you allow advertising on your website and social media pages, a disclaimer can shield you from being held responsible for any liability.

Protect Your Organization’s Reputation

With disclaimers, you can prevent your actions from affecting the interest of any organization you’re affiliated with. For example, if you own a blog where you share your opinions on issues, a disclaimer can help you clarify that your views are yours and not your organization’s.

Similarly, if you publish guest posts or allow comments on your website, a disclaimer can help detach your business from other people’s opinions on your website or blog. This can save your business from any backlash or liability that may come from such opinions.

Shift Legal Responsibility to Employees

Employers are often liable for their employees’ actions because it is assumed that they’re acting on their employer’s directive. However, as a business owner, you can help protect yourself from liability for your employees’ actions with a disclaimer.

For instance, you can include an email disclaimer stating that the views and opinions expressed in the email are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the company’s views and opinions. You can further state that employees are not authorized to make defamatory statements and that the company will not be responsible for such statements can save you from trouble.

So, if an employee defames a customer, you can rely on that disclaimer to shift the responsibility to the employee.

Build Trust with Site Visitors

Consumers appreciate it when a business is transparent in its dealings with them. Having website disclaimers helps show website visitors that the company is transparent. 

In addition, disclaimers help to set the expectations of your users, which means you’ll be less likely to disappoint them.

What’s Usually Included in a Disclaimer

The content of your disclaimer depends on the nature of your business and the liability you want to protect it from.

The following are the most common disclaimer clauses you’re likely to find in a disclaimer.

State that your business does not take responsibility for any inaccuracy in any information shared on your website. This clause is crucial because the information you believed was correct may actually be — or become — false.

This clause ensures that anyone who relies on the information stated on your website and suffers harm due to it cannot hold you liable for their losses or injuries. By including this clause, you place the responsibility on your site users to verify any information they see on your site before relying on it.

Liability for Tangible Goods

If you sell physical products, whether you are the manufacturer or not, warn users that they can’t hold you responsible for any injury they suffer from using your product.

If you are a seller, be sure to include that you’re not responsible for any product warranties or warranty-related claims.

You may also include that the product specifications on your site were provided by the manufacturer. This protects you from any defects or inaccuracies in the product specifications.

It’s common to include the phrase “as is” to let customers know that the product they will receive is exactly as they saw it on your online store. This helps protect you from any misconceptions a customer has about your products.

Liability for Services

This clause is important if your business provides a service or an opportunity for your clients to use certain equipment, such as a gym. Your disclaimer should state that using your equipment carries inherent risks, and you won’t be responsible for any injury clients suffer while using your equipment.

A copyright notice informs users that materials shared on your website are protected by copyright law. And so, they can’t use your content in a way that infringes on your copyright without your permission.

If you used other people’s copyrighted content without their consent, acknowledge the use and state that the use of the content is under law.

Third-Party Liability

Explain that you don’t take responsibility for information contained on third-party websites your website links to. If you allow other people’s advertisements on your site, clarify that you don’t endorse any advertisement. You can also include that your site reserves the right to remove any comment you deem offensive, and you’re not liable for any opinion shared.

Multiple Content Providers

If your website publishes articles, guest posts, featured pieces, or opinions, state that the thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the authors. Specify that you’re not responsible for any such opinion or thought. Having this clause may protect you from a libel suit.

If you also share your opinions on your site, you should state that the information you share is not a fact but your opinion on different issues.

Compensation Limitations

You can have a clause limiting the amount of money anybody can claim for any injury or loss they sustain from using your site, services, or product. Make sure you state the specific amount in simple terms.

If you use other people’s registered trademarks on your website, a disclaimer statement disavowing your business of any affiliation with them is proper. For instance, if you sell products from different manufacturers on your site, you may have their logos displayed on your website. State that there is no special relationship between you and them (if there is none).

Having a good disclaimer is vital to help protect your business from liability. Follow these tips to create a good disclaimer.

Don’t Copy a Disclaimer from Another Website

Your business is distinct from other businesses. So, what you need to include in your website disclaimer may differ from what another business needs.

For instance, if you have a website where you share health and fitness tips, and you recommend health and fitness products, you’ll probably need, among others, a medical advice disclaimer informing people that information shared does not amount to medical advice.

You’ll also need an affiliate disclaimer to notify users that you earn a commission if they purchase the recommended products with your link.

In contrast, a website selling health and fitness products may not need to include a medical advice disclaimer or an affiliate disclaimer, but they’ll definitely need a product disclaimer.

If you copy another website’s disclaimer, you will have a disclaimer that doesn’t cater to your needs.

It’s also not advisable to copy the legal disclaimer of a website offering similar services or products as your business because you’re not sure that their disclaimer offers all the protection you need. At most, they can inspire you in creating your legal disclaimer template.

Write in Clear Language and Avoid Legalese

Unless you have a business that caters only to lawyers, most of your website users are normal, average human beings to whom legal jargon won’t make much sense. So, in all cases, avoid  legalese  and write your disclaimers in simple, everyday words that a person of average intelligence can understand.

Seek Legal Advice from an Attorney

You may hire a lawyer to write or review your website disclaimers or advise you on the disclaimers you need to have on your website. However, you should consult with a lawyer with some level of experience in your industry, not just any lawyer. An attorney with industry experience understands your business and knows what liability you most need to protect yourself from.

Use a Disclaimer Generator

Disclaimer templates may give you an idea of what you are aiming for, but they are a one-size-fits-all approach, which rarely works. Your business is unique and has particular needs. Therefore, something as important as a disclaimer deserves to be given the appropriate attention.

A disclaimer generator is a better alternative to a disclaimer template. A disclaimer generator helps you create a disclaimer tailored for your business.

Termly’s disclaimer generator can help you create a legal disclaimer for your blog, website, mobile app, Facebook app, Google AdSense, or SaaS business. We designed our tool to be fully customizable. You can choose a style that matches your business’s overall look.

You can put your website disclaimer in a few parts of your website. Often, the type of disclaimer determines the appropriate place to post it.

A common practice with disclaimers is to post them where they are conspicuous. Some of the most common places you can post your website disclaimer include:

Inside Current Legal Policies

Websites need to have various policies intended to protect both the site owner and the visitors. You can include your disclaimer inside your relevant legal policies.

For example, you can include a third-party disclaimer in your terms and conditions and a product disclaimer in your refund policy.

Informational Menu or Section

You can include disclaimers as part of your menu. For example, you can build a webpage, state your disclaimers on the page, and make it accessible from your menu.

Website Footer

Many websites display a link to their disclaimer in the website footer alongside other key website pages, such as terms and conditions and privacy policy. Having your disclaimer as part of your footer gives every web user ample opportunity to read your disclaimers.

Banners and Pop-Ups

You can post your website disclaimers as banners or pop-ups. Displaying your disclaimers in one of these ways gives them more chance of being seen and read.

Since a website user often has to click to close a pop-up, when your disclaimers are displayed as pop-ups, it will be harder for your visitors to claim that they didn’t see it.

End of Content/Articles

Some disclaimers, like an opinions expressed disclaimer, can be added at the end of the article. After they read the article, you can immediately let the user know that the views expressed are not necessarily yours, so they know who to look for if they want to sue.

You can display your disclaimers where users will encounter them while signing up to use your website. For instance, you can add a link to your disclaimers on your sign-up page so every user has the opportunity to view them before they go ahead.

During Checkout

You can post your disclaimers at the checkout point when users are about to purchase a product. Disclaimers like product liability may be especially effective at this point.

Advertisement

If you run advertisements on your site, the best time to show your third-party disclaimer may be before or after the visitor watches or reads the ad.

We rounded up some examples of disclaimers that we think are great and explain why.

Rich, Intelisano, and Katz

This law firm’s website complies with the New York requirement of including the phrase “attorney advertising” on their home page.

They have this phrase plus their disclaimer in their website footer, which means both the phrase and their disclaimer policy are visible on any page.

Their disclaimer explains to the reader that the information contained does not amount to legal advice and strongly urges the reader not to rely on any information contained on the site without legal advice.

The disclaimer goes further to protect them in case anyone from a state with more stringent rules than New York’s visits their website.

Their disclaimer is short but quite extensive and uses clear easy-to-understand words. It also includes a copyright disclaimer, states that there is no attorney-client relationship, and informs readers their communication via the site is not confidential or privileged.

This disclaimer is a great example of covering your bases without being wordy.

Bites of Wellness

Every article on this website states clearly that the site owner is an Amazon Associate and may earn a commission for every purchase via the link. This affiliate disclaimer is placed in a way that all site readers will see it.

Another thing we like is that the affiliate disclosure includes a link that leads to their privacy policy, which is where they have their other disclaimers, such as advertising disclaimers and third-party disclaimers.

The BCS website’s disclaimer of liability is wide and covers lots of disclaimer types. The organization, among other things:

• States that information on their site should not be construed as advice and should not be relied on
• Disclaims liability for any inaccurate statement on their website
• Specifies that they won’t bear responsibility if anyone suffers damage because their site is temporarily unavailable
• States that they link to third-party websites and are not liable for any information contained on those websites

Maple Leaf Funds

Maple Leaf Funds’ past performance disclaimer is straightforward and advises visitors not to rely on past performance as a guarantee of future earnings. It also provides reasons that visitors should not have that expectation.

You can download our free disclaimer template below in Word Doc, PDF, or Google Doc format. You can also just copy & paste the HTML directly to your website.

Before using it, read through the entire disclaimer template – fill in all of the [brackets], remove any sections that do not apply to your app, and tweak any language as needed.

Generic Disclaimer for a Website [Text Format]

Last updated [Date]

INTRODUCTION

The information provided by [business entity name] (“we,” “us” or “our”) on [website name] (the “Site”) [and our mobile application] is for general informational purposes only. All information on the Site [and our mobile application] is provided in good faith, however we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information on the Site [or our mobile application] .

Under no circumstance shall we have any liability to you for any

Disclaimer Template HTML

You can copy our disclaimer template HTML code or download it using the options below.

Under no circumstance shall we have any liability to you for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of the site [or our mobile application] or reliance on any information provided on the site [and our mobile application] . Your use of the site [and our mobile application] and your reliance on any information on the site [and our mobile application] is solely at your own risk.

This disclaimer was created using Termly's Disclaimer Generator .

EXTERNAL LINKS DISCLAIMER FOR WEBSITE

The Site [and our mobile application] may contain (or you may be sent through the Site [or our mobile application] links to other websites or content belonging to or originating from third parties or links to websites and features in banners or other advertising. Such external links are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness by us.

We do not warrant, endorse, guarantee, or assume responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any information offered by third-party websites linked through the site or any website or feature linked in any banner or other advertising. We will not be a party to or in any way be responsible for monitoring any transaction between you and third-party providers of products or services.

PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER FOR WEBSITE

The Site cannot and does not contain [medical/legal/fitness/health/other] advice. The [legal/medical/fitness/health/other] information is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice.

Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of [medical/legal/fitness/health/other] advice. The use or reliance of any information contained on this site [or our mobile application] is solely at your own risk.

AFFILIATES DISCLAIMER FOR WEBSITE

The Site [and our mobile application] may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. Our affiliates include [_________________] .

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.

TESTIMONIALS DISCLAIMER FOR WEBSITE

The Site may contain testimonials by users of our products and/or services. These testimonials reflect the real-life experiences and opinions of such users. However, the experiences are personal to those particular users, and may not necessarily be representative of all users of our products and/or services. We do not claim, and you should not assume, that all users will have the same experiences. Your individual results may vary.

The testimonials on the Site are submitted in various forms such as text, audio and/or video, and are reviewed by us before being posted. They appear on the Site verbatim as given by the users, except for the correction of grammar or typing errors. Some testimonials may have been shortened for the sake of brevity where the full testimonial contained extraneous information not relevant to the general public.

The views and opinions contained in the testimonials belong solely to the individual user and do not reflect our views and opinions. [We are not affiliated with users who provide testimonials, and users are not paid or otherwise compensated for their testimonials.]

The testimonials on the Site are not intended, nor should they be construed, as claims that our products and/or services can be used to diagnose, treat, mitigate, cure, prevent or otherwise be used for any disease or medical condition. No testimonials have been clinically proven or evaluated.

Additional Template Download Options

This disclaimer was created using Termly’s Disclaimer Generator .

Our disclaimer templates are designed to offer legal protection for websites in the US and Canada, as well as those globally — from the UK, all the way to Australia and South Africa.

Generate a Legal Disclaimer Instead

Here’s how you can use Termly’s generator to create a comprehensive and compliant legal disclaimer for your website or app.

Step 1: Go to Termly’s disclaimer generator .

Step 2: Answer a few simple prompts and questions, and go through all of the steps until you reach “ Final Details .”

Step 3: Once you’ve filled in everything and you are satisfied with the preview, click “ Publish .” You will then be prompted to create an account on Termly so you can save and edit your legal disclaimer further.

• Do you need a disclaimer on a blog?
• Do I need a disclaimer on my website?
• Why is a disclaimer important?
• Can I copy someone else’s disclaimer?
• How do I add a disclaimer to my website?
• Do I need an email disclaimer?
• Does a disclaimer protect you?
• Why do you need a disclaimer?
• How do you write a product disclaimer?

Disclaimers help businesses minimize their risk exposure and enable site visitors to have the right expectations. You may not be able to control who visits your website, but you can influence how they use your content, services, and products, or at least what they can hold you responsible for.

Having the proper disclaimers on your website and online platforms is not optional but a must-have if you want to protect your business interest adequately. Our disclaimer generator can help you create your disclaimers without hassle.

More about the author

Written by masha komnenic cipp/e, cipm, cipt, fip.

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Freshfields Risk & Compliance

Disclaimers in investor presentations: what (not) to do

Get in touch.

The Court of Appeal has recently reviewed when disclaimers in an investor presentation will be effective. The decision provides issuers, banks and financial investors with important practical guidance on what to keep in mind when preparing a presentation – and when reading one. The key points are:

appropriately drafted disclaimers can be effective to preclude a purchaser from relying on representations made in a presentation; 

however, steps taken subsequently by the author of the presentation can impair the effectiveness of those disclaimers.

What comes out of the Court of Appeal’s decision – for issuers and those preparing presentations – is the importance of being clear about what your disclaimers are trying to achieve. They should be:

identifying the (limited!) audience for whom the presentation is intended;

setting out the purposes for which the presentation has been prepared (e.g., for “information only”) – in particular making clear which elements of the presentation readers cannot rely upon; and

placing clear limits on the issuer’s responsibility: explaining what parts of the presentation the issuer will accept liability for, and what it won’t.

Importantly for secondary debt market participants, the Court held that it follows from s.2(2) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act that, provided they are reasonable, such limitations can be achieved by way of notice (i.e., there is no need for the audience to agree).

Issuers must remember, however, that what they  say can be overridden by what they do : in the case before the Court of Appeal the issuer was unable to rely on the part of its disclaimer limiting the audience for its presentation (roadshow attendees), because it had taken positive steps to direct the (secondary market) purchaser to that presentation.

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Forward-looking statements disclaimers: practical advice for management teams and companies.

Given the stakes, in-house counsel inevitably takes on the role of the forward-looking statements disclaimer police. Officers and directors, however, also have a role to play when it comes to ensuring that forward-looking statements do not trigger litigation against the company. My colleague Lenin Lopez, who has personally spent more than his fair share of time as the disclosure police, breaks down the issues in this week’s D&O Notebook. – Priya Huskins

Forward-looking statements⁠—statements that evidence management’s beliefs about what the future holds—can be valuable to analysts and investors. They are also very interesting to plaintiffs’ attorneys, especially if those stated beliefs do not come to bear. In those cases, plaintiffs’ attorneys have a history of challenging whether forward-looking statements were appropriately qualified by disclaimers that were “meaningful.” When successful, these attorneys can be successful in the form of multi-million-dollar settlements.

Disclaimers can provide a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. While commonly seen in public company earnings releases and presentations, these disclaimers are and should be used more broadly. They may be relevant to include in most situations where a public company or a person acting on behalf of the company makes forward-looking statements. (For those unfamiliar with what these disclaimers look like, see the “Cautionary Statements” section at the end of this earnings release from McKesson Corporation .)

To see the importance of the safe harbor, you need only recall the world of securities litigation before the safe harbor was implemented through the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the PSLRA).

In this blog I will:

• Briefly provide background on the safe harbor provided by the PSLRA.
• Explain why robust forward-looking statements disclaimers are important.
• Share practical advice to help management teams evaluate these disclaimers.
• Provide a few practice pointers to help companies ensure they are positioned to benefit from the intended protections afforded by these disclaimers.

I. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: A Brief History

The PSLRA was implemented to curb frivolous securities lawsuits. Corporations were being dragged into expensive securities lawsuits based simply on stock price drops and allegations that the drops were a result of overly optimistic statements made by the company, as noted in the Report of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee from 2004:

“Although private securities class actions can complement SEC enforcement actions, the evils flowing from abusive securities litigation start with the filing of the complaint and continue through to the final disposition of the action. A complaint alleging violations of the Federal securities laws is easy to craft and can be filed with little or no due diligence. A drop in a public company's stock price, a failed product development project, or even unpredictable adverse market conditions that affect earnings results for a quarter can trigger numerous securities fraud lawsuits against a company.”

II. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The Safe Harbor

The PSLRA includes safe harbor provisions that generally provide that certain “forward-looking statements” cannot form the basis of a claim of fraud if either of the following conditions are met:

• The forward-looking statements are identified as forward-looking and accompanied by “meaningful cautionary statements that identify factors that could cause actual results to differ from those” in the statements or is otherwise immaterial.
• The plaintiff fails to prove that the forward-looking statements were made without actual knowledge that the statement was false or misleading.

“Forward-looking statements” for purposes of the safe harbor include, among other things, statements containing a projection of revenues (including income loss), earnings (including earnings loss), plans and objectives of management for future operations, as well as any assumptions underlying or relating to any of those statements. For the complete definition of the term “forward-looking statement” for purposes of the PSLRA safe harbor, see 15 U.S.C. § 78u-5(i)(1) or 15 U.S.C. § 77z-2(i)(1) .

While the PSLRA itself didn’t necessarily curb the number of federal securities class action suits filed each year, it did provide companies with a viable defense in the face of meritless securities claims challenging forward-looking statements.

Nevertheless, plaintiffs commonly challenge a company’s forward-looking statements by: (i) contending that the forward-looking statements are either not forward-looking or false; and (ii) arguing that the company failed to pair the forward-looking statements with cautionary language that was meaningful. For a discussion of the case law over the 20 years since the enactment of the PSLRA, see this article from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

III. The Importance of Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimers

Since the passage of the PSLRA, federal courts have found that forward-looking statements accompanied by “meaningful cautionary statements” are shielded from liability claims under the federal securities laws.

Companies typically include these “meaningful cautionary statements” in forward-looking statements disclaimers. For example, a manufacturing company may want to include its delivery outlook in an upcoming earnings release. The forward-looking statements disclaimer included in that earnings release should include meaningful cautionary statements about situations that could cause that delivery outlook to not materialize. A meaningful cautionary statement in this case could be:

“…inability to create additional production capacity in a timely manner or the occurrence of other manufacturing or supply difficulties (including as a result of a geopolitical crises, natural disaster, public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, regulatory actions or otherwise).”

Much of the debate between shareholder plaintiffs and defendant public companies in cases where forward-looking statements disclaimers are challenged revolves around whether the cautionary statements were “meaningful.” Courts have declined to extend the protections afforded by the PSLRA safe harbor where the cautionary statements were merely boilerplate and not necessarily tailored to a company’s particular circumstances.

So, what does meaningful cautionary statement language look like? A recent case against Tesla provides a good example.

Just last year, in Wochos v. Tesla, Inc., –F.3d–, 2021 WL 246210 (9th Cir. Jan. 26, 2021) , the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals affirmed the general proposition that forward-looking statements accompanied by “meaningful cautionary statements” do not provide the basis for a claim of liability under the federal securities laws. In Wochos , plaintiffs alleged that certain statements regarding Tesla’s Model 3 made by Tesla, its CEO, and CFO in 2017 were false and misleading. The plaintiffs’ theory was that “Tesla announced Model 3 production goals for the end of 2017 that it knew it would not be able to achieve, and it repeatedly reaffirmed that it was on track to reach those targets, even as the end-of-the-year deadline drew closer and as delays grew increasingly significant.” The plaintiffs relied, in part, on allegations that two employees told Tesla’s CEO that meeting the production goals by the end of 2017 was impossible to achieve. Interestingly, the court noted the plaintiffs did not allege whether the company or the CEO ever accepted those employees’ views that the goal was impossible.

One statement that the plaintiffs took issue with was the following, which was included in a filing that Tesla made with Securities and Exchange Commission :

“…preparations at our production facilities are on track to support the ramp of Model 3 production to 5,000 vehicles per week at some point in 2017.”

The plaintiffs argued that Tesla’s statements were not “forward-looking statements” protected by the PSLRA, but rather predictive statements containing embedded assertions concerning present facts that were actionable. The court disagreed.

In finding in favor of Tesla, the court found Tesla’s statements regarding Model 3 production goals were “unquestionably” forward-looking statements, because they referred to a “plan” or “objective of management for future operations,” and this plan or objective “relat[es] to the products” of Tesla. The court explained that for any such statement to be actionable, plaintiffs would have to show that such statement went beyond stating “plans,” “objectives,” and “assumptions” and instead contained an express or implied “concrete” assertion concerning a specific “current or past fact.” The court went on to say that a simple statement that a company is “on track” to achieve an announced objective, or a simple statement that a company knows of no issues that would make a goal impossible to achieve, are merely alternative ways of declaring or reaffirming the objective itself. That is, they have the character of being forward-looking statements.

Further, while the plaintiffs did not directly challenge the adequacy of Tesla’s cautionary statements, the court said in a footnote that in the court’s determination it was “unsurprising, because Tesla’s cautionary statements were detailed and specific.” The court cited Tesla’s forward-looking statements disclaimers included in documents where Tesla made statements regarding Model 3 production goals. For instance, in those forward-looking statements disclaimers, Tesla referred to important “[r]isk [f]actors” that could lead to results that “differ materially from those projected,” such as:

“risk of delays in the manufacture, production, delivery and/or completion of our vehicles...particularly Model 3” and “the ability of suppliers to meet quality and part delivery expectation at increasing volumes.” “[t]he loss of any single or limited source supplier or the disruption in the supply of components,” that “could lead to product design changes and delays in product deliveries.” “[Tesla] experienced in the past . . . significant delays or other complications in the design, manufacture, launch and production ramp of new vehicles” and that it “may also experience similar delays . . . in bringing to market and ramping production of new vehicles, such as Model 3.”

In addition to serving as a reminder of the broad protections afforded by the PSLRA safe harbor, Wochos also helps to reinforce the importance of forward-looking statements being accompanied by detailed, specific, and relevant cautionary language. For a more detailed discussion of Wochos , see this memo from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

IV. Practical Considerations for Management Teams

The following are best practices to implement before events where a company representative may be making forward-looking statements on behalf of the company:

Confirm appropriateness of the forward-looking statements disclaimer.

Not all forward-looking statements disclaimers are created equal. Internal counsel should be tasked with confirming that (i) the company’s forward-looking statements disclaimer has been reviewed in advance of the event; and (ii) the disclaimer includes references to the specific risks related to the company which could cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements that are expected to be made.

Review the forward-looking statements disclaimer.

Review the disclaimer through the lens of the specific forward-looking statements that will be made. Does the disclaimer identify factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements that you expect to make? If the answer is no or you are unsure, it would be worth discussing with internal counsel.

Confirm who will state at the outset that forward-looking statements will be made and where to find the associated cautionary statements.

As noted above, forward-looking statements that are accompanied by appropriate cautionary language should provide a safe harbor from liability under the federal securities laws. In the case of written materials, like earnings releases, including a robust written forward-looking statements disclaimer is a must. In the case of oral forward-looking statements, the statements should be accompanied by an oral statement that cautionary language is contained in a “readily available” written document. In practice, this generally translates to a company representative reading something like the following at the outset of a meeting:

“Before starting, I'd like to remind everyone that we'll be discussing forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement we make today. The factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are discussed in the company's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC.”

Remember that it isn’t just external presentations you need to consider for purposes of forward-looking statements disclaimers.

You should be mindful that certain internal presentations should also include an oral statement regarding cautionary language, like the one discussed above. One example is an end-of-quarter company town hall where members of management walk through financial results and share some of the same forward-looking statements with employees that were shared on the quarterly earnings call. Because the presentation is to employees, it is easy to presume that it’s a meeting amongst friends. This may very well be the case, but employees can also be shareholders or prospective shareholders in your company, as well as potential plaintiffs in federal securities lawsuits. If in doubt as to whether a disclaimer is warranted, consult with internal counsel.

V. Practice Pointers for Companies

What follows are a few practice pointers to help ensure your company’s forward-looking statements disclaimers are best positioned to help defend against lawsuits challenging them.

Review your forward-looking statements disclaimers often.

A company is best served to regularly review the cautionary statements included in its forward-looking statements disclaimers. This will help ensure that the cautionary statements reflect the risks and circumstances impacting the company at any given time. While a quarterly review of the forward-looking statements disclaimers is a good practice, reviewing in conjunction with ongoing public disclosures is a best practice. That is, companies should be mindful to consider updating forward-looking statements disclaimers to account for new risks related to its business, market, or other conditions (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflict).

Pressure-test forward-looking statements.

This one may be obvious, but it’s still important to stress that there must be a reasonable basis underlying each of the forward-looking statements your company expects to make and to confirm in advance of repeating those statements. For example, if your management team is slated to provide an update on the company’s strategy and financial outlook at a company-sponsored investor day, there should be a robust internal review and confirmation of each forward-looking statement included in the slide presentation, as well as any related scripts and talking points.

Ensure the forward-looking statements are appropriately qualified by cautionary statements.

Forward-looking statements should be accompanied by cautionary statements tailored to your company’s circumstances. These cautionary statements should help investors understand how your forward-looking statements may differ materially from the company’s expectations. For example, if your company is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company and you expect to make forward-looking statements regarding the timing of clinical trial results as part of an investor presentation, the disclaimer should include cautionary statements that speak to clinical trials. Certain risks that may be appropriate for your disclaimer to reference may include anticipated challenges or delays in conducting your clinical trials; difficulty obtaining scarce raw materials and supplies; resource constraints, including human capital and manufacturing capacity; and regulatory challenges.

The forward-looking statements disclaimer should be reviewed/managed by a cross-functional team.

Most companies delegate management of the forward-looking statements disclaimer to its legal function. As a best practice, companies should ensure that other functions (e.g., Finance, Investor Relations, Accounting) are also involved in the review and commenting process. A robust process will help to establish that the cautionary statements included in your forward-looking statements disclosure can stand up to claims that the disclaimer was not reflective of the current risks and/or circumstances that could impact your business.

State at the outset of events where forward-looking statements will be made that such statements will be made and where to find the associated cautionary statements.

As noted earlier, in the case that your company will be making oral forward-looking statements, ensure that a company representative orally states that the company will be making forward-looking statement and reference that cautionary language is contained in a “readily available” written document. This oral statement should be consistent across different settings. There may be a tendency to truncate the oral statement that is used during earnings calls when it comes to more informal events like a company town hall or fireside chat. That should be avoided.

Include forward-looking statements disclaimers in certain internal presentations and communications.

As discussed earlier, certain internal presentations may call for the inclusion of forward-looking statements disclaimers. Certain internal communications, like company-wide emails, may fall into the same category. Best practice would be to establish guidelines regarding which internal presentations and communications call for these disclaimers. These guidelines can then be shared with the functional teams that organize internal presentations and communications with the instruction that they involve Legal early in the planning process.

Don’t forget about your website and social media presence.

Many companies include forward-looking statements disclaimers on their websites. These disclaimers are typically linked to via a section in the footer or included in the website’s terms of use. Social media is another area where companies make forward-looking statements. If you are one of these companies, it is a good idea to identify who manages your company’s website and social media presence. Best practice would be to educate those teams as to the importance of forward-looking statements disclaimers and establish a process whereby those teams can easily collaborate with Legal to ensure compliance with securities laws.

Stay Vigilant

The PSLRA safe harbor is critical in that it significantly reduces the risk of companies being subjected to certain frivolous federal securities lawsuits. Failure to keep an eye on your forward-looking statements disclaimers can result in a court denying your ability to benefit from the PSLRA safe harbor. The practical considerations and practice pointers discussed above should help form the basis to either establish or enhance your internal processes around forward-looking statements disclaimers.

Lenin Lopez, Esq.

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What’s in a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM)?

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Do you need strong writing skills to succeed in finance?

Not necessarily, but they certainly help.

But you definitely need strong reading comprehension skills , or you’ll miss crucial information and make the wrong decisions as a result.

Both of these skills intersect in the confidential information memorandum (CIM) that investment banks prepare for clients – the same CIM that you’ll be spending a lot of time reading in private equity, corporate development, and other buy-side roles.

There is surprisingly little information out there on what goes into a CIM, and there’s a lot of confusion over how you write one and how you read and interpret a CIM.

So here’s the full run-down, from how they are used in investment banking to private equity and beyond – along with a bunch of real-life CIMs:

What is a CIM?

The Confidential Information Memorandum is part of the sell-side M&A process at investment banks . It’s also known as the Offering Memorandum (OM) and Information Memorandum (IM), among other names.

At the beginning of any sell-side M&A process, you’ll gather information on your client (the company that has hired you to sell it), including its products and services, financials, and market.

You turn this information into many documents, including a shorter, 5-10 page “Executive Summary” or “Teaser,” and then a more in-depth, 50+ page “Confidential Information Memorandum.”

You start by sending the Teaser to potential buyers; if someone expresses interest, you’ll have the firm sign an NDA, and then you’ll send more detailed information about your client, including the CIM.

You can write CIMs for debt deals, as well as for distressed M&A and restructuring deals where your bank is advising the debtor .

You might write a short memo for equity deals , but not an entire CIM.

The Order and Contents of a Confidential Information Memorandum

The structure of a CIM varies by firm and group, but it usually contains these sections:

1) Overview and Key Investment Highlights

2) Products and Services

4) Sales & Marketing

5) Management Team

6) Financial Results and Projections

7) Risk Factors (Sometimes omitted)

8) Appendices

Debt-related CIMs will include the proposed terms – interest rates, interest rate floors, maturity, covenants, etc. – and details on how the company plans to use the funding.

What a Confidential Information Memorandum is NOT

First and foremost, a CIM is NOT a legally binding contract.

It is a marketing document intended to make a company look as shiny as possible.

Bankers apply copious makeup to companies, and they can make even the ugliest duckling look like a perfectly shaped swan .

But it’s up to you to go beneath the dress and see what it looks like without the makeup and the plastic surgery.

Second, there is also nothing on valuation in the CIM.

Investment banks don’t want to “set the price” at this stage of the process – they would rather let potential buyers place bids and see where they come in.

Finally, a CIM is NOT a pitch book . Here’s the difference:

Pitch Book : “Hey, if you hire us to sell your company, we could get a great price for you!”

CIM: “You’ve hired us. We’re now in the process of selling your company. Here’s how we’re pitching it to potential buyers and getting you a good price.”

Why Do CIMs Matter in Investment Banking?

You will spend a lot of time writing CIMs as an analyst or associate in investment banking.

And in buy-side roles, you will spend a lot of time reading CIMs and deciding which opportunities are worth pursuing.

People like to obsess over modeling skills and technical wizardry, but in most finance roles you spend FAR more time on administrative tasks such as writing CIMs (or reading and interpreting CIMs).

In investment banking, you might start marketing your client without creating a complex model first (Why bother if no one wants to buy the company?).

And in buy-side roles, you might look at thousands of potential deals but reject 99% of them early on because they don’t meet your investment criteria, or because the math doesn’t work .

You spend a lot of time reviewing documents and comparatively less time on in-depth modeling until the deal advances quite far.

So you must be familiar with CIMs if your job involves pitching or evaluating deals.

Show Me the Confidential Information Memorandum Example!

To give you a sense of what a CIM looks like, I’m sharing six (6) samples, along with a CIM template and checklist:

• Consolidated Utility Services – Sell-Side M&A Deal
• American Casino – Sell-Side M&A Deal
• BarWash (Fake company) – Sell-Side M&A Deal
• Alcatel-Lucent – Debt Deal
• Arion Banki hf (Icelandic bank) – Debt Deal
• Pizza Hut – Debt Deal
• Sample Deal – CIM Template
• Information Memorandum Checklist

To find more examples, Google “confidential information memorandum” or “offering memorandum” or “CIM” plus the company name, industry name, or geography you are seeking.

Picking an Example CIM to Analyze

To illustrate how you might write a CIM as a banker and how you might interpret a CIM in buy-side roles, let’s take a look at the one above for Consolidated Utility Services (CUS) .

This one has the standard sections, though it omits the Risk Factors and Appendices, resulting in a somewhat shorter (!) length of 58 pages.

This CIM is ancient, so I feel comfortable sharing it and explaining how I would evaluate the company.

CIM Investment Banking: How Do You Create Them?

This CIM creation process is quite tedious for bankers because it consists of a lot of copying and pasting from other sources .

You’ll spend 90% of your “thinking time” on just two sections: the Executive Summary / Investment Highlights in the beginning and the Financial Performance part toward the end.

You may do additional research on the industry and the company’s competitors, but you’ll get much of this information from your client; if you’re working at a large bank, you can also ask someone to pull up IDC or Gartner reports.

Similarly, you won’t write much original content on the company’s products and services or its management team: you get these details from other sources and then tweak them in your document.

The Executive Summary section takes time and energy because you need to think about how to position the company to potential buyers.

You attempt to demonstrate the following points:

• The company’s best days lie ahead of it. There are strong growth opportunities, plenty of ways to improve the business, and right now is the best time to acquire the company.
• The company’s sales are growing at a reasonable clip (an average annual growth rate of at least 5-10%), its EBITDA margins are decent (10-20%), and it has relatively low CapEx and Working Capital requirements, resulting in substantial Free Cash Flow generation and EBITDA to FCF conversion.
• The company is a leader in a fast-growing market and has clear advantages over its competitors. There are high switching costs, network effects, or other “moat” factors that make the company’s business defensible.
• It has an experienced management team that can sail the ship through stormy waters and turn things around before an iceberg strikes.
• There are only small risks associated with the company – a diversified customer base, high recurring revenue, long-term contracts, and so on, all demonstrate this point.

If you turn to “Transaction Considerations” on page 10, you can see these points in action:

“Top-Performing, Geographically Diverse Industry Leader” means “less risk” – hopefully.

Then the bank lists the industry’s attractive growth rates, the company’s blue-chip customers (even lower risk), and its growth opportunities, all in pursuit of the five points above.

The “Financial Performance” Section of the CIM

The “Financial Performance” section also takes up a lot of time because you have to “dress up” a company’s financial statements… without outright lying.

So it’s not as easy as pasting in the company’s historical financial statements and then making simple projections – think “reasonable spin.”

Here are a few examples of “spin” in this CIM:

• Only Two Years of Historical Statements – You normally like to see at least 3-5 years’ worth of performance, so perhaps the bankers showed only two years because the growth rates or margins were lower in the past, or because of acquisitions or divestitures.

• Recurring Revenue / Contract Spin – The bankers repeatedly point to the high renewal rates, but if you look at the details, you’ll see that a good percentage of these contracts were won via “competitive bidding processes,” i.e. the revenue was by no means locked in. They also spin the lost customers in a positive way by claiming that many of those lost accounts were unprofitable.
• Flat EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Spin – EBITDA stayed the same at $6.9 million in the past two historical years, but the bankers spin this by saying that it remained “stable” despite significantly higher fuel costs… glossing over the fact that revenue increased by 8%. Figures like “Adjusted EBITDA” also lend themselves to spin since the adjustments are discretionary and are chosen to make a company look better.
• Highly Optimistic Projected Financials – They’re expecting revenue to grow by 7.5% each year, and EBITDA to increase from $8.3 million to $12.6 million over the next five years – despite no EBITDA growth in the last historical year.

As a banker, your job is to create this spin and portray the company favorably without going overboard.

Does Any of This Make a Difference?

Yes and no.

Buyers will always do their due diligence and confirm or refute everything in the CIM before acquiring the company.

But the way bankers position the company makes a difference in terms of which buyers are interested and how far they advance in the process.

Just as with M&A deals, bankers tend to add more value in unusual situations – divestitures, distressed/turnaround deals, sales of family-owned private businesses, and so on.

Example: In a sell-side divestiture deal, the subsidiary being sold is always dependent on the parent company to some extent.

But in the CIM, bankers have to take care with how they describe the subsidiary.

If they say, “It could easily stand on its own, no problem!” then more private equity buyers might show an interest in the deal and submit bids.

But if the PE firms find out that the bankers were exaggerating, they might drop out of the process very quickly.

On the other hand, if the bankers say that it will take significant resources to turn the subsidiary into an independent company, the deal might never happen due to a lack of interest from potential buyers .

So it’s a careful balancing act between hyping up the company and admitting its flaws.

How Do You Read and Interpret the Confidential Information Memorandum in Private Equity and Other Buy-Side Roles?

You will receive A LOT of CIMs in most private equity roles, especially at middle-market and smaller funds.

So you need a way to skim them and make a decision in 10-15 minutes about whether to reject the company upfront or keep reading.

I would recommend these steps:

• Read the first few pages of the Executive Summary to learn what the company does, how big it is in terms of sales, EBITDA, cash flow, etc., and understand its industry. You might be able to reject the company right away if it doesn’t meet your investment criteria.
• Then, skip to the financials at the end . Look at the company’s revenue growth, EBITDA margins, CapEx and Working Capital requirements, and how closely FCF tracks with EBITDA. The financial projections tend to be highly optimistic, so if the math doesn’t work with these numbers, chances are it will never work in real life.
• If the deal math seems plausible, skip to the market/industry overview section and look at the industry growth rates, the company’s competitors, and what this company’s USP (unique selling proposition) Why do customers pick this company over competitors? Does it compete on service, features, specializations, price, or something else?
• If everything so far has checked out, then you can start reading about the management team, the customer base, the suppliers, and the actual products and services. If you make it to this step, you might spend anywhere from one hour to several hours reading those sections of the CIM.

Applying the Analysis in Real Life

Here’s you might apply these steps to this memo for a quick analysis of CUS:

First Few Pages: It’s a utility services company with around $57 million in revenue and $9 million in EBITDA; the asking price is likely between $75 million and $100 million with those stats, though you’d need to look at comparable company analysis to be sure.

There has been solid revenue and EBITDA growth historically, but the company was formed via a combination of smaller companies so it’s hard to separate organic vs. inorganic growth.

At this point, you might be able to reject the company based on your firm’s investment criteria: for example, if you only look at companies with at least $100 million in revenue, or you do not invest in the services sector, or you do not invest in “roll-ups,” you would stop reading the CIM.

There are no real red flags yet, but it does seem like customers are price-sensitive (“…price is generally one of the most important factors to the customer”), which tends to be a negative sign.

Financials at the End: You can skip to page 58 now because if the deal math doesn’t work with management’s highly optimistic numbers, it definitely won’t work with realistic numbers.

Let’s say your fund targets a 5-year IRR of 20% and expects to use a 5x leverage ratio for deals in this size range.

The company is already levered at ~2x Debt / EBITDA, so you can only add 3x Debt / EBITDA.

If you do the rough math for this scenario and assume a $75 million purchase price:

A $75 million purchase enterprise value represents a ~9x EV / EBITDA multiple, with 3x of additional debt and 2x for existing debt, which implies an equity contribution of 4x EBITDA (~$33 million).

If you re-sell the company in five years for the same 9x EBITDA multiple, that’s an Enterprise Value of ~$113 million (9x * $12.6 million)… but how much debt will need to be repaid at that point?

To answer that, we need the company’s Free Cash Flow projections… which are not shown anywhere.

However, we can estimate its Free Cash Flow with Net Income + D&A – CapEx and then assume the working capital requirements are low (i.e., that the Change in Working Capital as a percentage of the Change in Revenue is relatively low).

If you do that, you’ll get figures of $3.9, $3.6, $3.8, $4.5, and $5.1 million from 2007 through 2011, which adds up to $21 million of cumulative FCF.

But remember that the interest expense will be significantly higher with 5x leverage rather than 2x leverage, so we should probably reduce the sum of the cumulative FCFs to $10-$15 million to account for that.

Initially, the company will have around $42 million in debt.

By Year 5, it will have repaid $10-15 million of that debt with its cumulative FCF generation. We’ll split the difference and call it $12.5 million.

At a 9x EV / EBITDA exit multiple, the PE firm gets proceeds of $113 million – ($42 million – $12.5 million), or ~$84 million, upon exit, which equates to a 5-year IRR of 20% and a 2.5x cash-on-cash multiple.

I would reject the company at this point.

• Even with optimistic assumptions – the same EBITDA exit multiple and revenue and EBITDA growth above historical numbers – the IRR looks to be around 20%, which is just barely within your firm’s desired range. And with a lower exit multiple or more moderate growth, the IRR drops below 20%.
• The EBITDA growth looks fine, but FCF generation is weak due to the company’s relatively high CapEx, which limits debt repayment capacity.
• It seems like the company doesn’t have much pricing power, since quite a few contracts were renewed via a “competitive bid cycle process.” Low pricing power means it will be harder to maintain or improve margins.

On the other hand, you might look at this document and interpret it completely differently.

The numbers don’t seem spectacular for a standalone investment, but this company could represent an excellent “roll-up” opportunity because there are tons of smaller companies offering similar utility services in different regions (see “Pursue Additional Add-on Acquisitions” on page 14) (for more, see our tutorial to bolt-on acquisitions ).

So if your firm focuses on roll-ups, then perhaps this deal would look more compelling.

And then you would read the rest of the confidential information memorandum, including the sections on the industry, competitors, management team, and more.

You would also do a lot of research on how many smaller competitors could be acquired, and how much it would cost to do so.

These examples should give you a flavor of what to expect when you write a confidential information memorandum in investment banking, or when you read and interpret CIMs in private equity.

I’m not going to say, “Now write a 100-page CIM for practice!” because I don’t think such an exercise is helpful – at least, not unless you want to practice the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V commands.

So here’s what I’ll recommend instead:

• Pick an example CIM from the list above, or Google your way into a CIM for a different company.
• Then, look at the Executive Summary and Financial Performance sections and find the 5-10 key areas where the bankers have “dressed up the company” and spun it in a positive light.
• Finally, pretend you’re at a private equity firm and follow the decision-making process I outlined above. Take 20 minutes to scan the document and either reject the company or keep reading the CIM.

Bonus points if you can locate typos, grammatical errors, or other attention-to-detail failures in the memo you pick.

Any questions?

You might be interested in a detailed tutorial on investment banking PowerPoint shortcuts .

About the Author

Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street . In his spare time, he enjoys lifting weights, running, traveling, obsessively watching TV shows, and defeating Sauron.

Free Exclusive Report: 57-page guide with the action plan you need to break into investment banking - how to tell your story, network, craft a winning resume, and dominate your interviews

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45 thoughts on “ What’s in a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM)? ”

Hi Brian. I notice that the Debt IMs barely have any financial forecasts/projections (the vast majority of financials are historical), while all the M&A ones have them. Perhaps it reflects the fact that M&A involves much more modeling than DCM, isn’t it?

I don’t really think that’s it. The style of debt IMs is just different, and while DCM has far less modeling work than M&A, that’s mostly because DCM is a markets role that mostly consists of updating slides and interacting with other groups at the bank. There may be some requirement that debt IMs do not show projections as well (not sure about that).

Great article.

I’m in the process of applying to PE and LevFin/Credit firms (Ireland).

I was informed that the final recruitment stage in these often includes a CIM analysis.

I was wondering how would you alter the analysis steps that you outlined above for a LevFin/Credit firm? I’m assuming it would be quite different since you’re looking much more at the chances of the company surviving if you leverage it up.

Focus more on the downside and extreme downside cases and see if the company can survive even if revenue drops by 50%+, or some other very high level. The base and upside cases don’t really matter because there’s no additional benefit to creditors in those.

Hey Brian, great article as always- I really appreciate it.

Do you happen to have access to other old CIMs you could link? Thanks!

Everything we have is linked to here.

OMG this website, and the articles are great! Concrete and detailed:)

Thanks for reading!

FYI: Was interested in your free 57 pager, but the link is not working for me even after inputting my name, valid email address and checking the box..others may be experiencing a similar problem, just a heads-up, cheers.

I am not sure about that one – the link seemed to work when I just tried it. You can email us to download it if the form is still not working.

The Article was very helpful. Thanks for putting it up. I am a CPA from India and trying my hand at a very small equity cum debt infusion in a company. Thanks once again.

For the assumption of 75-100 mil, how do we know if the assumption makes sense or not. Is there a reference range for that if we are given different revenue or EBITDA figures?

Just our own estimate based on average multiples in the sector.

Great article. However just wanted to make a small correction. At the end you used $21 million of FCF generated over 5 years to pay down $12.5 million of debt, which is fine, but you didn’t add the remaining FCF of $8.5 million in calculation of the ending equity value. The Ending Equity will then be $113mn – ($42.5 mn – $12.5mn) + $8.5mn = $91.5mn instead of the mentioned $84mn. This would bump up the multiple to 2.77x and IRR of 23%. Your point still stands though.

Thank you so much Brian for this article.

I have learned a lot about investment banking from your articles.

I would urge you to please share one more video for writing an industry report/power point presentation skills on how to create the attractive diagrams (However, I have seen two of your videos on ppt skills).

Also is there any video/article on competitive benchmarking, trading & transaction comps and market sizing.

Once again thank you so much for your contribution towards learning.

We have a full course on PowerPoint if you want to learn more. Our modeling courses cover some of the other topics. Beyond that, we may create more YouTube videos, but there is only so much we’ll give away for free (why would anyone ever sign up for the paid courses if we just gave away everything?).

Thanks so much Brian. You are very generous and humble.

Hello Brian: I’m in greater Boston (to the south) I’m currently seeking assistance creating a CIM for a low-end mid-market business, very well-established and growing fast, 2016 revenue $15.5MM, 2017 ~$20MM. Ideally, I want to have some actual interaction with the person. Can you suggest the best way to find such a person. I’m seeking to find a person with talent who reads stuff your for enjoyment. Thank you kindly. W,

We do not advise on the creation of CIMs. I would recommend contacting boutique banks in your area and requesting the services of one who creates CIMs for small businesses.

Hi Warren, feel free to touch base with me at MidCap Advisors. I’d be happy to help any way I can.

Thanks Brian, another great insider perspective on the important financial documents – as a marketer helping clients to sell deals or launch new offerings it’s been hard making sense of some of the investment terminology – your site has been a big help, and I’ve just signed up for the powerpoint course which looks fantastic – again I used powerpoint all day but mostly for webinars and video presentations, so getting the more formal and structured elements right for a pitch deck was something I needed some expert insight on and I came to the right place. Great work!

Thanks for signing up!

From buyside’s perspective, what’s a relatively low CapEx and Working Capital requirements that’s good for possible investment? Does it depend on the industry? If so, what are those numbers for various industries?

Also when you mentioned watch “how closely FCF tracks with EBITDA” what do you mean by that? Can you show an example?

Your questions are beyond the scope of what we can answer here, but, broadly speaking, lower capital requirements are better because they make the company’s cash flow higher, meaning it can pay off more debt and generate more cash. The exact numbers differ greatly based on industry and company stage. If FCF follows EBITDA closely it’s easier to estimate the investment returns because you can use EBITDA as a proxy for debt pay-down/cash generation.

Would you advise to write the Executive Summary of the CIM as early as possible or would you wait until all sections of the CIM are covered to extract the Exec Summary?

Write a draft of the summary section, then the rest of the CIM, and then come back and revise the summary.

Being a former banker and a recent PE joinee, this hits bang on the spot. Brings back my memories of the CIM prep (we generally refer to it as IM in India) with other fellow associates, sitting late into the night, chatting, fighting (even on points like font sizes) and positioning the company, taking pride in our work till the next day the VP turns and asks to completely re-draft the whole thing.. to the stage where it satisfies the VP.. but the Partner then turning back and requesting you to again change the IM with the final version resembling close to the one that you had originally prepared. Man.. those were the days..

Thanks! Yes, CIM prep is always fun… until you find out you have to re-do the whole thing, and then re-do it again when someone else gets pissed off. And then you realize it doesn’t matter since no one reads it anyway.

What documents are significant for IB/PE/Corp Dev?

CIMs, Pitch Books, Letters of Intents, Definitive Agreements, Business Plans, Term Sheets, Private Placement Memos, Prospectus, Credit Memos, etc…?

Did I leave out anything?

Those are the main ones. Management Presentations are also important (condensed and more visual/impactful version of a CIM that’s intended for management teams to use when pitching their company).

Brian, great article with valuable Information. Yep all-niters are not very uncommon when drafting CIMs and the work with the right version is even more challenging (with a lot of remarks). Back in my days when I started in IB word was the dominating source for making CIMs, in recent years it has shifted to ppt (at least in Europe).

Thanks! Yes, it seems like PowerPoint is more common for CIMs in Europe. Not sure why – maybe just higher design standards?

Guess that would be one of the reasons.

Also, IMO, i guess that PPT features such as headers and the possibility to split extensive topics in more slides (still following the same rationale, of course) make the reading so much easier than in MS Word…guess that a more dynamic and straight to the point CIM is always the best option when you’re looking for a specific data

Great text, btw

Great post as always Brian! I have followed the site since I first entered university 3 years ago. Very valuable source of information! It contributed greatly to me breaking into IB as an M&A Associate. And with the stuff I read now becomes one I practice..having a Déjà vu reading this.

Thank you for your generosity in sharing these information Brian, keep up the good work.

Thanks, glad to hear it! Yes, after a while you start dreaming about CIMs..

Funny to notice that all CIMs are in word format. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is more common in the US. In my short 1 year experience in Europe (London), I’ve only seen CIMs on powerpoint. Have to agree with KG, in ppt you can make more visually appealing and especially spend less time on wording and rephrasing.

Great article again, learning lots of stuff reading M&I as a student and still now as an analyst!

Thanks! Yes, you’re right that CIMs in Word format are more common in the US. But even in other countries, Word is still quite common (see the example above fore that bank in Iceland). PowerPoint-formatted CIMs do likely take up a greater percentage of the total, though.

It’s interesting how CIMs in the U.S. seem dull, and are rather ugly. In Canada, IPO CIMs in particular, are rather slim and colourful, and make us push the boundaries of what you can achieve with PowerPoint and Excel charts. They are mostly targeted at retail and HNW financial advisors with short attention spans, but, by law, they can’t state anything that is not in the prospectus.

I can think of 2-3 bulge bracket banks that take good care in making these marketing documents appealing, and in some groups at my bank, they have become bona fide masterpieces in Microsoft Office graphic design and the ability to distill the essence of entire paragraphs of information into single bullet points.

Since I started making them I realized that obsessing over presentation and clarity in writing my own resume was perfect training for this type of work, and that investors and/or their advisors look at new deals similarly to how recruiters look at resumes.

Yup that is true, but I think you pinpointed the reason why right there: IPOs are often aimed at retail and HNW advisers, not private equity firms or corporate development teams at Fortune 500 companies. So inevitably there will be more attention-grabbing features and the design will look better.

Also, for IPOs often the nitty-gritty details matter a bit less because no one is buying 100% of the company… so there may be more focus on the design instead of detailed financial analysis.

Thanks for pointing this out – I’ve been surprised at how boring these are because it seems like an easy place to differentiate and get attention – although obviously you need to be taken seriously too. Can you point to some example Canadian CIMs to compare KG?

Great read. Keep it going

This is a great read. As a a former IB guy, this hits so close to home I am getting flashbacks to the CIM drafting sessions I had for the deals I worked on (for deals closes and those that stalled out). Would recommend other people interested in going into the field to read this article (or even exiting the field to buyside)….

Thanks! Glad to hear it. Yes, late-night CIM sessions are always a good time…

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Disclaimers in California Probates

Disclaimers are an incredible tool to be used in California estate planning, trust and probate law. Typically they are used after death in probate and trust administration settings. In some cases people call it “after death estate planning.” In any event it is a very powerful tool that not enough California attorneys know about. Below are my notes from my 2008 NBI seminar I presented on probate in California. As always contact me directly with questions or visit our website for more info at www.californiaprobate.info

• A disclaimer is a procedure whereby a beneficiary (including an estate or trust) may chose to give up a right to an asset by signing a written document so stating.  Disclaimers are sometimes written into the estate plan (such as a disclaimer trust) and other times are used after death to change an estate plan after death.
• A common example of a disclaimer is to reduce the taxable estate of a beneficiary.  Disclaiming, or renouncing one’s rights to the property, will cause the property (or at least a portion of it) to be taxed in the decedent’s estate rather than the disclaiming parties estate.
• A disclaimer may be made by the beneficiary or, if the beneficiary has a conservator, by the conservator by obtaining an order in the conservatorship under the substituted judgment rules.  Similarly a disclaimer on behalf of a minor or deceased person would be with Court order.
• A disclaimer can be a whole or partial interest in just about any asset or power.  That is, there are cases where the specific disclaiming of a power written into a will or trust can correct an error in drafting or change in law or facts. The list of interests includes, but is not limited to the following at PC 267:

i)                    by intestate succession;

ii)                   under a will;

iii)                 under a trust;

iv)                 by succession to a disclaimed interest;

v)                  by virtue of an election to take against a will;

vi)                 by creation of a power of appointment;

vii)               by exercise or nonexercise of a power of appointment;

viii)              by an inter vivos gift, whether outright or in trust;

ix)                 by surviving the death of a depositor of a Totten trust account or POD account;

x)                  under an insurance or annuity contract;

xi)                 by surviving the death of another joint tenant;

xii)               under an employee benefit plan;

xiii)              under an individual retirement account (IRA), annuity or bond;

xiv)             any other interest created by any testamentary or inter vivos instrument or by operation of law;

• There are specific requirements which must be followed for the disclaimer to be effective.  The basic requirements for a disclaimer are:

i)                    in writing;

ii)                   signed by the disclaimant;

iii)                 identify the creator of the interest;

iv)                 describe the interest to be disclaimed;

v)                  state the disclaimer and the extent of the disclaimer;

vi)                 must be filed within a “reasonable time;”

• The disclaimer must be filed within a reasonable time after the person able to disclaim acquires knowledge of the interest.  PC 279(b) provides that, for certain specified interests, a disclaimer is conclusively presumed to be filed within a reasonable time if it is filed within nine months after the decedent’s death or within nine months after the interest becomes fully vested.
• If the disclaimer is not filed within nine months after the decedent’s death or within nine months after the interest becomes fully vested, the disclaimant has the burden of establishing that the disclaimer was filed within a reasonable time after the disclaimant acquired knowledge of the interest.
• The disclaimer must be filed in the Superior Court in the county in which the estate of the decedent is administered, with the trustee, PR, other fiduciary, or person responsible for distributing the interest to the beneficiary, with any other person having custody or possession of or legal title to the interest, or with the creator of the interest. (PC 280)
• If the disclaimer affects real property or an obligation secured by real property, the disclaimer should be notarized and recorded in the county in which the property is located.
• An effective disclaimer is irrevocable and binding upon the beneficiary and all persons claiming by, through, or under the beneficiary, including creditors of the beneficiary. (PC 281)
• The disclaimed interest passes in accordance with the provisions of PC 282, which provides:

“(a) Unless the creator of the interest provides for a specific disposition of the interest in the event of a disclaimer, the interest disclaimed shall descend, go, be distributed, or continue to be held (1) as to a present interest, as if the disclaimant had predeceased the creator of the interest or (2) as to a future interest, as if the disclaimant had died before the event determining that the taker of the interest had become finally ascertained and the taker’s interest indefeasibly vested. A disclaimer relates back for all purposes to the date of the death of the creator of the disclaimed interest or the determinative event, as the case may be. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), where the disclaimer is filed on or after January 1, 1985: (1) The beneficiary is not treated as having predeceased the decedent for the purpose of determining the generation at which the division of the estate is to be made under Part 6 (commencing with Section 240 ) or other provision of a will, trust, or other instrument. (2) The beneficiary of a disclaimed interest is not treated as having predeceased the decedent for the purpose of applying subdivision (d) of Section 6409 or subdivision (b) of Section 6410 .

•    A disclaimer is ineffective if the beneficiary has accepted the interest sought to be disclaimed.  PC 285 provides that an acceptance occurs if:

(a) A disclaimer may not be made after the beneficiary has accepted the interest sought to be disclaimed. (b) For the purpose of this section, a beneficiary has accepted an interest if any of the following occurs before a disclaimer is filed with respect to that interest: (1) The beneficiary, or someone acting on behalf of the beneficiary, makes a voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, or transfer of the interest or part thereof, or contracts to do so; provided, however, that a beneficiary will not have accepted an interest if the beneficiary makes a gratuitous conveyance or transfer of the beneficiary’s entire interest in property to the person or persons who would have received the property had the beneficiary made an otherwise qualified disclaimer pursuant to this part. (2) The beneficiary, or someone acting on behalf of the beneficiary, executes a written waiver under Section 284 of the right to disclaim the interest. (3) The beneficiary, or someone acting on behalf of the beneficiary, accepts the interest or part thereof or benefit thereunder. (4) The interest or part thereof is sold at a judicial sale. (c) An acceptance does not preclude a beneficiary from thereafter disclaiming all or part of an interest if both of the following requirements are met: (1) The beneficiary became entitled to the interest because another person disclaimed an interest. (2) The beneficiary or other person acting on behalf of the beneficiary at the time of the acceptance had no knowledge of the interest to which the beneficiary so became entitled. (d) The acceptance by a joint tenant of the joint tenancy interest created when the joint tenancy is created is not an acceptance by the joint tenant of the interest created when the joint tenant survives the death of another joint tenant.

• It must be an irrevocable and unqualified refusal to accept an interest in property.
•  The written refusal must be received by the transferor, his legal representative, or holder of legal title no more than nine months after the later of (1) the day on which the transfer creating the interest is made; or (2) the day on which the person making the disclaimer reaches age 21.  A disclaimer of an interest created by a decedent’s will must be made within nine months of the date of the decedent’s death, not within nine months after the will was admitted to probate.
• The person making the disclaimer must not have accepted the interest or any of its benefits prior to the disclaimer.
• The interest must pass to a person other than the person making the disclaimer as a result of the refusal to accept the property. A surviving spouse may, under this rule, disclaim an interest that, as a result and without direction on his or her part passes to a trust in which the surviving spouse has an interest (i.e. a “disclaimer trust.”).

PRACTICE POINTER:  Try to complete disclaimers within nine months of death. Try to get notarized to help establish when it was done if it was not a disclaimer that needs to be filed in the Court.  If you are meeting with surviving spouse who has a “disclaimer trust” make sure you advise in writing about doing the disclaimer within 9 months!

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What is a disclaimer of interest (Probate Code § 278)? 

A disclaimer of interest is, essentially, a written statement to the probate court where someone who stands to inherit property or assets states that they do not wish to exercise that inheritance. They “disclaim” any right to receive the interest that they otherwise would. 

Specifically, Probate Code section 275 provides: “A beneficiary may disclaim any interest, in whole or in part, by filing a disclaimer of as provided in this part.” 

Moreover, Probate Code section 278 states, “the disclaimer shall be in writing, shall be signed by the disclaimant, and shall: (a) Identify the creator of the interest. (b) Describe the interest to be disclaimed. (c) State the disclaimer and the extent of the disclaimer.” 

That said, executing a proper disclaimer is difficult to do, and with the complexities inherent to probate proceedings, securing the right attorney can make all the difference. At the Underwood Law Firm, our attorneys are well-versed in these matters and are ready to assist. As such, potential litigants should not hesitate to contact our office so that our team can begin helping you achieve your litigation goals. 

How does a disclaimer of interest work? 

When people with any assets or property die, they leave behind an “interest.” This interest is usually thought of as their property, both real and personal in nature. (Prob. Code § 267.) But, under the Probate Code, the term “interest” is actually quite broad. Yes, it does include real property and personal property, but it also refers to other assets and even fractional shares of those assets or property. ( Id .) 

It can also refer to legal interests or rights “related to property.” For instance, say someone is the successor trustee to a trust that contains the family home. When the trustee(s) pass away, that “right” of the successor trustee to begin managing the trust is, under the Probate Code, an interest. ( Id .) 

In turn, that means the successor trustee is one of perhaps many “beneficiaries.” A beneficiary is any person who is entitled to take an interest in the leftover estate. (Prob. Code § 262.) As a more straightforward example, if a parent leaves their home to their children under a will, then all of those children are beneficiaries under the code. 

This is where the disclaimer comes in. There is an interest that will be adjudicated by the probate court. And that interest will be taken by one or more beneficiaries, whomever they may be. Any of those beneficiaries can file a “disclaimer.” This disclaimer is any writing that declines, refuses, renounces, or disclaims any interest that would otherwise be taken by a beneficiary. (Prob. Code § 265.) 

Once filed, this former beneficiary is now referred to as a “disclaimant,” and they will receive none of the interest that they have disclaimed under the law. 

Why do people file disclaimers of interest? 

Given the circumstances in which a disclaimer is filed, one may ask why exactly anyone would want to disclaim an interest. Who would want to give up the chance to inherit property? 

The answer to such a question is actually quite complex. First, there are cases where beneficiaries are inheriting property absent the presence of a trust. The value of the property aside, owning real estate in California is very expensive. Property taxes and utilities alone can run households tens of thousands of dollars every year, and the simple truth is that not every beneficiary is able to accept that financial responsibility. 

This is not even considering the presence of a mortgage. If a lien is on the property in the form of a mortgage or deed of trust, that transfer to whomever eventually inherits the property. That is additional money that needs to be spent on maintaining the property every year. 

Lastly, there’s the federal estate tax. This is reserved for larger estates ($12.6 Million as of 2022), but it is yet another consideration that beneficiaries may be thinking of when mulling the possibility of a disclaimer. 

Inheriting property aside, there are also instances where multiple beneficiaries stand to inherit the right of becoming a trustee. Trustees are essentially those people who step in to manage a trustee once the former trustee (usually the person who created the trust) passes away. This, too, is a major responsibility, as trustees owe fiduciary duties to all other trust beneficiaries. ( O’Neal v. Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Assn. (2017) 8 Cal.App.5th 1184, 1209.) 

Because the trustee owes these duties, it means that they can be sued by other beneficiaries if they think the trustee is mismanaging the trust. ( Vance v. Bizek (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 1155, 1160.) These are just some of the considerations one needs to take in when one stands to inherit an “interest” in probate court. In that context, a disclaimer makes more and more sense.

What is the procedure for disclaiming an interest? 

Because a disclaimer can often mean giving up property, which is incredibly valuable in California, properly filing one means adhering to strict statutory guidelines. 

First, the disclaimer needs to list three distinct items: (a) the identity of the creator of the interest, (b) a description of the interest to be disclaimed, and (c) a statement of the disclaimer and the extent of the disclaimer. (Prob. Code § 278.) Second, the disclaimer has to be filed within a certain time frame. In order for the court to consider the filing “reasonable,” the interest needs to be disclaimed within nine months of the death of the creator of the interest. (Prob. Code § 279.) 

The timing is also important because a beneficiary cannot “accept” the interest and then, later on, try to disclaim it. (Prob. Code § 285.) For instance, suppose Jack stands to inherit a house from his late mother, Jill. Jack cannot use the house as collateral to secure a loan and then subsequently disclaim any interest in the property. If a beneficiary accepts or takes actions indicating an acceptance of the interest, a disclaimer is not available. 

The other side of this coin is that someone cannot change their mind about a disclaimer. Under the law, a disclaimer provided it’s effective and wasn’t secured via fraud is irrevocable and binding upon the beneficiary. (Prob. Code § 281.) 

How the Underwood Law Firm Can Help

As each case is unique, probate beneficiaries would be well-served to seek experienced counsel familiar with the intricacies of the law surrounding succession and inheritance. At the Underwood Law Firm, our knowledgeable attorneys are here to help. If you are attempting to disclaim an interest, wondering whether you have already accepted one, or if you just have questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office .

Learn more here .