I'm looking for a report analyzing how much is spend on investor
relations
each year that includes all of the mailing and communications costs
for annual, quarterly, 10K reports by all public companies, with as
detailed a breakdown as is available.

Jack --

Not one report, but two, cover the ground that you're seeking. 
Luckily most of the information is on-line in both cases, though these
two reports have more details that are available from the National
Investor Relations Institute (NIRI):
1.  The Annual Report Survey 2002 ($50)
http://www.niri.org/publications/bookstore/BookDetail.cfm?RefCode=MS-007&RequestPage=ByCategories
Summary: "NIRI Releases Annual Report Survey" (August 5, 2002):
http://www.niri.org/publications/alerts/ea20020805.pdf

2.	Survey of Responsibilities of IR Executives ($50)
Summary: "NIRI Releases Survey of Responsibilities of IR Executives"
(July 10, 2001):
http://www.niri.org/publications/alerts/ea071001.cfm

NIRI members constitute the largest 5,000 public corporations, thus
those spending the dominant share of spending on investor relations
and SEC compliance.  The NIRI member firms have IR departments in 89%
of the cases; in the other 11% of the firms the finance, treasurer or
corporate communications departments handle the responsibilities.

Here's a very brief summary of what the two NIRI studies show:
1.	IR budgets were an average of $474,000 in 2000, down 3% from 1998
levels.  NIRI does this survey every two years.
2.	Total IR spending is $2.1 billion with the 5,000 major public
companies -- though this excludes costs for the annual report and
stock market participation fees.
3.	The median budget for annual reports (excluding postage, but
including production and printing) was $124,900 in 2001, down 10% from
1999.  The number of reports being printed by companies is dropping
due to increased use of the Internet for fulfillment of investor
requests.
4.	Average cost per copy in 2002 of an annual report was $3.73, a drop
from $4.28 in 199.
5.	Average print runs were 92,700 in 2002, compared to 95,600 in 1999.
6.	Total annual report spending for production was $624.5 million.  An
additional $1.7 billion was spent on printing for the 5,000 leading
public companies.  Note that over half of the companies are including
the Form 10-K in their annual report.
7.	Six percent of companies are planning to abandon printed annual
reports in favor of a web version only.
8.	Mailing costs, assuming $1.50 per copy, would add $695 million to
the total spending on annual reports.

The shift to electronic delivery of all compliance documents has been
a major concern of the SEC since 1997, when it did a report on the
impact of electronic techs on mutual fund/company/pensions provision
of information to investors (Nov. 26, 1997):
http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/techrp97.htm

Some discussions of what's practical in using the Internet to cut the
costs of printing & mailing, particularly of annual reports, which are
the bulk of company expenses are in IR consultant Ron Blunn's
presentation,  "Wither the Annual Report"  (Sept. 28, 2001):
http://www.blunnco.com/about/perspectives/perspective0901.htm

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

---

Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 07 Oct 2002 10:18 PDT

Jack --

Thanks for your kind words.  I'd seen older studies of IR costs, but
clearly electronic communications is turning this world upside-down. 
The SEC report linked above highlights the different issues for each
investment sector; the SEC's made some recent regulatory changes that
also generated interesting information in comments.

Thanks for your kind words.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Competent, efficient and classy. I like it.