Annual Reports Awards reaches 50-year milestone

Thursday, 7 August 2014 01:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Iman Saleem Registration is now open for the esteemed Annual Reports Awards Competition, which will celebrate its milestone 50th anniversary this year. Organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), the competition recognises and acclaims corporates for outstanding governance and excellence in financial reporting and is open to any organisation, regardless of size and financial position and performance, which produces an annual report. Registrations will close on 30 August 2014. Awards will be presented in 23 categories, including a winner and two runners up in each category. Judgment and evaluation is based solely on an organisation’s ability to effectively and concisely communicate its objectives, highlights, performance and progress to a select audience. The judging process is split into three stages: an initial selection process, a technical review, and an intensive screening process conducted by the final panel of judges.

This year, the theme of the competition is ‘Annual Reports Awards Reaches Gold’, and the landmark 50th Golden Jubilee will have Lanka Ratings Agency Limited as the event sponsor, while the Colombo Stock Exchange will be the strategic partner of the event. With the focus being on keeping the competition relevant and up to date, the CA Sri Lanka President Arjuna Herath, stressed the importance of sustainable growth. Speaking at a press conference, he explained that currently the average life span of a company is roughly 40 years and that a third of companies shut down within 10 years of being set up.

“Hence we want companies to approach business in a sustainable manner, integrating well into the complex world and society, and we are using the Annual Reports as a tool to get companies to approach business in this manner,” he elaborated. The central aim of the Annual Report Awards, he said, was to create a responsible, accountable and sustainable corporate world. Furthermore, every year the competition sees the incorporation of new criteria to encourage the competition’s relevancy and this year the Annual Reports Awards Committee has also introduced a new category focused on Integrated Reporting. “We believe that by introducing this award, more companies will be motivated to go for integrated reports and in that context our annual reports will be on par with international standards,” said the Chairman of the Committee Tishan Subasinghe. He went on to say that this year Committee expects at least 150 applicants, in comparison to the 123 companies that applied last year, showing that more and more organisations now recognise the importance of transparency and accountability. The Annual Reports Awards 2014 will be held on 9 December. pic by Sameera Wijesinghe