17 February 2016 12:00 am
For the 20th year in succession, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Sri Lanka will reward Sri Lanka’s most transparent, accountable and responsible entities at the ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards on February 24, at The Kingsbury.
Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D.M. Swaminathan will be the chief guest.
This year’s awards spotlight seven categories in addition to rewarding the overall winner and runner-up. The seven categories are Conglomerates and Diversified, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) (turnover less than Rs.1 billion), Retail and Trading, Leisure and Connected Services and General Services and Utilities.
In the awards held last year, from nearly eighty entrants, John Keels Holdings (JKH) gained kudos as the winner in the Conglomerates and Diversified category. Hatton National Bank (HNB) won the award in the Banking category, while in Financial Services and Insurance, Mercantile Investment & Finance enjoyed the top spot.
The winner in the SME (less than Rs.1 billion turnover) category was Sanasa, while Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) emerged the winner in Retail and Trading. In Leisure and Connected Services, John Keells Hotels bagged the top award, while American & Efird Lanka were adjudged winner in General Services and Utilities. Awards for runners-up were presented in each category.
ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel President Danushka Samarasinghe explained, “ACCA, while being one of the largest global accounting bodies, has identified the importance of reporting sustainable corporate initiatives and developing a framework to encourage more acceptance and participation of the same. Through this, we envisage developing Sri Lankan institutions to nurture exemplary sustainable business conduct and share their achievements with the stakeholders effectively.”
Sri Lankan companies, over 3,000 entities worldwide, including over two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500 companies, in producing reports detailing sustainability and corporate responsibility, follow the framework set out by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
In addition to Sri Lanka, the ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards are held in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the USA with similar awards, largely based on the ACCA criteria, existing in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.