ACCA crowns Sime Darby as overall champion in sustainability reporting

KUALA LUMPUR: Home grown conglomerate, Sime Darby Bhd, was crowned the Best Overall Reporting champion of the ACCA Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Awards (ACCA MaSRA) for 2016.

Their submitted report stood out above the rest to impress the judges with the organisation's approach to innovationandcleardemonstration of how sustainability was managed at senior management level.

Coming in as runner-up was Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), who also won the Best Workplace Practices Award for the transparent demonstration of their commitment to diversity, gender equality, employee development and retention of women in the workforce.

ACCA also awarded Cenviro Sdn Bhd and Nets Printwork Sdn Bhd the Best Sustainability Reporting Award under the Non-PLCs and SMEs categories respectively.

In addition, Commendation Awards were won by Sunway Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Malaysia Operations), and DiGi.Com Bhd.

President of the ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee, Datuk Dr Lukman Ibrahim, conveyed his congratulations, saying: “The winners of the ACCA MaSRA lead the way in demonstrating how sustainable business practices are an essential part of corporate risk management, and are ultimately crucial in determining a company's investability quotient.

“ACCA has been encouraging c o nv e r s a t i o n s around sustainability reporting and corporate transparency since the 1990s because we strongly believe that sustainability should be at the heart of all businesses.

“Through the ACCA MaSRA programme, we've been able to observe an increasing number of companies in Malaysia demonstrate accountability and strategic drive that is at par with international practices.

“This experience has been rewarding, to say the least.” The ACCA MaSRA was introduced in Malaysia in 2002, thereby making it the longest running awards programme in the country that aims to identify and recognise organisations that report and disclose full environmental, social and governance information.

This year, the judging criteria were aligned to incorporate Bursa Malaysia's new listing requirements as provided in their Sustainability Framework, which now mandates public listed companies to publish a sustainability report with their annual statements.

Amendments to the Listing Requirements take effect on a staggered basis over three years, starting from 31 December 2016 to 31 December 2018.

This development underscores the urgency for Malaysian companies to relook at their sustainability disclosure practices.

In this context, the ACCA MaSRA initiative serves as a catalyst towards enhancing sustainability reporting in Malaysia.

Chief Regulatory Officer of Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Selvarany Rasiah, was appointed Chairperson of the ACCA MaSRA 2016 judging panel.

Also, for the fourth consecutive year, the ACCA Awards was organised in partnership with Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp).

Sharing her insights as one of the judges, Shareen Shariza Dato‘ Abdul Ghani, CEO of TalentCorp said: “Over the years, we have seen more companies in Malaysia embracing sustainability, including diversity in the workplace, as a business imperative rather than a “nice to have”.

“Sustainability equals good business.

These companies, as reflected by the organisations participating in this year's ACCA MaSRA, stand out in the marketplace and the best of them are able to attract and develop a diverse pool of talent.

“I hope more Malaysian employers will follow these examples.” The ACCA MaSRA 2016 received a total of 49 entries, out of which ten were new participants to the Awards.

Beyond the primary judging criteria, judges also considered a set of overarching characteristics in deciding on the final winners.

Characteristics such as commitment, innovat i o n , knowledge management, circular economy, enterprise of the future and work practices are regarded to be essential elements that better identify organisations that are looking into the future. — Bernama