Public sector units recognised at inaugural Best Annual Reports & Accounts Awards

Several public sector organisations including universities, statutory boards, research institutes, provincial and urban councils were recently recognised at the inaugural Best Annual Reports and Accounts Awards held in Colombo and organised by CA Sri Lanka's public sector wing, the Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka (APFASL) for high quality financial reporting.

A total of 19 public sector organisations were awarded for high quality financial reporting standards, of which a total of five organisations were recognized as winners under five categories. The competition was organised in an effort to enhance transparency and accountability in the public sector and to encourage excellence in the presentation of information in the annual reports and accounts, CA Sri Lanka said in a media release.

The University of Moratuwa, won under the universities category, followed by the University of Sri Jayawardenapura being adjudged 1st runner up and the University of Sabaragamuwa being recognized as the 2nd runner up. Under the Statutory Boards category, the Marine Environment Protection Authority was adjudged the winner, followed by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board becoming the 1st runner up and the Provincial Road Passenger Transport Authority - Western Province being adjudged the 2nd runner up.

The National Engineering Research and Development Centre of Sri Lanka won under the Research Institutes category, while the North Central Provincial Council won under the Provincial Councils category, with the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council coming in as 1st runner up and the Northern Provincial Council being the 2nd runner up. The Wattala Mabola Urban Council won under the Urban Councils category, while the Kalutara Urban Council became the 1st runner up in the same category. The University of Jaffna and the Coconut Cultivation Board won the Compliance Awards at the competition. "APFASL President Mr. V. Kanagasabapathy said that high quality financial reporting is important for better decision making and to ensure transparency and accountability. Therefore his association took steps to move towards transparent and comparable financial reporting in achieving enhanced performance and accountability. He pointed out that in fulfilling this important objective, CA Sri Lanka has also taken the lead to formulate and publish Sri Lanka Public Sector Accounting Standards based on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards to strengthen the Financial Reporting Practices in the public sector with adequate disclosure requirements," the release said.