ACCA felicitates unique business entities

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The eighth ACCA Sri Lanka sustainability reporting awards ceremony to felicitate business entities excelled in integrating the sustainability frameworks to business strategy and communicating plans, aspirations and performance in a transparent manner was held last week in Colombo.

Sustainability issues have never been more at the forefront of corporate and public sector agenda as it is today. The successful businesses have shown us the way forward and the call to other businesses to do the same is loud and clear. We have experienced the pitfalls of not paying attention to sustainability principles and the new generation of leaders will be those who pay attention to the lessons learned from the many debacles of the past decade, ACCA Sri Lanka President Nisreen Rehmanjee said.

We want to reward organizations which report and disclose social and economic information, raise awareness in corporate transparency issues, and encourage the uptake of environmental and sustainability reporting, she said.

In the early nineties, as the business world embraced the idea of the 3 Ps -profits, people and planet, a business case emerged for extending the boundaries of bottom line reporting from single line financial performance reporting to triple bottom line economic, environmental and social performance reporting.

It is heartening to see the year on year increase in the number of reports submitted for the awards, and the continued realization among the corporate community of the importance of sustainable development - and with it, sustainability reporting.

There is room for improvement and pursuit of excellence results in benchmarks being raised. We would like to see more reports include stakeholders’ engagement process information, forward looking information and independent assurances.

It is recognized that what is required is a concise, comprehensive and comparable reporting framework that integrates material financial and non-financial information. The framework should be structured around the organization’s strategic objectives, its governance and business model.

The current economic conditions have forced us to focus afresh on the responsibilities corporations have for society at large. In this, we could argue that, rather than being an impediment, the present situation could actually be a platform for those of us seeking to promote transparency and responsibility, Rehmanjee said.