PETALING JAYA: Malaysian companies are encouraged to adopt
the integrated reporting (IR) standards, to pave the way for an effective
disclosure of non-financial information.
Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) head of capital
market and regulatory compliance, professional practices and technical Chiam
Pei Pei said that IR provides useful information to stakeholders beyond those
that are provided in traditional financial reporting.
The IR standards which aims to achieve a more coherent
corporate reporting system, has also been proposed as one of the exemplary
practices in the Public Consultation Paper of the Malaysian Code on Corporate
Governance 2016.
“Globally, many countries have adopted IR standards
including Japan, Brazil and South Africa. In Malaysia, adoption of the IR
standards remains on a voluntary basis.
“As far as we are concerned, at present four local companies
namely Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, Astro Malaysia
Holdings Bhd and Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd, have adopted IR in their annual reports.
Apart from that, about 24 companies have pledged to MIA thus far to adopt the
IR standards in the next two to five years,” said Chiam at the launch of
National Annual Corporate Report Awards (NACRA) 2017.
In line with its aim to encourage greater adoption of the IR
standards, NACRA 2017 has introduced a new award category namely the Integrated
Reporting Award.
“The new award category recognises the importance of IR
which NACRA has been promoting over the past few years as a vital element in
corporate reporting globally.
“Starting from this year, our Corporate Social
Responsibility Reporting Award has been replaced with the new Sustainability
Reporting Award. This is line with Bursa Malaysia’s amendments to its Main
Market and ACE Market Listing Requirements, which requires inclusion of a
sustainability statement in annual reports,” said NACRA’s organising committee
chairman Ahmad Zahirudin Abdul Rahim.
Themed “Towards Accountability and Excellence”, NACRA was
launched in 1990 with the aim of promoting excellence in annual corporate
reporting. It is jointly organised by Bursa Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute
of Accountants and Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
This year’s NARCA has seven categories of awards, namely the
Overall Excellence Award, Industry Excellence Award for Listed Companies,
Integrated Reporting Award, Presentation Award, Sustainability Reporting Award,
Inclusiveness and Diversity Reporting Award and Special Award for Non-Listed
Organisations.
NACRA is open to all organisations incorporated or
registered in Malaysia, including companies listed on Bursa Malaysia and
non-listed organisations. Closing date for registration and submission of
entries is May 31, 2017.