DIMO, JKH triumph at ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards
Two of Sri Lanka’s most respected corporate stewards, DIMO and JKH once again triumphed at the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Sustainability Reporting Awards demonstrating their commitment to pushing boundaries in transparency and accountability in their reporting practices. DIMO, crowned the country’s most transparent and corporate business entity and JKH adjudged the runner-up, surely augments the foundation that ACCA Sri Lanka has cemented over eleven years since the genesis of these awards, that reporting best practices are imperative for running sustainable businesses. The new feature this year was the introduction of seven categories as sub-awards, encouraging a more diverse recognition of entities who strive to comply with GRI standards, which form the framework for the judging criteria.
JKH gained kudos as the winner in the Conglomerates and Diversified category, while Expolanka Holdings was Runner Up. HNB won the award in the Banking category, with Sampath Bank being Runner-Up, while in Financial Services & Insurance, Mercantile Investment & Finance enjoyed the top spot with Union Assurance gaining Runner-up position. The winner in the SME (less than Rs 1Bn turnover) category was Sanasa Insurance, while DIMO emerged the winner in Retail and Trading. In Leisure and Connected Services, John Keells Hotels bagged the top award, with Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings emerging Runner-up. American & Efird Lanka and Nawaloka Hospitals were adjudged winner and runner up in General Services and Utilities. Chairman of the Sustainability Reporting Awards Committee and Vice President of the ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Adrian Perera affirmed that ACCA’s objective is to evolve into integrated reporting. “Hence, for the second consecutive year, we changed the model to suit the requirements of the participants, a process which we will continue to eventually arrive at a model that will be most suitable for Sri Lanka while complying with global standards.”
Some unique features were showcased at this year’s ceremony highlighting the theme, ‘Youth for Sustainable Change’. ACCA engaged youth of two different organisations to creatively pursue the concept of youth being the drivers of sustainable change, pushing the boundaries of awareness in society and environment. Student designers from the Singapore based Raffles Design Institute in Colombo recycled discarded billboard flexes to create reusable everyday garments and accessories based on the 3R concept, while young dancers from Dance World, for the first time in Sri Lankan dance history, integrated visuals into silhouette dancing to bring out the message of social and environmental change.
Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education & Investment Promotion Eran Wickramaratne who was Chief Guest commended ACCA for leading the way in promoting sustainable practices in the corporate sector. “With the globally recognised qualification that equips Sri Lankans with skills that can be deployed anywhere in the world, the emphasis on responsibility and ethics can drive change, prompting better work places and making the world a better place to live. Guest of Honour IFC’s Country Manager for Sri Lanka & Maldives Adam Sack, in his address added, “Climate change is a fundamental threat to economic development for emerging economies like Sri Lanka. But with quick action, stronger partnerships, and innovative models we can create opportunities to pioneer new, sustainable, growth models for the country.”
President of the Member Network Panel of ACCA Sri Lanka Danushka Samarasinghe in his welcome address said, ““ACCA, while being one of the largest global accounting bodies, has focused on national level capacity building in topics relating to finance and in Sri Lanka we championed Sustainability Reporting. We at ACCA identified the importance of reporting sustainable corporate initiatives and developing a framework to encourage more acceptance and participation of the same. Thereby we envisage developing Sri Lankan institutions to nurture exemplary sustainable business conduct and share their achievements with the stakeholders effectively”.
Enthusing that nearly eighty entities had applied for the awards and commending those that pushed boundaries to continually raise the bar in sustainability reporting, Consultant to the Panel of Judges Franklyn Amerasinghe elaborated that the winners had demonstrated that sustainability is inextricably intertwined into their business. “They have identified and targeted for change, showcased their adverse impacts both internally and externally, have introduced processes and structure to monitor progress and counter risks and reported successes with comparisons over past years.” He also said that evolving processes to remove future threats and setting targets to curb impacts on the economy, society and environment are in place, while there is a clear indication that participants are learning from each other.
Judged on the criteria of completeness, credibility and communication, the panel of judges comprised Professor of Management PIM Professor Uditha Liyanage, CEO of Rainforest Ecolodge Prema Cooray, Senior Economist, Trade & Competitiveness of the World Bank Sriyani Hulugalle and Senior Country Economist Sri Lanka Resident Mission of Asian Development Bank Tadateru Hayashi.
