KUALA LUMPUR: The judging format for the National Annual Corporate Report Award (NACRA) 2020 has been revised to improve the odds for companies with smaller market capitalisation, according to its Adjudication Committee chairman, Ahmad Zahirudin Abdul Rahim.
The move is in line with the aim of having greater participation from SMEs so as to enhance the quality of annual reports and promote excellence and accountability in Malaysian corporate reporting, he asserted.
Pointing out that good corporate reporting could become highly useful for companies to align their performance with their strategy and meet increasing investor scrutiny and expectations for better sustainability, Ahmad Zahirudin said:
“Under the new NACRA framework, we still look at the quality of the financial report and how well you tell the companies’ story, but instead of assessing companies against their peers in the same industry, companies’ annual reports will assessed against their peers within the same tier of market capitalisation.”
Hence, this year’s awards will have three categories, for companies with market capitalisation of RM10 bil and more, RM2 bil-RM10 bil and under RM2 bil. There is also a special category for non-listed organisations, he told reporters after launching the new NACRA framework here today.
Earlier in his speech, Ahmad Zahirudin said under the new NACRA, the organisers – Bursa Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) – have streamlined the adjudication process from two stages to one, which would be more efficient and more appropriate for the new awards structure.
“The new NACRA also has dispensed with the separate categories for industries to further streamline the awards framework and all participants are eligible to compete for Best Sustainability Reporting and Best Designed Annual Report.
“Participants submitting the Bahasa Malaysia version of their annual reports will be eligible to compete for Best Annual Report in Bahasa Malaysia,” he added.
Meanwhile, NACRA 2020 offers 21 Excellence Awards – one platinum award and up to three gold awards and three silver awards for each category, to be awarded at the organisers’ discretion, and an award for non-listed organisations.
The NACRA assessment criteria have been realigned with sustainability elements and emphasise the importance of non-financial information, forward-looking statements and sustainability information to communicate the organisations’ value creation narratives over time.
Recognising the growing global emphasis on sustainability and impact reporting on ESG (environmental, societal and governance) impacts, NACRA continues to offer an award for Best Sustainability Reporting.
All public listed and non-public listed organisations as well as other organisations set up in Malaysia can participate in NACRA. The closing date for registration and submission of entries is May 29.
More information about NACRA 2020 can be obtained from the NACRA Secretariat at [email protected]. – March 4, 2020, Bernama
