'Presentation of National Annual Corporate
Report Awards 2004 - Speech by Mr Ken Pushpanathan'
Address by : Mr Ken
Pushpanathan
Date : 30 November 2004
Yang Berhormat
Datuk Hj Mohd Shafie bin Hj Apdal
Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna
Yang Berusaha En Lam Kee Soon
Pengerusi, Jawatankuasa Pengadil NACRA 2004
Yang Berusaha En Foo Sheh Loon
Ketua Eksekutif, MIM
Yang Berusaha En Yusli Mohd Yusof
Ketua Eksekutif, Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad
Dif-dif yang berhormat
Ahli-Ahli Media
Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan sekalian
Terlebih dahulu saya
ingin mengalu-alukan kehadiran tuan-tuan dan puan-puan di Majlis Penyampaian Anugerah
NACRA 2004. Bagi pihak penganjur NACRA, saya
juga ingin mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih kepada Yang Berhormat Datuk Hj Mohd Shafie bin
Hj Apdal, Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna kerana sudi meluangkan
masa untuk merasmikan penyampaian Anugerah NACRA 2004.
Ladies
and Gentlemen
Tonight, we gather here to give honour and
public recognition to the companies which
have gone that extra mile to produce award winning annual reports. We can see that a lot of effort, time and energy
have been put in to produce high quality annual reports, both in terms of content and
appearance.
As you are aware, NACRA is an annual event
which gives honour and recognition to those organisations which have achieved excellence
in annual corporate reporting. NACRA promotes
overall exemplary corporate conduct rather than focus on specific traits of corporate
behaviour. It encourages the highest
standards in the presentation and reporting of financial and other information needed by
shareholders, investors and other interest groups. It
also seeks to promote higher standards of corporate governance through the publication of
timely, informative, factual and well-presented annual reports.
Since NACRA's inception in 1990, I am
glad to say that the standards of annual reports have improved tremendously over the
years. Indeed, companies have become more
conscious of the quality of their annual reports that NACRA has become more competitive
each year. I would like to take this
opportunity to congratulate in advance the winners of NACRA 2004. The NACRA Organising
Committee recognises and appreciates your commitment in advancing the standards of annual
reports and financial reporting in the country.
The Organising Committee would also like to
extend our sincere appreciation to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad for supporting NACRA
2004. Being a regulator of the capital
market, Bursa Malaysia's endorsement of NACRA no doubt adds to its significance.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The annual report is an important tool of
communication as it serves as a comprehensive documentation of a company's financial
performance, accounting and corporate information. This
all-important publication provides companies with the opportunity to enhance and establish
their relationships with the various stakeholders, who range from amongst others, the
shareholders, investors, employees, creditors and lenders, financial analysts and the
Government. Over its 14-year history, the
criteria for NACRA have continuously been reviewed and enhanced each year to encourage the
disclosure of all material and relevant information beyond the statutory requirements. The
stringent criteria have raised the standards of annual reports over the years and I am
glad to say that the efforts and commitments of the organising bodies in propagating this
competition have been rewarded.
Compliance with approved accounting standards
and statutory disclosure requirements has become the norm expected of all organisations. Greater emphasis has been given to voluntary
disclosures such as information about a company's long-term objectives, its strategic
plans for growth, initiatives to protect the environment and community projects. The aim is to promote more effective communication
between the organisation and its stakeholders. This in turn gives the company good
corporate mileage. It is also clear that the
benefits from voluntary disclosure of corporate information over and above the statutory
requirements far outweigh the costs incurred for such disclosures. Besides catering to the local investment
community, high quality annual corporate reports will enhance Malaysia's
competitiveness, especially in the wake of globalisation and liberalisation of the
financial capital markets and services sector.
The disclosure-based regime that Malaysia is
currently in encourages the development of a stronger framework for transparency,
accountability and corporate governance. The
objective of disclosure based regime is to promote greater efficiency and transparency in
the capital market, and enhanced accountability among market participants. It cannot be refuted that an essential
pre-requisite for the successful operation of the disclosure based regime is the existence
of high quality financial reporting standards. It
is vital to establish an environment where investors can be confident that their interests
in the company they have invested are safeguarded. This,
in turn, makes the company an attractive investment option, which is important if
Malaysian companies are to be able to compete effectively for long-term capital
Ladies and Gentlemen
The NACRA competition is open to all companies
incorporated or registered in Malaysia, both listed and unlisted, as well as the public
sector and other organisations established in Malaysia.
Since its inception, we have been encouraging wider participation by
expanding the range of Awards to be presented. A
new award is introduced in NACRA 2004 for companies listed on the MESDAQ Market. However it was disheartening to note that many of
these companies were disqualified during the preliminary screening stage as the annual
reports did not contain a Bahasa Malaysia version, which is one of the qualifying criteria
of NACRA.
In 1990, a special award titled Best Annual
Report of Non-Listed Organisations was introduced, which is presented to a company or
organisation that has achieved overall excellence in annual reporting. The main objective of the award is to encourage
non-listed companies, public sector and other organisations to participate in NACRA. The response from this group of potential
participants too has been rather discouraging. As
Chairman of the NACRA 2004 Organising Committee, I would like to invite more non-listed
companies, public sector and other Malaysian organisations to take part in NACRA 2005.
Later tonight, a total of 13 awards will be
presented, including the coveted Overall Excellence Award for the Most Outstanding Annual
Report for 2004. The Adjudication Panel,
consisting of over seventy members drawn from industry, public accounting firms, academe
and Bursa Malaysia, carried out a thorough assessment of the annual reports based on
established criteria. Believe me, the panel
of Adjudicators has had a very challenging task in selecting the winners for NACRA 2004. A Certificate of Merit will also be presented to
each of the 13 finalist companies in recognition of the commendable high standards of
annual reporting achieved by these companies
May I on behalf of the organising bodies thank
the adjudicators for their hard work and sacrifice.
Without their valuable contributions, we will not be able to announce the
winners for the NACRA competition tonight. The
increasing number of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad's Main
Board and Second Board certainly augurs well for the Malaysian economy, but it means
greater tasks for the adjudicators. Once
again, our sincere appreciation to you for your support and hard work, and more
importantly, for sharing our interest in promoting high standards of financial reporting
in Malaysia.
Before I conclude, I would also like to thank
my fellow members on the NACRA Organising Committee, the Adjudication Committee and
Secretariat staff of the organising bodies for their assistance and co-operation in making
tonight's event a success.
On
behalf of the organising bodies, I would like to once again thank Yang Berhormat Datuk Hj
Mohd Shafie for your gracious presence here tonight.
Last but not least, I would also like to thank all of you for your support
and for being with us this evening to witness the presentation of NACRA 2004.
Thank
you.
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