A new framework was recently launched for the National Annual Corporate Reporting Awards (NACRA) 2020, 30 years after NACRA was first established in 1990.
According to joint organisers Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA), the changes come in response to a vastly transformed corporate and regulatory landscape as well as increasing investor demands for both financial and non-financial information. The new framework is also central to NACRA’s ongoing efforts to continually improve on the quality of annual reports to enhance disclosure, while upholding its vision of promoting excellence and accountability in Malaysian corporate reporting.
In his remarks at the launch in March 2020, NACRA 2020 Organising Committee Chairman Mr. Stanley Teo Swee Chua said, “NACRA 2020 introduces a brand-new awards structure and assessment criteria that enlarges recognition to many more leading organisations and is aligned with global reporting frameworks and best practices.”
This was supported by NACRA 2020 Adjudication Committee Chairman En. Ahmad Zahirudin Abdul Rahim who said: “The New NACRA is carefully designed to ensure that reporting goes beyond disclosure. Indeed, reporting on both financial and non-financial measures can become a highly useful tool for companies to align their performance with their strategy and meet increasing investor scrutiny and expectations for better sustainability.”
The key changes to the New NACRA were explained at the NACRA 2020 Launch Ceremony:
- All organisations will compete for Excellence Awards according to market capitalisation for listed companies, with a separate category for non-listed organisations. The New NACRA has dispensed with the previous separate categories for industries to further streamline the awards framework. This means that companies’ annual reports will be assessed against their peers within the same tier of market capitalisation, or within the same category of non-listed organisations. In total, NACRA 2020 offers 21 possible Excellence Awards – 1 Platinum Award, and up to 3 Gold Awards and 3 Silver Awards for each category of market capitalisation, to be awarded at the organisers’ discretion, and 1 Award for the best non-listed organisation.
- To enhance transparency and as a guide for better reporting, the organisers have revealed the marking criteria weightage for the Excellence Awards.
- Given the increasing global relevance and acceptance of integrated reporting (IR) and sustainability, the NACRA assessment criteria have been realigned with IR and sustainability elements and emphasises the importance of non-financial information, forward-looking statements and sustainability information to communicate 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.
- Under the New NACRA, the adjudication process has been streamlined from two stages to just one to improve efficiency. As per past years, the organisers have assembled an independent panel of expert adjudicators who are well-versed with the latest issues and developments in business and markets, as well as corporate reporting and sustainability disclosures.
- As in the past, all participants are eligible to compete for Best Sustainability Reporting and Best Designed Annual Report. Those participants who submit the Bahasa Malaysia version of their annual report will be eligible to compete for the title of Best Annual Report in Bahasa Malaysia.
- Companies are required to submit five copies of their annual reports and 1 PDF copy for the adjudication process to slim NACRA’s carbon footprint. Prior to NACRA 2019, 50 copies were required for adjudication.
- Companies are still required to submit a minimal number of hard copies for the design category so that the adjudicators can fully appreciate the aesthetics of the annual report in form, texture, readability and creativity.
All public-listed and non-public-listed organisations as well as other organisations established in Malaysia are cordially invited to participate in NACRA. The closing date for registration and submission of entries is 29 May 2020.
For more information about NACRA 2020, click here or please contact the NACRA Secretariat at [email protected].
