An overview of Best Annual Reports

Chairman, Evaluation Committee of the Joint Committee of ICAP & ICMAP
The Objective of this competition is to encourage and give recognition to excellence in annual corporate reporting. It also seeks to promote corporate accountability and transparency through the publication of timely information, factual and reader friendly reports.
Annual Report tells how the company functions financially and operationally and often explains the scope of its business mission & management philosophy.
BACKGROUND: The idea of judging best annual reports was initiated in 1977 by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). SAFA was formed in August 1984. It is an apex body of SAARC committed to positioning, maintaining and developing the accountancy profession in South Asia. Apart from accounting bodies of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, both ICAP and ICMAP are members of SAFA.
SAFA has been conducting the competition for Best Presented Reports Awards for the last 11 years regularly. Member bodies of the respective countries submit two best annual reports for evaluation for each of the seven categories of SAFA best Corporate Annual Reports.
From 2005 NGOs/NPOs and public sector entities are also being evaluated for the first time for Best Corporate Annual Reports Awards Competition. Similar types of competitions are organised by SAFA member countries in their respective countries.

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Country                Commenced

Competition              in Year

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Pakistan                    2000

India                       1956

Sri Lanka                   1964

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Beside this Malaysia and some other countries also hold competition for Best Corporate Annual Reports in their respective countries.
AWARDS TO PAKISTANI COMPANIES AT SAFA LEVEL: Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited got 1st position in the manufacturing sector in year 2003 2004 & 2007 and 2nd Position 2006.
Nestle Pakistan Limited and Askari Commercial Bank Limited were the runner-ups in 2003 and 2004 respectively in their categories. Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Limited took 3rd position in Hospitality, Health, Transport & Shipping Sector in 2007.
The Citizen's Foundation got 2nd Position among NGOs in 2006. Attock Petrolium Limited, Highnoon Laboratories Limited, Askari Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, Asian Stocks Fund Ltd, Atlas Insurance Limited, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited & The Citizen's Foundation obtained Certificate of Merit in 2007 in their respective sectors.
Atlas Investment Bank Limited and Escorts Investment Bank Limited were given Certificate of Merit in 2006 & 2005 in Non-Banking Financial Sector
PAKISTAN'S EXPERIENCE: In Pakistan for the last 8 years the Joint Committee of ICAP and ICMAP has been organising the Competition for Best Corporate Reports. Since then significant improvement has been with witnessed in Pakistan in presentation of annual reports.
CATEGORIES FOR BEST ANNUAL REPORT IN PAKISTAN: All companies are grouped in the following categories:
1) Financial Sector
i) Financial Sector - Banks
ii) Financial Sector NBFIs
2) Non-Financial Sector
i) Textile
ii) Chemical and Fertilizers
iii) Engineering
iv) Fuel & Energy
v) Miscellaneous
Response form Textile sector is not very appreciative. This sector represents almost one-third of total companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchanges. It is interesting to note only 26 companies sent their annual reports for evaluation.
THE CRITERIA: The criteria for evaluating companies are reviewed by the Joint Committee of ICAP and ICMAP every year based on latest trends. Every year all listed companies are requested to send their annual reports for the Competition. This year about 664 companies listed in Karachi Stock Exchange were requested to send their annual reports for evaluation and around 194 companies sent their reports.
The criteria for 2009 is available on the websites of both the Institutes:
-- ICAP www.icap.org.pk
-- ICMAP www.icmap.com.pk 100 marks allocated to the criteria for reviewing best annual report have been divided into the following categories:

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Breakup of Marks

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Corporate Objectives               04

Directors' report/CEO Review       20

Disclosure                         25

Stakeholders' information          18

Report Presentation                09

Corporate Governance               24

                                  100

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