Muhammad Ali Latif FCA

TEXT: President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP)

In the face of growing demand for reporting information by stakeholders, there is greater need for transparency and building investor confidence.

Excellence in corporate reporting and compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) plays a fundamental role in promoting transparency and building confidence among investors in the capital markets.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) has always been committed to promote transparency, governance and accountability in Pakistan’s corporate sector which has brought a marked improvement in the quality of reporting and corporate governance in Pakistan.

The Best Corporate & Sustainability Report (BC&SR) Awards is an example of the Institute’s commitment towards improving and enhancing the quality of financial reporting in Pakistan.

In a dynamic global economy, investors are demanding an integrated and sustainable approach to performance and value creation in reporting of information. This in turn is shaping the reporting landscape from corporate to sustainability reporting.

Stakeholders now want to know about an organization's environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and companies' efforts to reach these goals.

The recent issuance of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB’s) two Sustainability Disclosure Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, demonstrate the widespread demand of the investors.

ICAP in partnership with SECP has been organizing stakeholders’ consultative sessions for creating awareness about these standards and also aims to adopt and implement these standards in Pakistan.

I am pleased to share that the Joint Evaluation Committee of the ICAP and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (ICMAP), with the objective to promote sustainability reporting in Pakistan, launched the Best Sustainability Report (BSR) Awards in 2011.

With every passing year, the number of participants in BSR Awards are increasing. This shows Pakistani companies’ commitment and readiness to follow the changing landscape of sustainability reporting.

In addition, it is also heartening to see that over the period, the BCSR competition has brought tremendous improvement in the overall presentation, reporting and disclosure of the annual reports of the companies.

I congratulate the companies who have participated in the competition and have won the awards and hope that they will continue to achieve excellence in corporate reporting in future as well.

I specially thank the honorable Chief Guest, Mr. Akif Saeed and our Guest of Honors, Mr. Ehsan Malik, Mr. Khalid Mehmood and Mr. Adnan Afridi, for gracing the event.

I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the BCR Chairman, members of the Evaluation Committee and the executives of both the Institutes and their team members for their tireless efforts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023