HKICPA香港注册会计师2013 Results

　　The Institute would like to congratulate all the winners and to applaud their commitment to good corporate governance and the example they set which helps to raise standards generally in Hong Kong.
 

　　Directors, chief financial officers or other senior representatives from the winning companies and organisations attended the Awards luncheon to be presented with their trophies. Slides produced from the annual reports and sustainability/ social responsibility reports of the award winners were displayed during the presentations. These graphically illustrated the scope and clear presentation of key information by the winning organisations.
 

　　Commentaries on the annual reports of the winning companies and organisations, observations of the judges and reviewers on the overall standard of corporate governance disclosures and practices in Hong Kong, as well as background information on the Awards programme, are contained in the Best Corporate Governance Disclosure Awards 2013 – Judges’ Report.
 

　　This year was the 14th successive running of the Awards. It is Hong Kong’s most prestigious corporate governance awards competition, enjoying strong support from the government, financial market regulators, investor groups, and the business and professional community. The Awards plays an important role in establishing benchmarks of good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility and encouraging improvements in standards. It emphasises the need for transparency and accountability towards investors and other stakeholders, which, particularly in the case of public sector entities, includes the community at large.
 

　　The focus of the Awards is very much on voluntary disclosures of relevant information in annual reports that goes significantly beyond the minimum statutory and regulatory requirements and reflects a strong, internally-driven, corporate governance culture. This year the marking criteria for listed companies were reviewed and revised, in the light of the full implementation of the new Corporate Governance Code under the listing rules. Where appropriate, similar changes were made to the criteria for the public sector/not-for-profit organisations.
 

　　The assessments for the SSR reporting award were conducted using rigorous, specifically-designed criteria for SSR information disclosures and practices, which take reference from internationally-accepted frameworks for disclosure of SSR-type information, in particular that of the Global Reporting Initiative. The marking scheme for the SSR award was also further refined in 2013.
 

　　More than 250 annual reports of listed companies and public sector/not-for-profit organisations were reviewed in current year. These included a range of organisations operating in different industry sectors and of different sizes, including international corporations, family-controlled local companies and Mainland businesses.