The ACCA MaSRA awards, which recognise organisations for the quality of their sustainability practices and reporting, returns for its 14^th consecutive edition.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 (Bernama) -- ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has launched the 14^th edition of its annual MaSRA (Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Awards) as part of its effort to highlight the growing importance of sustainability reporting.

The prestigious awards provide both forward-thinking SMEs and larger corporates with the opportunity to showcase their sustainability best practices and reporting both in Malaysia and overseas.

“Internationally there are strong pressures pushing businesses to improve their sustainability practices and reporting. Indeed, sustainability reporting is being mandated by law in many countries. In Malaysia, sustainability reporting is currently not obligatory for all companies, but it does provide many helpful benefits to organisations. It has been shown that strong sustainability reporting practices actually lead to improved operational efficiencies in the longer run, while the transparency of such reporting practices also makes organisations more attractive to investors, with consequent benefits to their valuation,” said Edward Ling, Interim Country Head of ACCA Malaysia.

Edward added, “ACCA MaSRA serves to catalyse and enhance sustainability reporting amongst companies in Malaysia mainly PLCs. Since the mid-1990s, ACCA has regularly published research that guides and informs corporations on how to produce reports that provide greater transparency on their business performance. Enhancing corporate transparency is ultimately what the ACCA MaSRA is all about. Happily, there are many organisations in Malaysia that are moving in the right direction on this topic and MaSRA gives them a platform to highlight their best practices to audiences both in Malaysia and overseas.” 

“Last year we had many high-quality submissions and winners included Sime Darby Bhd, Maybank, Nets Printwork, Cenviro, Sunway, Fuji Xerox, Axiata and DiGi.com. We foresee a higher number of participation this year following Bursa Malaysia’s introduction of the new Sustainability Framework for Public Listed Companies (PLCs) mandating the inclusion of a sustainability statement with their Annual Report,” Edward concluded.
 
This year’s awards include Best Overall Reporting, Best Sustainability Reporting for PLCs with market capitalisation less than RM2 billion, Best Sustainability Reporting for non-PLCs, Best Sustainability Reporting for SMEs, Best Workplace Practices and Commendation Awards.
 
The judging criteria are similar to last year’s which are in line with Bursa Malaysia’s Sustainability Guidelines and UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
 
MaSRA 2017 is open to companies from any sector, and there are no restrictions in terms of company size. Interested organisations can visit www.accaglobal.com/my/masra to find out more.  Submissions are currently open until 30 September 2017.  

About the ACCA MaSRA
The ACCA MaSRA programme recognises best practices in sustainability reporting within Corporate Malaysia. Since its inception in 2002, these Awards have served as an important platform to create awareness on corporate environment and social responsibility and benefits of reporting to business.
 
The Awards, now in its fourteenth cycle, help underline the business case for sustainable practices and development. It is open to companies from any sector, have any type of business and any number of employees.
 
www.accaglobal.com/my/masra

About ACCA

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants, offering business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.
ACCA supports its 198,000 members and 486,000 students in 180 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. ACCA works through a network of 101 offices and centres and more than 7,291 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through its public interest remit, ACCA promotes appropriate regulation of accounting and conducts relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.

Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability. It believes that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development and seek to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards. ACCA’s core values are aligned to the needs of employers in all sectors and it ensures that through its range of qualifications, it prepares accountants for business. ACCA seeks to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds and remove artificial barriers, innovating its qualifications and delivery to meet the diverse needs of trainee professionals and their employers. More information is here: www.accaglobal.com

SOURCE : Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name : Adeline Fong
Senior Manager, Public Relations
ACCA Malaysia
Tel:       + (603) 2289 0117 / (60)12 381 5589
Email:   adeline.fong@accaglobal.com

Name : Anita Selvamalar 
Consultant
TQPR Malaysia
Tel : 010-2194 164
Email : anitas@tqpr.com 

Name : Melanie Low
Consultant
TQPR Malaysia
Tel : 010-220 5228
Email : melaniel@tqpr.com

--BERNAMA