BD cos dominate SAFA competition

Mohammad Ali | Published: July 08, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Bangladesh's corporate entities continue holding the top positions among the SAARC countries in disclosure and fair presentation of their financial statements and other business activities in their annual reports, according to officials linked to the process.
South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), a forum of professional accountancy bodies in the SAARC region, ranks such business bodies and recognizes them with "Best Presented Annual Report (BPA) Awards."
For the last two consecutive years (2011 and 2012), Bangladeshi business entities secured the first "overall winner" award among all the SAFA BPA winners in different categories. They also grabbed the first, second and third awards in their respective sectors.
This achievement indicated that the country's business organisations are increasingly doing better in fair presentation and disclosure of financial statements within the international reporting standard and corporate governance in addition to their contribution under corporate social responsibility (CSR), the officials said.
For the award, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) nominated the Bangladeshi organisations that win the first three positions of the ICAB BPA Award in different categories, an official of the institute said.
"ICAB is sincerely working with the country's companies to continue their best performance in the SAFA BPA Award in the coming days," ICAB President Showkat Hossain FCA told the FE.
The ICAB and SAFA BPA Awards 2013 are likely to be given in late this year.
"ICAB is happy to see the progress of the reporting standard of the Bangladeshi companies. We are expecting continuation of best practice of our country's organisations in case of their performance and presentation," Mahbub Ahmed Siddique FCA, ICAB director (technical) told the FE.
"Objective of the ICAB BPA award is to support and motivate the organisations to ensure transparency and fair presentation of their performance and activities to the stakeholders," he said. "ICAB hoped that through this process, professionalism and accountability will be improved."
Major criteria for the BPA award include presentation and disclosure of financial statements, management report and analysis, sustainability reporting, accounting policies, corporate governance, risk management and control environment, stakeholders' information, graphical and pictorial data, profitability, dividends, performance and liquidity ratios, AGMs and some other additional disclosures.
In the SAFA BPA 2012 Award, given in 11 separate categories, Union Capital won the "overall winner" award.
Having participated in nine out of 11 sectors, Bangladesh bagged the first awards in five categories and the second awards in three categories.
The first winners in SAFA BPA 2012 Award are: Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd in the private sector banks (including co-operative banks) category, Rupali Bank Ltd in the category of public sector banking institutions, Union Capital in the financial services sector category, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd in the SAARC anniversary award for corporate governance category, and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) in the public sector entities category,
While the second award winners in separate categories are: Prime Bank Ltd in, IDLC Finance Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd. Another firm ranked the third position in a category and 12 others won the certificate of merit award for the year 2012.
In the SAFA BPA Awards 2011, Bangladesh participated in eight categories and its two companies -- IDLC Finance Ltd and Prime Bank Ltd -- grabbed the first and second "overall winner" awards respectively among all the SAFA winners in different categories.
Some other Bangladeshi companies won the first awards in four separate categories and the second awards in three categories.
The first award winners are: Prime Bank Ltd in the private sector banks (including co-operative banks) category, Rupali Bank Ltd in the public sector banking institutions category, IDLC Finance Ltd in the financial services sector category, and Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd in the SAARC anniversary award for corporate governance category.
The second award winners in separate categories are: Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, Prime Finance and Investments Ltd and Uddipan.
Three other organisations bagged the third position in separate categories and nine others received the certificate of merit awards for the year 2011.