DIMO felicitated for Best Sustainability Report; HNB First Runner-Up

• ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards present 14 awards across 7 industry categories

Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) on Wednesday proudly accepted the overall award as Sri Lanka’s most transparent company at the ACCA Sri Lanka Sustainability Reporting Awards, which has for over 14 years felicitated Sri Lanka’s best sustainability reports.

Adjudged Overall Runner-Up was Hatton National Bank PLC, the overall awards formed the climax to a total of fourteen awards being presented at a gala awards ceremony presided by High Commissioner for South Africa Robina P. Marks as Chief Guest.  Adjudged across seven industry categories, corporate stewardship was well evidenced among a collective of nearly 60 reports submitted for the awards, led by a panel of judges headed by Franklyn Amerasinghe.

John Keells Holdings topped the Conglomerates and Diversified category once again and DIMO repeated this feat as well in the Retail and Trading Category, where Alumex took the Runner-Up position. HNB won the Banking Sector too, while Commercial Bank came in as Runner-Up.  Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings was the winner in the Leisure & Connected Services Category, which saw John Keells Hotels emerge as Runner Up.  

There were Joint Winners in the Finance & Insurance category – Union Assurance and Citizens Development Business Finance, while the Runner-Up award was presented to Mercantile Investments & Finance. Nawaloka Hospitals gained the winning laurel in the General Services (Utilities) category, with the Runner-Up being MTD Walkers. The Awards also felicitated the SME category presenting Vallibel Power Erathna with the winning award and Resus Energy with the Runner-Up Award.Stating that the demands of the 21st century means that companies could no longer operate in the same way as before, the South African High Commissioner said: “New tools are required if companies are to be responsive in a world that is changing. The sustainability issue is a critical consideration for boards of companies and has to be embedded in its long-term strategy. The chartered accountancy industry therefore has a valuable and indispensable role to play in Sri Lanka. ACCA’S Sustainability Reporting Awards is therefore an indispensable tool that can assist companies with its on-going relationship between the company and its stakeholders in developing strategy. In this regard, best practices from South African companies are instructive in demonstrating how companies can achieve long term sustainability, responsive to the needs of companies and society as a whole.”

Sri Lanka is among 25 countries globally where 3,000 entities worldwide use a predetermined methodology in sustainability reporting which falls within the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) blueprint.  Congratulating all winners who have conformed to the criteria indicators of completeness, credibility and communication, President of the Member Network Panel of ACCA Sri Lanka Adrian Perera stated that each of the winning reports had clearly acknowledged and demonstrated economic, environmental and social impacts on internal and external stakeholders.  “We at ACCA believe that if Sri Lanka is to develop itself to become the true pearl of the Indian Ocean, businesses must come up with strategies that are not only viable but also sustainable in the long run.”

Having observed an increasing number of integrated reports being entered into the fray, Amerasinghe said the judges noted more strategic thinking in relation to sustainability, encouraging all organisations to move towards this approach. 

“A robust sustainability reporting process is ensured when an organisation produces an integrated report,” he said. “With participants adopting the methodology approved by GRI, most reports check their’s against the GRI G4 which calls for reporting on the material aspects of the business.  A new trend is to translate the performance into metrics associated with identified types of capital, falling in line with an integrated approach.  We hope there will be a movement in this direction which is a universal trend.”  

The Panel of Judges comprised Consultant to the Panel of Judges Amarasinghe and Prema Cooray, Sriyani Hulugalle, Dr. Kennedy D. Gunawardana, Srilal Miththapala, Dinesh Weerakkody and Ramani Gunatilaka.