People’s Leasing Company Annual Report bags Gold

People’s Leasing Company PLC bagged the prestigious Gold Award for the best annual report for the fourth consecutive year in the leasing sector.

This stands as a golden testament to the consistent excellence achieved by People’s Leasing Company. People’s Finance PLC, a subsidiary, also achieved the Silver Award for their annual report in the finance sector.

The People’s Leasing Company, a subsidiary of People’s Bank, was incorporated in 1995 and is renowned for being “the people’s friendly lease”. It is a leasing establishment registered with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

A subsidiary of People’s Bank, the People’s Leasing Company PLC was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) recently. The People’s Leasing Group consists of six subsidiaries namely People’s Finance PLC, People’s Microfinance Limited, People’s Insurance Limited, People’s Leasing Fleet Management Limited, People’s Leasing Property Development Limited, and People’s Leasing Havelock Properties Limited.

Every year, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), the premier accounting body in the country, recognises the organisations that produce the most outstanding annual reports.

Organisations which achieve awards at this forum are held in high esteem for their transparency, credibility, timeliness and governance in compliance with international frameworks on financial reporting. Thus, receiving recognition at these prestigious awards is the epitome of success for any organisation. One such leading organisation that was recognised at the recently concluded ICASL annual report awards is People’s Leasing Company PLC.

People’s Leasing Company Chief Executive Officer/General Manager D.P. Kumarage acknowledges that being a part of this awards scheme plays a significant role in improving reporting standards within an organisation and is pleased to recognise that, over the past few years, their own standards of reporting have improved in line with the regulations set forth.

People’s Leasing Company has also thus been able to comply and keep abreast of developments in the standards and regulations of financial reporting. Through the adherence to these guidelines and global improvements in financial reporting, the organisation has been able to significantly improve its quality both in terms of maintaining and producing its financial report as well in the overall governance of the organisation.

It is a matter of progressively improving the quality of reporting and transparency, and these vital factors play a direct role in contributing towards the economic development of the nation as well. Greater transparency, accuracy and consistency reflected in the annual report gives a much higher credibility in the eyes of investors. People’s Leasing Company has attracted a significant portion of foreign direct investments in this regard.

Kumarage pointed out that the awards received by the People’s Leasing Company is a proof of the financial transparency and credibility and these factors have played a vital role in attracting investors.

Kumarage also went on to the state that this year alone the organisation has been able to gain 11 foreign investors with three investors being new entrants to the Sri Lankan market. He also pointed out that achieving the Gold Award is a further value addition when approaching investors as they understand that the organisation is stable and secure place for their financial investments. This is a goal that People’s Leasing has achieved by working together as a team.

In today’s reporting techniques, a new feature that has come in to effect is sustainability reporting. Sustainability reporting provides an overall view of the development of the organisation in terms of economic, social and environment friendly performance. Through sustainability reporting an organisation is looked at on a much wider scale and it measures the long-term impacts of social business of the organisation.

Kumarage stated that today’s companies are judged on uplifting the community and building relations within the community and duly performing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. He also pointed out that people in today’s society value a company that is involved in social business rather than a company that is not involved in any social improvement initiatives.

People’s Leasing Company had also been recognised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce as one of the Best Corporate Citizens (Less than Rs. 10 billion revenue category) for two consecutive years, this recognition of organisations engaged in such corporate social responsibility activities.

“We are proud that we are recognised not only in terms of the aspect of profitability but also as an organisation that is involved in the community and involved in corporate social responsibility activities,” said Kumarage.

The customer base of People’s Leasing Company is wide, with its leasing facilities having transcended any boundaries of income-based classes. The organisation has provided a range of leasing options to many entrepreneurs for a range of business ventures.

People’s Leasing Company believes in communicating and reaching out to the people through their social responsibility activities and thus they are able to build good relations with the community at large. This is in line with the People’s Leasing Company philosophy, which entails the following core values; economic viability, social accountability and environmental responsibility.

In accordance with the GRI compliance index, the sustainability report of People’s Leasing Company, adheres to reporting principles, reporting guidance and indicator protocols for economic, environment, labour, human rights, product responsibility and societal performance.

A greater number of organisations are becoming publicly listed and as such the recognition of annual report plays a heavy role in creating a culture of transparency within the organisation, thus the standards of the awarding body have to keep improving as this will make companies fall in line and also contribute towards an organisation’s continuous improvement and betterment.

Hence “such awarding bodies are part and parcel of the development of the country and they should set the trend in terms of standards of financial reporting,” said Kumarage.

The annual report is a vital document that communicates the quality and stage of development of an organisation and it is of vital importance for customers and investors as they can then assured that the organisation is being managed appropriately, Kumarage stated.

“The Annual Report is the main source of information that all stakeholders have access to and ultimately the stakeholders also benefit through the availability of a financial report that relates to the highest standards and thus has much greater transparency and credibility than other organisations and this is exactly what People’s Leasing Company has achieved.”

People’s Leasing Company recognises the role that the ICASL annual report awards play in the maintenance of transparency of an organisation and economic development both, within the organisation and as a contributing factor to the economic development of the country as well.

Achieving the Gold award for the four consecutive year stands as a testimony to the stability, and credibility, that the People’s Leasing Company has maintained as a result of their transparency and good governance as a responsible corporate citizen. Thus it can be said, that People’s Leasing Company has not only won the Gold Award but they have also won the trust of the people which is beyond any measure available today.