SPSE awards best annual reports

South Pacific Stock Exchange tonight handed twelve statutory authorities, government bodies, cooperatives, non-profit and charitable organisations, other public companies and listed companies with awards for producing excellent annual reports.

The Annual Report Competition Awards, in its 30th year managed to pull in a record 32 entries in the four different categories.

SPSE chief executive, Jinita Prasad said the competition has grown tremendously over the years and  is now a prominent event in the corporate calendar of the Exchange.

"Participating organisations can now see the benefits of being part of such a competition which puts an edge within companies to endeavour on improving the quality of reporting and adhering to the extant accounting disclosure requirements as well as corporate governance principles."

"It was encouraging to see how some companies have used annual reports to tell a compelling story of their success over the past year. Information in annual reports are not only for existing shareholders of the company but for all other stakeholders including current and potential financiers and investors, regulators, employees, customers, suppliers and the general public," said Prasad.

The four categories; Category A- Statutory authorities, Government bodies and Unlisted Trusts, Category B- Co-operatives, Non-profit and charitable organisations, Cateogory C- Other pubic companies and Unit trusts and Category D- Listed companies were judged by a panel of six independent members which was chaired by Renu Chand, a partner at KPMG.

Reserve Bank of Fiji won Category A while Fiji Development Bank and Fiji National Provident Fund finished off as first and second runners-up.

Category B was won by the University of the South Pacific while the Citizens Constitutional Forum and Partners in Community Development Fiji finished in second and third place.

Airports Fiji Limited scooped top honors in Category C while FINTEL and Fijian Holdings Property Trust Fund finished off as runners-up.

Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited won the List Companies category while Fijian Holdings Limited and Fiji Television Limited finished second and third respectively.

By Reginald Chandar