report of the judges

ACCA SINGAPORE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL REPORTING AWARDS (SESRA)

objectives
Organisations are under mounting pressure from investors, governments, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to demonstrate their efforts to manage the impacts of their operations. Environmental, social and sustainability reporting is now an important route through which corporate accountability and integrity can be demonstrated. The ACCA awards assist in pushing these issues to the forefront. The ACCA Singapore Environmental and Social Reporting Awards (SESRA), were launched in September 2002. The objectives of the awards are to: reward and recognise organisations which report and disclose environmental, social or full sustainable information encourage the uptake of environmental, social and/or sustainability reporting raise awareness of corporate transparency issues and increase accountability for responsiveness to stakeholders

entrants 2007
environmental reporting category Singapore Airlines Ltd http://www.singaporeair.com Singapore Polytechnic http://www.sp.edu.sg/greenreport2007/ Singapore Epson Industrial Pte Ltd http://www.epson-plating.com.sg SembCorp Industries Limited www.sembcorp.com.sg social reporting category Banyan Tree Holdings Limited http://www.banyantree.com/greenimperative/banyan_ tree_csr_2006.pdf City Developments Limited http://www.citydev.sg/CDL/notes/annualreport2006/ corpsocial.htm Comfort Delgro Limited http://www.comfortdelgro.com.sg/files/fin/areports/ attachment/136.pdf Keppel Land Limited http://www.keppelland.com.sg/jbox/csr2007 SMRT Corporation Ltd http://www.sp.edu.sg/greenreport2007/

Our Awards seek to identify and reward companies that report corporate environmental, social and/or sustainability performance to a broad range of stakeholders, rather than evaluate performance itself. All organisations have an impact on the environment and society. These impacts can be direct (from daily operations) or indirect (via the products used and services provided). All organisations should be accountable to their stakeholders and as such, these awards are open to all sectors and organisations of all sizes. awards categories 1. 2. Environmental Reporting Social Reporting

The Awards are endorsed by the National Environment Agency and supported by the Singapore Environment Council and TV Sd PSB.

judging
Key features of environmental reporting An excellent environmental, social and/or sustainability report acknowledges and explains an organisations impact on the environment and community in which it operates. The report also demonstrates the organisations policies, targets and long-term objectives to reduce its environmental and social impacts. Panel of judges V Bhuvan TV SD PSB Carrie Johnson PAIA Consulting Graham Owens CSR Asia Howard Shaw Singapore Environment Council Professor Tan Hun Tong Nanyang Technological University Judging criteria The judging panel assessed the applications and focused on the following three key elements of an excellent report: Completeness Credibility Communication Examples of indicators in the ACCA criteria Completeness (40%) Corporate context Key (direct and indirect) environmental impacts Environmental policy and management commitment Environmental targets and objectives Scope of the report (by entity) Reporting and accounting policies Report audience identified Credibility (35%) Contingency planning and risk management Compliance/non-compliance record Environmental impact data Environmental financial statements and full cost accounting Approaches to stakeholder dialogue Third party statement Communication (25%) Layout and appearance Understandability, readability, accessibility, appropriate length Innovative approaches Availability of a summary report and/or executive summary Use of internet Appropriateness of graphs, illustrations, photos

winners 2007
BEST ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT Singapore Polytechnic Environment & Sustainability Report 2007 The report describes comprehensively the organisations commitment to the transparent disclosure of its environmental and social impact as well as its sustainable development, following closely to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines provides detailed coverage of the organisations environmental performances and initiatives identifies key social and environmental impacts and includes quantitative targets that were set. Objectives and targets that were not met were also highlighted was verified by a third party, a key component that demonstrates the organisations commitment to transparent disclosure MERIT AWARD Singapore Epson Industrial Pte Ltd Environmental Site Report 2007 The report has a very clear policy statement that articulates the managements commitment to the organisations sustainability initiatives provides a good overview of the organisations environmental policies as well as identifies key environmental impacts communicates the organisations legal requirements and compliance status related to environmental, health and safety issues illustrates the monitoring and measurement of environmental performance, indicating met targets as well as areas where targets were not achieved

SOCIAL REPORTING CATEGORY The judges note that increasingly, organizations are reporting their CSR and/or social practices in annual reports. This is an encouraging trend. However, the judges felt that the quality of social and/or CSR reporting presented required significant improvement. At a very basic level some of the reports did not grasp the fundamentals of CSR or social reporting. CSR and/or social reporting should not be limited to an organizations philanthropic activities alone. It should be more encompassing and have a holistic coverage which includes the organizations practices and policies which have an impact on its employees, the society in which it operates, its customers, its suppliers and the environment. As such, no awards were awarded for this category. In saying that, it is worth acknowledging that the development of sustainability reporting is still at a nascent stage in Singapore and quality of reporting should improve as organizations become more familiar with the concept.

future directions
The following areas are perceived by the panel of judges to be areas where greater emphasis is required in future reporting: Communication and Style Reporters are getting better at disclosing data but disclosure is not enough. The significance of technical, numerical and scientific information included in the report in narrative or graphical format needs to be interpreted for a lay audience. Judges urge reporters to give thought to material used to print and present the reports as well as pay attention to language. The judges recommend that reports should aim to communicate clearly with stakeholders by making their reports accessible to all readers. Reporters should consider a variety of formats and medium such as PDF, hardcopy, CD-Rom or web based reports. Verification External assurance of reports lends credibility to the reporting process; judges encourage assurance of reports by a qualified and independent party Global Standards More companies should aim to comply to global reporting standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines To access these ACCA Award winners, together with thousands of additional environmental, social and sustainability reports, visit www. corporateregister.com

SESRA 2008
Demonstrate your organisations commitment to accountability and transparency by entering the ACCA Singapore Environmental & Social Reporting Awards (SESRA) 2008. Organizations of any size or sector that disclose environmental, social or sustainability information are eligible to enter. The 2008 Awards timetable is: September 2008 Open for Applications March 2009 Deadline for participation April 2009 Judges Meeting June 2009 Awards Ceremony To enter the awards, contact ACCA Singapore on +65 6734 8110 or email: info@sg.accaglobal.com

Further Information For further information about the awards including judging criteria and information on ACCAs Sustainability Reporting Awards in other countries, go to www.accaglobal.com/publicinterest

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