SAFA Best Presented Annual Report Awards honours 24 Lankan companies

SAFA President Hennayake Bandara presents an award to a representative of a Sri Lankan corporate in the presence of SAFA Committee for Improvement in Transparency, Accountability and Governance Chairman and CA Sri Lanka Vice President Heshana Kuruppu and CA Sri Lanka President Sanjaya Bandara

A total of 24 Sri Lankan companies were honoured for their excellent annual reporting and for also promoting transparency, accountability and governance in financial reporting at the 25th Best Presented Annual Report Awards of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA).  

The prestigious South Asian awards ceremony was hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) and held in Colombo under the patronage of SAFA President Hennayake Bandara, CA Sri Lanka President Sanjaya Bandara, SAFA Committee for Improvement in Transparency, Accountability and Governance (ITAG) Chairman and CA Sri Lanka Vice President Heshana Kuruppu, CMA Sri Lanka President Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala and CA Sri Lanka CEO
Dulani Fernando.

Five Sri Lankan companies bagged five main awards at this year’s SAFA awards. Sri Lanka Telecom PLC won the communication and information technology sector main award, Singer Sri Lanka PLC was the winner under the services sector, Namunukula Plantations PLC was the agriculture sector winner and Access Engineering PLC walked away as the winner under the infrastructure and construction sector. Under the integrated reporting category, National Development Bank PLC was adjudged as a joint winner. 

The other Sri Lankan companies, which won awards and certificates were Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Union Assurance PLC, Softlogic Life Insurance PLC, HNB Assurance PLC, Singer Finance (Lanka) PLC, Alliance Finance Company PLC, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, Dipped Products PLC, Hayleys Fabric PLC, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Plantation Human Development Trust, Resus Energy PLC, John Keells Holdings PLC, RIL Property PLC and Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC. 

The competition received a total of 104 applications for this year’s awards ceremony, from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Awards were given under 13 categories, comprising of private and public sector banks, insurance sector, financial services sector, communication and information technology sector, services sector, non-governmental organisations sector, manufacturing sector, public sector, agriculture sector, diversified holdings sector, power and energy sector as well as the infrastructure and construction sector.  

Apart from the 13 sectors, companies were also honoured under two special categories, which were the SAARC Anniversary Award for Corporate Governance Disclosures and the Integrated Reporting Awards. 
The event was held as a hybrid event, with other SAFA member countries from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan joining the
event virtually.