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Governance and Sustainability Reporting: Is there a link?
On Wednesday 10 June, business leaders participated in a corporate forum entitled “Governance and Sustainability: is there a link?”, organised by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in conjunction with the inaugural SC-Bursa Corporate Governance Week 2009, held on 8-11 June 2009.
The session provided a platform for the leaders to gather perspectives from the panellists and participants on the link of sustainability reporting initiatives in the corporate governance equation. Panellists comprising industry leaders and advocates of Corporate Responsibility (CR) shared their views on the level of reporting in Malaysia and how measuring and reporting on social and environmental performance provides the link towards strong culture of corporate governance in organizations. Beyond these, the discussions focused on the relevance and success factors on environmental, social and governance for overall management quality and to identify desired business outcomes and manage risk.
The panellists for the session are Dato’ Kok Wee Kiat, Chairman, Environmental Quality Council of Malaysia, Mr Charles Ireland, Managing Director, Guiness Anchor Berhad and Rikke Jarvad Netterstrom, Director Malaysia, CSR Asia. The session was moderated by Dato' Johan Raslan, Chairman of ICR Malaysia, who is also the Executive Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“Today’s corporations operate in an environment of intense scrutiny from the media, investors, regulatory and public. Increasing public and stakeholder concern about the social and environmental impacts of business practices is forcing companies to come to terms with a much broader set of interests and expectations. Hence, we see more companies in Malaysia producing reports on their environmental and social performance or sustainability performance,” said Jennifer Lopez, Acting Country Head of ACCA Malaysia.
According to Lopez, reporting on sustainability performance is only part of the process, hence the dialogue seeks to explore the link between sustainability reporting initiative and governance mechanisms that are capable of embracing true stakeholder accountability.
“It is also crucial for the CEOs and the Board to take ownership of the CR agenda and embed it in their company strategies. Without the drive from the top, creating a strong governance culture in the organisations will be impossible and sustainability efforts may just been seen as PR gimmicks,” added Lopez further.
For further information please contact:
Ainul Ibrahim - Manager of Business Development and Communications 603-2713 5051 ext 17 ainul.ibrahim@my.accaglobal.com