Twenty-five organisations have received the 22nd ICAB National Award for best presented Annual Reports, Integrated Reporting, and Corporate Governance Disclosures -2021.
Listed and non-listed banks, non-bank financial institutions and other entities representing 16 different sectors were handed over the awards at a ceremony organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at a city hotel on Saturday evening.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi attended the event as the chief guest while Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam,
and Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council, Bangladesh Hamid Ullah Bhuiyan were present as special guests.
ICAB President Md Shahadat Hossain delivered address of welcome and the Chairman of Review Committee for Published Accounts and Reports (RCPAR) Mohammed Humayun Kabir spoke on the awarding process.
Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam requested the ICAB to create more accounting professionals to meet the shortage.
He also lauded the introduction of the Document Verification System (DVS) as it helps the BSEC to know better about a company.
Hamid Ullah Bhuiyan said soon auditors will be required to be enlisted with the FRC to do the auditing as there is a move to make it mandatory.
He suggested that the auditors should follow all the standards of the FRC and other related organisations.
The 16 sectors include public banks, private banks, financial services, manufacturing, power and energy, infrastructure and construction, insurance, diversified holdings, communication and information technology, public sector, NGOs, service sectors, agriculture, corporate governance and integrated reporting.
Apart from recognising the first, second and third positions in each category, 17 entities were honoured with the "Certificate of Merit" upon achieving minimum threshold scores.
Among all, Bank Asia Limited became the over-all winner. An 11-member Jury Board chaired by Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, reviewed the recommended lists of the winners.
During the year, ICAB-RCPAR received annual reports from 88 entities.
Award for the Agriculture category could not be considered because of scoring lesser than threshold marks by the participating entities.
From the winning companies, three best annual reports under each sector will be nominated by ICAB to the SAFA BPA competition next year in recognition of their excellence in financial disclosure.
Winners of ICAB BPA awards: In the banking sector (Private) category, Bank Asia Limited and Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd secured joint first prize; BRAC Bank Limited became first runner-up; and United Commercial Bank Limited and Mercantile Bank Limited became joint second runner-up.
Jamuna Bank Ltd and Southeast Bank Limited received certificates of merit.
In the category of financial services sector, IDLC Finance Limited won the first prize; Bangladesh Finance Ltd grabbed the first runner-up while IPDC Finance Ltd won the second runner-up.
DBH Finance Corporation Ltd and Lanka Bangla Finance Ltd received certificates of merit.
In the manufacturing category, British American Tobacco (BD) Limited won the first prize; Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC won the first runner-up while Reckitt Benckiser BD Ltd won second runner-up. Merico Bangladesh Ltd, RAK Ceramics BD Ltd and Premier Cement Mills Ltd received certificates of merit.
In power and energy, only Summit Power Limited and United Power Gen. Distribution Company Ltd received certificates of merit.
Only Eastern Housing Ltd received certificate of merit in the category of infrastructure and construction.
In the insurance sector, Green Delta Insurance Ltd became first, Reliance Insurance Ltd second and City General Insurance Company Limited third winners respectively. Peoples Insurance Company Ltd received certificate of merit.
In communications and IT, Robi Axiata Limited became first prize winner and Grameenphone Limited became first runner-up. Only ACI Limited received a certificate of merit in the diversified holdings category.
In public sector category, Infrastructure Development Co. Ltd (IDCOL) became first, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) second and Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Ltd second runner-up winners.
BRAC secured the first prize, SAJIDA Foundation and Community Development Center became joint first runner-up; and Society for Social Service and Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women became joint second runner-up in Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) category.
Only Unique Hotel and Resorts Limited received certificate of merit in the category of service sector.
In corporate governance disclosures, Bank Asia Limited became first prize winner; and Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd and IDLC Finance Ltd joint first runner-up and Lanka Bangla Finance ltd, British American Tobacco Bangladesh Ltd and Mercantile Bank Limited became second runner-up.
BRAC Bank Limited received certificate of merit.
In integrated reporting category, IDLC Finance Limited and Bank Asia Limited became the joint first prize winners; Shahajalal Islami Bank Limited and British American Tobacco Bangladesh Limited joint first runner-up and Mercantile Bank ltd became the second runner-up.
LankaBangla Finance Ltd received certificate of merit.
In the public sector banks category, only Janata Bank Limited and Sonali Bank Limited received certificates of merit.
