TalentCorp: NACRA 2015
Photo above: Winners at NACRA 2015
Recognising excellence and best practices in corporate reporting
In this day and social media age, the clarion call for greater accountability and transparency gets louder at a personal, corporate and national level.
Launched in 1990, the National Annual Corporate Report Awards, or NACRA, has remain relevant in promoting excellence and best practices in annual corporate reporting.
Jointly organised by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Bursa Malaysia, NACRA continues its theme Towards Accountability and Excellence to raise the standards in annual reporting.
The five categories of awards offered through the years are: Overall Excellence Awards, Industry Excellence Awards for Listed Companies, Presentation Awards, Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Awards, and the Special Award for Non-Listed Organisations.
NACRA’s objectives
- To promote greater and more effective communication by organisations through the publication of timely, informative, factual and reader-friendly annual reports.
- To recognise and encourage excellence in the presentation of financial and business information.
- To create public awareness of the objectives of organisations, their operations and their financial performance.
- To promote higher standards of corporate governance.
Embracing diversity and inclusion
What’s unique is that NACRA has introduced the sixth category of award this year, the Inclusiveness and Diversity Reporting Awards, in a joint effort with Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp).
This is in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s announcement in 2014 on the need for organisations to establish and disclose their diversity policies, covering gender, ethnicity and age for board and management.
This new category is timely to recognise and value the various talent from different backgrounds. By embracing diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workforce, we bring more innovative ideas to the boardroom to drive an organisation to greater heights.
The winners for this category are:
- CIMB Group – Gold Award
- Nestlé Malaysia – Silver Award
- Astro – Silver Award
3Cs Criteria for consideration
Completeness
Companies would have to adhere to the Global Reporting Index (GRI) G4 standards which require in-depth reporting of their diversity. This includes data year trend and disclosure based on GRI.
Communication
The language used must be clear and concise to various stakeholders. Companies must communicate how D&I is important for their business and how it ties in the organisation’s sustainability strategy. The intention is to have companies report beyond “ticking boxes” that the GRI G4 requires.
Credibility
Companies need to demonstrate how they ‘walk the D&I talk’ by making conscious effort in putting their policies into practice. This can be observed in their actual board and workforce composition/gender diversity practices.
Spearheading the D&I agenda
CIMB GROUP – Gold Award
CIMB recruits based on organisational needs and the ability of the potential employee to excel where high performance is expected.
CIMB harnesses local talents and treats diversity as an asset. Its people policies do not discriminate on gender, race, religion, orientation or nationality.
Leadership training for universal bankers also focuses on diversity. This is referred as the 2x2x2 Principle: two functions, two businesses and two geographies. Senior leaders must serve in such capacities as they grow with CIMB.
Women make up 59% of total staff at CIMB. In 2013, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development awarded CIMB “The Preferred Workplace for the Advancement of Women” accolade.
Diversity is represented well in CIMB. These factors in the annual report stand out:
- Has a policy in place and also relates diversity to their business
- Well-communicated and easy to read especially on the gender diversity section
- Discloses on the breakdown by gender, age and country (representing the bank’s diverse nature of operations across Asean)
- Special section on women in their workforce
- A diverse board and senior management team
Figure 1. Women in decision-making roles. Source: CIMB Sustainability Report 2014.
Figure 2. Percentage of women participants in various CIMB programmes. Source: CIMB Sustainability Report 2014.
Figure 3. CIMB workforce by gender and age group. Source: CIMB Sustainability Report 2014.
Nestlé Malaysia – Silver Award
Being a global company operating in almost every country in the world, Nestlé has a diverse workforce, be it in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, nationality or languages. Diversity at Nestlé is about celebrating differences.
Nestlé ensures each individual carrying a variety of personalities and backgrounds has equal opportunity to be recognised, respected and nurtured to excel at what they do, so that they fulfill their highest potential with the organisation.
Nestlé believes that the more widespread the experiences and ideas, the more robust the discussion and the higher quality the solutions that are brought to the table. This leads to good business sense in any decision-making.
Nestle provides detailed disclosure in its 2014 annual report, in terms of breakdown of Nestle Malaysia’s management and employees for ethnic composition, age group and gender.
Figure 1. Nestlé Malaysia’s employees in terms of ethnic composition, age group and gender. Source: Nestlé in Society 2014 report.
Figure 2. Nestlé Malaysia’s board of directors in terms of ethnic composition, age group and gender. Source: Nestlé in Society 2014 report.
Astro – Silver award
Astro is a melting pot of over 4,800 employees from diverse backgrounds, and it is as diverse as the seven million households it aspires to serve.
Astro believes that anyone, given the opportunity, can be champions.
Astro also places great importance on strengths that move past the conventional, resulting in a dynamic and multifaceted team of creative individuals.
Astro’s belief in strength through diversity has resulted in producing many wholesome teams of very creative and dynamic individuals who “Go Beyond” in their work.
Figure 3. Astro workforce by ethnicity, age and gender. Source: Astro’s Annual Report 2015.
Astro’s senior leadership team reflects the diversity of their organisation.
“Team Astro is made up of people from diverse backgrounds: be it lawyers, engineers, radio announcers, sports commentators or accountants. What is truly amazing is how everyone works together to achieve our common goal.” – Chia Seow Long, financial reporting at Astro
To find out more about NACRA Awards and its collaboration with TalentCorp, visit www.talentcorp.com.my/
our-work/. For more Company Profiles, click here.
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