The FiRe Awards Criteria
General Criteria Applicable to all Entries:
The FiRe Awards exists to improve continually the standards of reporting. Reporting, the annual report especially, is an essential mechanism of accountability, a vital element in the governance process.
Techniques of good reporting evolve over time but the fundamentals remain constant. Good reporting requires an open willing attitude, attention to detail and accuracy, a sensitivity and responsiveness to stakeholders, a willingness to put in the effort to communicate effectively and a commitment to achieving and improving upon standards. They are about identifying areas of information that are important for readers.
The challenge for the person preparing the report is to interpret that information for their own organisation’s peculiarities and communicate it in a way that is effective for their stakeholders.
Review methodology:
The review methodology is usually shared within the feedback report to all participating entities and aims at assessing the extent of integrated reporting among organizations. An integrated annual report seamlessly fuses the sustainability reporting, corporate governance reporting, management commentary and the financial report.
The FiRe Awards evaluations are based on a number of concepts, principles, guidelines, standards, and frameworks including:
• Review for compliance with Financial Reporting Framework i.e. IFRS, IPSAS or other recognized framework (depending on the reporting framework applied by the entity, the scoring is based on how it complies with the requirements of the reporting framework).
• Review of management commentary and discussions on aspects of corporate governance; sustainability reporting (review of operations and impacts including environmental concerns and initiatives); and risk management among others.
• Review of the extent of presentation and communication of the entity’s activities and performance at least from a non-technical perspective.
The FiRe Awards seeks reports that:
- Provide a balanced and reasonable picture of the organisation’s economic, environmental, and social performance;
- Facilitate comparability, benchmarking, and assessment of performance; and
- Address issues of concern to stakeholders.
Awards of Excellence
These distinguished awards are presented to the top-performing entities in each of the four broad categories:
- Award of Excellence in Financial Reporting
- Award of Excellence in Corporate Governance
- Award of Excellence in Sustainability Reporting
- Award of Excellence in Presentation and Communication
The following Special Awards are also presented to reflect high overall performance:
- Most Improved Report
- Best Listed Entity
- Integrated Report of the Year (Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards)
Benefits of participation
Good financial reporting is a requirement for raising capital through the capital markets as well as through financial institutions. Owners of capital are keen to understand how organisations tell their stories holistically. Most recently, owners of capital are keen on giving funding to organisations that place ESG matters at the forefront. All these stories can be told in an organisation’s annual report.
Participating entities have the opportunity to:
- Benchmark their annual reports with up-to-date financial reporting requirements.
- Receive recognition for excellence in financial reporting.
- Receive expert feedback on the annual report’s strengths and weaknesses, and constructive advice on how to improve.