By Nancy Akullo
Head of Communications
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has won its 5th Financial Reporting (FiRe) gold award. NSSF’s victory was announced during the 2024 FiRe Awards ceremony held on 6 November 2024 at the Kampala Serena Hotel. In addition to the 2024 win, NSSF won the gold award in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2018.
The FiRe Awards Committee commended NSSF for providing an attractive and comprehensive explanation of its short, medium, and long-term strategy linked with material matters and metrics.
According to the Committee, the entity’s sustainability strategy and targets were presented clearly and linked to the value-creation process.
“This entity provided an outstanding integrated annual report with exemplary performance across all dimensions,” noted CPA Stephen Ineget, the Chairperson of the FiRe Awards Committee.
NSSF also won the parastatals/GBEs and Sustainability Reporting Awards.
For Corporate Governance, the FiRe Awards Committee recommended a certificate of recognition for NSSF.
In the second place, taking the silver award came Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL).
SUHL was recognised for providing a compelling value-creation story by linking its purpose, strategy, key priorities, and performance outcomes.
They also won the Corporate Governance award.
In 2023, SUHL won the Gold award. The company has 7 FiRe gold awards under its belt.
PostBank maintained third position (bronze), being acknowledged for their report’s excellent connectivity, clarity, and presentation, which gave the reader a powerful account of the entity’s operations.
Some first-time winners included:
- Economic Exchange Forex Bureau Limited: Forex Bureaux
- Infectious Diseases Institute: Non-for-Profit Organisations
- Uganda Crop Care Limited: Consumer and Industrial Products Category B
- FINCA Uganda Limited (MDI): Microfinance Deposit-Taking Institutions
CPA Ineget, recognised participating organisations like FINCA Uganda Limited, Trinity College Nabbingo, Economic Exchange Forex Bureau, Moyo SACCO from West Nile, Reformed Poachers and Batwa Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd for taking a bold step and standing tall in the respective categories.
Mr Paul Bwiso, the CEO of the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) acknowledged the significance of prudent financial reporting in market capitalisation.
“Through good financial reporting, companies ensure that there is transparency and the listed companies are able to provide timely information to investors to enable them grow their wealth,” he noted.
Mr Dickson Ssembuya, the Director of Research and Market Development at the Capital Markets Authority, noted that financial reporting is a critical aspect of the capital raising process.
“In today’s interconnect world, stakeholders are increasingly interested in how organisations treat their employees, how they uphold ethical governance and how they protect the environment,” he said.
“By reporting on ESG factors, companies are narrating their commitment to making a positive impact on society and the planet,” he added.
Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister for Works and Transport, and the Chief Guest at the event emphasised the urgency for quack accountants to be prosecuted.
“Insist that quacks are eliminated from your profession because they are the ones who give you a bad name,” he said.
“Leave no stone unturned in dealing with quacks, and the government will support you in this,” the minister added.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the President of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU), the ICPAU Vice President, CPA Ronald Mutumba encouraged the leaders of various organisations to support the implementation of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.
“Our call to the CEOs in the room is to support the implementation of the standards in your respective organisations to enhance the quality of sustainability-related information availed to providers of capital who are spread across the globe,” CPA Mutumba said.
On 7 August 2024, the Council of ICPAU approved the adoption of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards for use in Uganda initially.
This followed the issuance of a comprehensive global baseline of disclosure standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to facilitate consistent and comparable disclosures on risks and opportunities related to sustainability and climate, referred to as IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, respectively.
The adoption of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards is envisaged to improve the availability of reliable, comparable, cost-effective, and decision-useful information on material sustainability risks and opportunities of organisations, and hence the quality of information available to investors.
In due course, ICPAU will issue an implementation guidance on adopting the Sustainability Disclosure Standards.
The Financial Reporting Awards are awards of excellence introduced in 2011 to enhance the quality of financial and business reporting in Uganda by encouraging the implementation of financial reporting standards and best practices in financial and business reporting.
Organisations participate by submitting their most recent annual reports for evaluation, and all participants receive feedback reports.
The theme for 2024 was Promoting Excellence in Corporate Reporting: Disclosing ESG Performance and Progress.
Organisations were judged based on how they demonstrated their progress in terms of implementing the feedback from the FiRe Awards evaluators regarding ESG, especially with reference to the global sustainability reporting standards.
The FiRe Awards are organised by ICPAU, in partnership with the Capital Markets Authority, the Uganda Securities Exchange and Vision Group (the media partner). Sponsors included Bank of Uganda, Uganda National Oil Company Limited, and the Uganda Insurers Association.
There were 108 entries for 2024, up from 101 in 2023. Of these, 26 were new participants.
Access the complete list of awardees here.
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