Annual reports take greener hue
Annual reports take greener hue
The selection of listed companies at the this year’s Vietnam Listed Company Awards, to be announced this week, has shown a significant improvement of companies in all aspects, including business performance, finances, corporate governance, environmental standards, and society-related issues.
The event, which takes place on Tuesday (see box), includes 500 companies in the country’s stock market. Compared to 2020, the number of assessed enterprises has increased by 30 per cent.
According to the organising committee, improvements in annual reports are seen in all aspects. Among those, the business and financial performance reports had the most significant score increases to 56.93 points, compared to 38.54 points in 2020.
In terms of performance, most of the listed companies presented very detailed and illustrative information. However, some businesses have not focused on investing in their brand building as well as transparent annual reporting.
Instead of utilising their annual reports as a marketing tool, many companies in the country have merely met the requirements prescribed by management agencies. Some enterprises have not presented detailed information yet, providing only a few indicators with minimal info about their financial capacity.
In addition, many companies have not reported investments, nor did they specifically present information on their projects’ situation, progress, and possible delays. Most businesses often only mentioned investments that have had a favourable effect on the company’s operations, while ignoring those with negative effects.
On content with corporate responsibility to the environment and society, 2021 recorded an increase in points, with 11.59 compared to 9.46 in 2020. However, compared to the maximum score of 30 points for this category, businesses still need to improve their information disclosure on social and environmental responsibility.
Up to a quarter of companies have not announced their sustainable development goals and main programmes for the short and medium term, and 42 per cent of companies have poorly reported, while only 33 per cent have announced their reports with detailed and complete explanations.
In 2021, for the first time, the organising committee added two more criteria related to whether companies disclose information about total direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and whether they state their measures and solutions to reduce these. The assessment results showed that 5.4 per cent of companies had announced their total amount of GHG emissions, and 12.8 per cent of companies had announced measures to reduce them.
Nevertheless, the on-year improvement was visible as the annual reports are more responsive to information disclosure regulations with growth in professionalism. Annual reports serve as an important information channel for customers, suppliers, investors, and other stakeholders and are a vital activity.
