New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Woodside Petroleum have taken out top honours for governance reporting in the 2016 Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA).
According to Governance Institute of Australia’s chief executive Steven Burrell, “We are proud to have been associated with the ARA awards since 1988 in recognising organisations that disclose to their members and stakeholders how they practising governance and provide transparency of processes.
“This year, private sector winner Woodside Petroleum has delivered an exemplary report, which not only explains clearly the processes followed by them for determining director independence but also provides excellent coverage of Woodside’s diversity policy.
“The New Zealand Superannuation Fund took out top honours in the public sector category for a commendable and well-rounded report that scored well across all aspects of governance reporting, including accountability, transparency, integrity, stewardship and leadership.”
“Corporate Australia’s increased efforts to improve standards in all aspects of reporting is encouraging. Good governance enables an organisation to embed a culture that promotes and instils best practices throughout the entire organisation, which is essential for building investor confidence,” said Burrell in a media statement.
Established in 1950, the ARA awards were constituted to improve the standards of financial reporting in Australia. Governance Institute of Australia has supported the awards for 19 years by offering the Governance Reporting Awards, to recognise quality and completeness of disclosure in reporting on governance policies and procedures.