CA Sri Lanka’s Non-Financial Reporting Guideline, a key to business sustainability – SEC chairman

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The Non-Financial Reporting (NFR) Guideline to promote non-financial reporting practices among companies would enable the sustainability of any business entity and lead to social governance for the betterment of society, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) chairman Viraj Dayaratne said.

“Developing a NFR Guideline for listed and non- listed companies when preparing annual reports promotes not only the sustainability for the organization but also helps it to promote social equity and justice and fairplay, Dayaratne said at the launch of the Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka’s Non- Financial Reporting Guideline for companies. The event was held at the CA- Sri Lanka auditorium on Wednesday.

The SEC chairman said that having a NFR guideline of this nature would enable business leaders to take future decisions, like investments on behalf of the company, and also enable them to take sustainability related risks for companies in a competitive business environment.

Dayaratne added: ‘Best accounting standards create public confidence while the Non-Financial Reporting Guideline will support the company’s integrated corporate activities.

‘SEC, being the stock market regulator, intends to promote these NFR Guidelines among listed companies. This Non- Financial Reporting Guideline will strengthen and ensure fair and balanced corporate reporting among companies, while also promoting non-financial reporting practices amid growing demands from diverse stakeholders and enhancing corporate social responsibility.’

CA-Sri Lanka president Sanjaya Bandara said that the aim of this guideline is to help companies show high quality relevant useful, consistent and comparable non-financial information spanning economic, environmental, social and governance related matters to ensure sustainable growth while providing transparency and accountability to all stakeholders of corporates that produce annual reports

“This guideline will firstly provide a new framework for reporting non-financial information and also the development of the capital market in our country, Bandara said.

Chairman, CA Sri Lanka Task Force to Develop Non-Financial Reporting Practices in Sri Lanka Nuwan Withanage said that the NFR Guideline has been developed with the aim of delivering investor oriented sustainability related disclosures, focused on enterprise value creation over the short, medium and long terms.

The NFR Guideline has been developed for all entities, including listed and unlisted as well as large to small and medium sized enterprises in Sri Lanka, which produce annual reports and follow the Economic, Environment, Social and Governance (EESG)framework.