PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s sustainability reporting standards are almost on par with global standards, according to PwC Malaysia.
Director Farhana Jabir pointed out that most countries are in the process of developing and implementing sustainability reporting as a regulatory requirement for public listed companies.
She said the development of sustainability reporting standards is an ongoing process, even for developed countries in the European Union, not to mention globally.
“We are not that far off from them, right. Most of the countries that are looking into implementing ISSP (International Society of Sustainability Professionals), even the EU (countries) themselves, have issued the standards but now they are in the process of making sure these are adopted (as law) in individual countries, so we are comparably similar to where they are right now.
“Globally, everyone needs to really start preparing this report and ensuring connectivity between all our financial information and non-financial information. It's not a Malaysia-specific problem. Everyone is now working towards this and improving their discussion,” Farhana said during the virtual launch of the National Annual Corporate Report Awards 2024 (Nacra 2024) yesterday.
On stakeholders’ expectations in regard to sustainability reporting this year, she saidnthe report will need to closely align with the organisation's strategy and risk management processes.
“Balanced reporting is expected, with transparency across the organisation's value chain. (In addition), formalisation of governance and sustainability matters with the establishment of a board sustainability committee (for each organisation) as well as investor-grade data and information to be reported,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nacra 2024 adjudication committee chairman Tang Seng Choon said the adoption of sustainability reporting standards in Malaysia is in line with the current government’s environmental, sustainability and governance-focused agenda.
“The Security Commission has come up with the ACSR (advisory committee on sustainability reporting) for comments and such. There are roadmaps (such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap) for the country to move forward and also the adoption of the standards as (International Financial Reporting Standards S1 and S2) are coming.
“Indeed, we are not laggard, we are definitely in line with the current thinking,” said Tang, adding that he was unsure if there will be further enhancement of the reporting standards in the next few years.
“I think we are on par or at least on the right track because if we compare ourselves to Europe, they're far ahead. But Malaysia is definitely on the right track if you look around the region,” he added.
