CLP Holdings Ltd won the HKMA Best Report Award this year. Its report was commended by the 9-member Panel of Adjudicators as a comprehensive and innovative report.

The trophy was presented on 19 November, by Dr The Hon David K P Li GBS JP, Chairman of The Hong Kong Management Association.

Organized by the Association since 1973, the Best Annual Reports Awards is an annual competition with the objective of encouraging the publication of accurate, informative, well presented and timely annual reports for all who may have an interest in the performance and activities of the organization in question.

A total of 125 reports (88 from General and 37 from Non-profit Making and Charitable Organizations categories) were reviewed by the Adjudicators, including reports of all the constituents of the Hang Seng Index. The Best Report was selected from the 77 reports submitted voluntarily from the General category.

The criteria of selection include: conformity with accounting standards, conformity with the requirements of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Companies` Ordinance, general presentation, comprehensiveness, understandability, summary of past results and highlights, general description of business, analysis of assets and liabilities, analysis of income and expenses, indication of prospects, employee relations and development, availability of the annual report on the Internet, as well as promptness of reporting.


There are two categories of winning reports: General and Non-profit Making and Charitable Organizations. The results are as follows:

"General" Category
Gold:	HSBC Holdings plc
Silver:	First Pacific Company Limited MTR Corporation Limited
Bronze:	Hang Seng Bank Limited Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation The Kowloon Motor Bus Holdings Limited

"Non-profit Making and Charitable Organizations" Category
Gold:	Securities and Futures Commission
Silver:	Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Bronze:	The Hong Kong Jockey Club

For the General Category, the Adjudicators commended that "It is encouraging to see continuous improvements in annual reports submitted for review again this year, both in terms of content delivery and presentation. There is an obvious sign that companies are now seeing higher values of good reporting, and placing more emphasis on their annual reports as a communicative channel with the public. It is also pleasing to note that a number of new entries this year were able to produce high standard annual reports with demonstrated professionalism."

Despite the high standards of reporting, the panel did identify two areas for improvement. "Firstly, it is highly essential that companies produce their reports more promptly. With the introduction of new listing rules, companies are required to publish their reports no later than 120 days after the financial statement date. Secondly, companies should also focus more on issues relating to employees and corporate governance in their annual reports. In today`s world where increasing attention is placed on the responsibility of corporate entities to their employees and the community as a whole, reports on companies` activities, policies and other issues relating to these areas would be of interest to the readers."


For the Non-profit Making and Charitable Organizations Category, the Adjudicators were satisfied with the further improvement in the already high standard of annual reports. "Annual reports from this category continued to demonstrate strength in reporting on employee-related issues and in their description of activities and past performance. Many reports had interesting coverage of employees` achievements and activities and the organizations` activities were often presented in a lively and engaging manner with the help of eye-catching photos and well-integrated texts.


Areas of improvement continued to be sections on future plans. Moreover, organizations from this category are urged to speed up the delivery of annual reports to the public and their stakeholders."

Companies and organizations receiving Honourable Mentions are:
Airport Authority Hong Kong
Companies Registry
Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hongkong Post
The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
The Open University of Hong Kong
Swire Pacific Limited


The Panel of Adjudicators this year include Mr Howard Gorges (Chairman), Vice Chairman, South China Brokerage Co Ltd; Mr Robert Bunker, Director, Bentley Reid & Co (Pacific) Ltd; Ms Jill Cheshire, Director, TaoHo Cheshire Architects Ltd; Mr Colin Chau, Director, Professional Compliance Department, Hong Kong Society of Accountants; Mr Charles R Grieve, Director of Accounting Policy, Corporate Finance Division, Securities & Futures Commission; Mr Caspar Li, Deputy Managing Director, BNP Paribas Peregrine Capital Ltd; Ms Karen Lee, Executive Vice President, Listing, Regulation & Risk Management, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; Mr Maurice Ngai, President, Top Orient (HK) Limited; and Mr James Soutar, Managing Director, Phoenix Research Ltd.

(A list of Past Winners attached.)

Issued by The Hong Kong Management Association on 19 November 2001.

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