Auckland firm Watercare Services has won the accounting industry's highest award for its annual report.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants (Icanz) said Watercare had won the supreme award at its annual report awards in Wellington tonight.
Watercare also topped the large company section of the awards, and a commendation for its sustainability
report in the non-listed entity section.
Judges said Watercare's report combined an excellent management commentary with comprehensive and well-presented financial statements.
In particular, its "plain English" explanations, detailed disclosure in notes, and a project work in progress report helped the firm cinch the top award.
It also won praise for a reconciliation report on its adoption of international financial reporting standards.
"Not only was this latter element a trailblazing approach, it was also done well," the judges said in a statement.
"Watercare's report was clearly the most comprehensive and sophisticated annual report entered this year."
This year, 105 entities entered the awards.
Chief judge Graeme Mitchell said the standard of this year's entries indicated organisations were clearly working to meet stakeholder expectations of greater transparency.
"All the judges were impressed by the commitment the entrants demonstrated to full and frank disclosure," he said.
"But more information is not necessarily better information, and while there is a tendency for reports to become longer, the judges are still impressed by those entities who can present a complete yet cohesive picture of their organisation, its goals and objectives and achievement against these."
While there was encouraging progress in corporate governance reporting, there was a large and widening gap between boards of directors that communicated proactively and those whose "offerings seem hardly worth the effort."
Other winners were: Michael Hill International (Other companies reporting category), Accident Compensation Corporation (Public sector, non-trading), Wellington City Council (Local government), Youth Hostels Association of NZ (Other entities), Sanford (Sustainability report, listed firm), Landcare Research (Sustainability report, non listed), City Care (Human resource), Telecom (Corporate governance, listed), and ACC (Corporate governance, non-listed).
- NZPA
