(HONG KONG, 5 December 2022) Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“the Institute”) today announced the winners of the 22^nd Best Corporate Governance and ESG Awards (“Awards”). In response to the rising demands globally for companies to demonstrate high-quality corporate governance (“CG”) and environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices and reporting, the Awards recognize the companies and organizations that have achieved outstanding performances in both of these two aspects, in the Most Sustainable Companies/ Organizations (“MSCO”) Awards, or in either one of these areas, in the awards for CG and ESG.

MSCO Awards

Building on the success of the inaugural MSCO Awards in 2021, the Institute continues to encourage listed companies and public sector organizations to give equal attention to their CG and ESG practices and reporting, and, ultimately, to integrate and these two elements into their business values, strategies and operations.

Ms. Loretta Fong CPA, HKICPA President and chair of the judging panel of the Best Corporate Governance and ESG Awards 2022, said, “We are pleased to see that all the MSCO awardees continued to uphold high CG and ESG standards, with, for example, their clear sustainability governance structures and integrated risk management processes. As the minimum standards are progressively raised for all companies, the MSCO candidates are often early adopters and may already be applying practices that exceed any new requirements.”      

Ms. Loren Tang, Chairman of the Awards’ Organizing Committee added that, “The MSCO Awards are the highest level of recognition and the winners are generally characterized by having the right tone at the top and maintaining a culture that reinforces the board’s vision and core values, ensuring these are conveyed to a like-minded senior management to help drive the company’s long- term strategy.

The Institute congratulates all the 10 winners of the MSCO Awards, including CLP Holdings Limited, winner of a platinum award in the Hang Seng Index category, whose CG and ESG practices continue to stand out. The Link REIT won a gold award also in the same category. MSCO awardees in other categories were Prudential plc, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, VTech Holdings Limited and Lenovo Group Limited. Meanwhile, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the MTR Corporation Limited, and Standard Chartered PLC were given special mentions. Together with other awards given out in separate sections for CG and ESG, the judges recognized a total of 27 companies and public sector organizations in the 2022 Awards.

The Institute was pleased to note that a record number of candidates made it through to the review and final judging stages in the separate awards for ESG, against the background of increasing efforts by the government towards delivering on its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. More companies were able to establish quantitative key performance indicators in relation to, e.g., carbon emissions, and water and energy usage and intensity, etc., giving investors greater assurance about companies’ commitment to sustainable development.

Areas for Further Improvement

However, as regards CG performance, the standard for the mass of listed companies in Hong Kong is still below where it should be, as reflected in the limited number of awardees in the separate awards for CG this year.

There seems to be slow progress in areas such as board refreshment, even among some companies that are better performers generally. A number of boards have a substantial proportion of long-serving non-executive directors (“NEDs”) and independent directors (“INEDs”), and the number of female directors overall is quite static in Hong Kong and low by the standard of many developed economies.

Changes have recently been made to the Corporate Governance Code under the Listing Rules to require companies to explain in communications to shareholders why a particular INED is still believed to be independent after serving over 9 years on the board. “We would recommend that such information also be included in annual reports, to provide users with a better understanding of companies’ governance and culture. Information could include reference to any unique contribution to the board that a particular long-serving INED continues to make, and why this may present challenges when trying to identify an effective replacement,” said Mr. Patrick Rozario, Chairman of the Awards Review Panel. “In addition, companies that are really committed to improving their transparency could also consider disclosing the board tenure of all directors, in their annual reports”, he added.

When it comes to board diversity, the Institute points out that, while it has become the norm for companies to set out board diversity policies, as required by the Listing Rules, not many companies set quantitative targets and timelines for achieving gender diversity, or, indeed, any measures adopted to identify potential successors to the board to achieve greater diversity. In future, the Institute looks to see the disclosure of more specific roadmaps towards increasing board diversity.

Board Diversity Research

Given the importance of encouraging different views and perspectives to improve the effectiveness of board oversight of the business, the Institute recently conducted a brief research on the status of board diversity of listed companies, with financial years ending 31 December 2021. In all, the study covered 1,844 companies, looking at board size and diversity, in term of gender, age and professional accounting qualifications, as well as the prevalence of long-serving directors.  

The study found that female board members accounted for only about 14.3% of all directors, which is well below the international benchmark of 30%, as advocated by the 30% Club, one of the world’s largest and most influential organizations advocating for more women on boards. In fact, over 30% of the companies in the study had no women at all on their boards.

“With single gender boards being required to appoint a director of a different gender no later than 31 December 2024, and no new listings of companies with single gender boards after July 2022, the Institute expects the percentage of the female board members to rise in the coming few years. Nevertheless, it is likely to stay below 20%, given the slow pace of change generally in appointing women on boards in Hong Kong,” said Mr. Rozario.

Internationally, some studies have found that gender diverse boards are less likely to engage in excessive risk taking and are better able to balance the interests of all its stakeholders (i.e. customers, suppliers, employers). The advantage of women being included in the board discussions and decisions is the development of greater sensitivity to other stakeholders in addition to the equity investors. Similar things could also be said about age diversity, particularly in sectors, such as information technology and social media-related sectors, where many consumers tend to be younger and digital natives”, said Ms. Tang.

Turning to the key area of professional financial expertise on boards, when the Institute’s study looked more closely at the 1,844 companies, the findings were that only around 20% of boards had an executive director (“ED”), i.e., a full-time member of staff, who was a qualified accountant (“QA”) (defined in the study as being a member of one of the International Federation of Accountants’ member organizations, such as the HKICPA). This number deceased to about 11% for EDs who were also HKICPA members, bearing in mind that Institute members are the only professionals regulated by the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council in Hong Kong.

“There was previously a requirement under the Listing Rules, for both the Main Board and the Growth Enterprise Market, to have a QA as a member of the senior management and preferably on the board. However, that was removed in 2009. At the time, there was concern about this decision due to its potentially negative impact on overall CG.

We are now finding that, despite the increasing complexity of financial and sustainability reporting, around 80% of listed companies do not have a full-time accountant sitting on the board. Although most boards have a QA, that person is likely to be an INED, or NED. Given their part-time nature and the range of responsibilities that INEDs, in particular, need to take up, and their generally low level of remuneration, there could potentially be an expectation gap as to their level of contribution to the preparation of the financial statements and sustainability reports. With ongoing developments in international sustainability standards and the need for businesses to, e.g., price in sustainability-related risks and opportunities, among other things, the situation is likely to become increasingly high risk,” Ms. Fong explained. “The company need senior in-house expertise to do the job. Therefore, the HKICPA would urge the government and regulators to consider introducing a requirement for a QA under the Listing Rules, similar to the previous requirement”, she added.

This year, HKICPA invited a limited amount of financial sponsorship for the Awards, and was pleased to see the very positive reaction from leading CPA firms and other professional consultancy firms (see Note 1) to being associated with this prestigious awards competition. The Institute would like to express its appreciation for their support and that of the Awards’ media sponsors (see Note 2). For more details of the Awards, please visit: https://www.hkicpa.org.hk/BCGESGA.

Note 1: list of sponsors (in alphabetical order)

1.    Ace Sustainability & Risk Advisors Ltd.

2.    AVISTA Group

3.    BDO

4.    Charles Lo & Co.

5.    CityLinkers Group

6.    Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

7.    Ernst & Young

8.    Grant Thornton Hong Kong Ltd.

9.    HLB Hodgson Impey Cheng Ltd.

10.  KPMG

11.  Mazars

12.  Moore Stephens CPA Ltd.

13.  PricewaterhouseCoopers

14.  Riskory Consultancy Limited

15.  RSM Hong Kong

Note 2: list of media sponsors (in alphabetical order)

1.    ET Net

2.    Hong Kong Economic Times

3.    The Standard

List of Awardees

Judges' Report

香港會計師公會表揚「最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎」獲獎機構

企業管治及ESG水平超基本標準並持續提升 

惟呼籲香港須加強董事會多元化

（香港，二零二二年十二月五日）香港會計師公會（公會）今天公佈第22屆「最佳企業管治及ESG大獎」（大獎）得獎名單。為響應全球越見重視企業管治，以及環境、社會及管治（ESG）的更佳實踐及披露水平，公會對在以上兩項皆表現出色的企業或組織，授予「最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎」榮譽，並對在企業管治或ESG其中一項表現優秀的企業或機構，授予相關獎項。

最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎

自「最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎」於2021年首次推出以來，公會繼續透過有關獎項，鼓勵上市公司及公營機構對企業管治及ESG的實踐及披露予以同等重視，並將有關元素融入業務價值、發展策略及日常營運當中。

香港會計師公會會長兼「最佳企業管治及ESG大獎2022」評審團主席方蘊萱會計師表示：「我們很高興看到『最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎』的各個獲獎機構繼續在企業管治和ESG方面保持高標準，例如制訂清晰的可持續發展治理架構和綜合風險管理流程。儘管這兩範疇的最低標準逐步提高，獎項的候選公司通常是先行者，它們甚至已採納比新標準更嚴格的措施。」

大獎籌委會主席鄧苑儀女士表示：「『最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎』是最高水平的認可，獲獎機構多在領導層已奠定的良好基調下，秉持企業文化以確保董事會的願景和核心價值傳達至管理團隊，同心協力推動公司實現長遠可持續發展策略。」

公會恭賀本年度榮獲「最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎」的10間得獎機構，包括獲得「恒生指數成份股組別」白金獎的中電控股有限公司，其在企業管治及ESG方面持續表現出色。領展房地產投資信託基金亦於同一組別中取得金獎。「最佳可持續發展公司／機構獎」其他組別的得獎者包括：英國保誠有限公司、香港上海大酒店有限公司、太平洋航運集團有限公司、偉易達集團及聯想集團有限公司。而香港交易及結算所有限公司、香港鐵路有限公司及渣打集團有限公司均獲評判嘉許。聯同於企業管治及ESG個別分類頒發的其他獎項，評審於本年度大獎共授出獎項予27家企業及公營機構。

今年，於ESG分類獎項中，我們樂見有破紀錄數目的參賽機構能夠進入遴選及最終評審階段，相信是受益於政府加大力度，推動社會於2050年前實現碳中和的目標。我們亦發現有更多企業表現出對可持續發展的決心，有能力推出對碳排放、用水及能源使用及強度計量的關鍵績效指標，給予投資者更大的信心。

有待進一步改善之範疇

然而，今年企業管治的個別獎項中，只有較少企業獲獎，反映在企業管治表現方面，香港上市公司普遍仍低於應有的水平。

即使是一些總體表現較好的公司，在董事會成員交替等領域似乎仍進展緩慢。部份董事會中，長期任職的非執行董事和獨立董事皆佔相當比例；整體而言女性董事的數量亦依然低於其他已發展經濟體系。

上市規則內的企業管治守則於近期經修訂後，要求公司若有任職超過9年的獨立非執行董事，須向股東解釋為何相關的獨董仍能保持獨立。大獎遴選委員會主席羅柏達先生表示：「我們建議將有關信息在年度報告中披露，讓大眾可更充份了解公司的管治和企業文化。相關信息包括長期任職的獨立非執行董事為董事會所作出的獨特貢獻，以及尋找其合適繼任人所遇到的困難。此外，我們建議致力於提高透明度的公司考慮在年度報告中，披露所有董事的任期。」

在董事會多元化方面，公會指出，雖然公司根據《上市規則》制定董事會多元化政策已成為常態，但只有為數不多的公司為實現性別多元化設定量化目標和時間表，或採取相關措施在物色董事繼任人時進一步提升董事會多元化。香港會計師公會期望，未來可以看到企業更具體地披露增加董事會多元化的路線圖。

董事會多元化調查

董事會内多元意見和觀點對監督業務的效能尤為重要，香港會計師公會對截至2021年12月31日止財政年度的上市公司董事會多元化狀況進行了調查，研究涵蓋1,844家公司，探討公司董事會規模和多樣性，包括性別、年齡和專業會計資格，以及長期任職董事的普遍程度。

研究發現，女性董事會成員僅佔所有董事約14.3%，遠低於全球最具影響力並倡導更多女性加入董事會的國際機構30%Club所建議的30%國際標準。事實上，研究中超過30%的公司的董事會中沒有女性成員。

羅柏達指：「由於成員全屬單一性別的董事會必須在2024年12月31日之前任命一名不同性別的董事，加上2022年7月後上市的公司中已再無單一性別董事會，公會預計，未來數年女性董事的佔比將提升。然而，考慮到香港任命女性董事會成員的步伐普遍緩慢，相信佔比將保持在20%以下。」

鄧苑儀表示：「國際研究指出，性別多元化的董事會能更全面地平衡所有持份者，包括客戶、供應商、僱主的利益，面臨風險的機會相對較低。女性對股權投資者甚至其他持份者的利益更為敏感，為董事會討論和決策帶來優勢。年齡多樣性亦帶來相近的好處，尤其資訊科技和社交媒體等相關行業的主要消費群往往是較年輕的數碼原生世代。」

另一方面，公會深入研究了1,844家公司在董事會專業財務知識領域上的情況。發現當中只有約20%的董事會包含至少一位擁有合資格會計師資格（本研究中合資格會計師定義為國際會計師聯合會組織之一的成員，例如香港會計師公會）的執行董事。若只計及香港會計師公會會員資格的執行董事，比率進一步降至只有約11%。值得一提，香港會計師公會會員是唯一受會計及財務匯報局規管的會計專業人士。

方蘊萱補充道：「《上市規則》曾經要求於主板及創業板上市的公司必須委任一位合資格會計師作為高級管理人員，甚或加入董事會則更為理想。然而，有關規則於2009年被廢除，這一度引起市場憂慮其對整體企業管治水平可能產生的負面影響。」

方蘊萱續指：「儘管財務及可持續發展報告漸趨複雜，這次研究發現約80%上市公司的董事會中沒有全職會計師。即使大多數董事會均有至少一位合資格會計師，該成員很大機會僅為獨立非執行董事或非執行董事。基於其兼職性質及獨立非執行董事的職責範圍，加上其薪酬水平普遍較低等因素，使他們在編制財務報表和可持續發展報告的貢獻程度或與預期存在差距。隨著不斷發展的國際可持續標準和企業業務發展需作多方面的考量，例如需計算與可持續發展相關的風險和機會成本，企業所面對的風險會日益增加至使公司需擁有專業知識的資深內部成員的協助。就此，香港會計師公會促請政府和監管機構考慮於《上市規則》引入類似此前配置合資格會計師的要求。」

今年的獎項獲得了少量贊助，香港會計師公會欣然看到頂尖會計師事務所和其他專業諮詢公司（註一）積極參與，並衷心感謝他們及媒體合作夥伴的支持（註二）。如欲了解更多有關獎項的詳情，請瀏覽：https://www.hkicpa.org.hk/BCGESGA。

註一：贊助名單（按英文字母排列）

1.    傑思可持續發展與風險諮詢有限公司

2.    艾華迪集團

3.    香港立信德豪會計師事務所

4.    勞啟明會計師行

5.    連城集團

6.    德勤 · 關黃陳方會計師行

7.    安永會計師事務所

8.    致同（香港）會計師事務所有限公司

9.    HLB國衛會計師事務所有限公司

10.  畢馬威會計師事務所

11.  中審眾環(香港)

12.  大華馬施雲會計師事務所有限公司

13.  羅兵咸永道會計師事務所

14.  Riskory Consultancy Limited

15. 羅申美會計師事務所

註二：媒體合作夥伴（按英文字母排列）

1.    經濟通

2.    香港經濟日報

3.    英文虎報