Best Corporate Governance Awards
Introduction
We are proud to celebrate the 20th year of the prestigious Best Corporate Governance Awards (Awards). The Awards enjoy strong support from the HKSAR Government, financial market regulators, professional associations, investor groups, and the business community.
Since their inception in 2000, the Awards have been playing an important role in establishing benchmarks and encouraging improvements in standards of corporate governance (CG) among listed companies and public sector/ not-for-profit organisations in Hong Kong. They raise awareness of the need for companies to be transparent and accountable to their shareholders, and other stakeholders, and also alert the community to current CG developments in Hong Kong.
The Awards focus on voluntary practices and disclosures, as reflected in annual reports and sustainability/ corporate social responsibility reports, which go beyond the minimum legal and regulatory requirements.
This year, the Organizing Committee has refined the assessment process, introducing additional initial screening criteria.
Other features of the 2019 Awards include:
- Awards are available in seven main categories and there are also Commendations for Website Corporate Governance Information. The Commendations are aimed at companies and public sector organisations that are making good efforts to improve their CG in specific areas, but whose all round performance may not yet be of a standard required to win a main award.
- The awards for good CG practices based on self-nominations are aimed at smaller companies, with a market capitalization of no more than HK$6 billion, as at 30 April 2019, as well as public sector/ not-for-profit organisations. These are sectors where the Awards Organizing Committee believes more encouragement is needed to bring about improvements in CG. Applicants should write to the Institute to explain the good practices they adopted during the period under review. They may be invited to attend an interview to explain their CG policies and practices in more detail.
- The Sustainability and Social Responsibility Reporting (SSR) Awards, introduced in 2011, are an increasingly important part of the overall Awards. They focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, which has become a key aspect of reporting following the upgrading of the ESG Reporting Guide under the listing rules (Appendix 27 of the Main Board and Appendix 20 of the GEM listing rules), and the extension of the director's report requirements under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) to all listed companies, through changes to the disclosure requirements in Appendix 16 of the Main Board and Appendix 18 of the GEM listing rules. A more extensive initial screening exercise is being conducted for the SSR Awards this year, with the aim of identifying a list of candidates for more detailed assessment of their sustainability/ corporate social responsibility reporting, whether in standalone reports or in their annual reports.
The Institute regularly reviews and refines the Awards assessment criteria and marking sheets to take account of changes in local regulations, relevant international developments and the changing expectations of the community.
Categories of awards
The Awards Organizing Committee invites entries for the 2019 Awards from listed companies and public sector/not-for-profit organisations in the following categories:
(i) Hang Seng Index ("HSI")-constituent companies
Non-HSI-constituent companies:
(ii) Large market capitalization
(iii) Medium market capitalization
(iv) Small market capitalization
(v) H-share companies and other Mainland enterprises
Public sector/Not-for-profit organisations:
(vi) Large
(vii) Small and medium
(Categories (ii) – (iv) include main board and GEM companies)
In each of the above categories, Diamond, Platinum and Gold Awards are available.
As indicated above, there are also SSR Awards and Commendations for Website CG Information to be won.
The judges may also acknowledge other worthy CG performances by giving out Special Mentions.
Entry procedure
The judging criteria and application process are explained in the brochure inviting entries for the Awards. The submission deadline is 12 August 2019. There is no entry fee.
For companies and public sector/ not-for-profit organizations which are eligible and wish to be considered for Self-Nomination for Good Corporate Governance Practices, a form may be downloaded.
