ICPAU highlights sustainability reporting impact, announces 14th FiRe awards edition

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) has emphasized the impact of enhanced sustainability reporting on users of annual reports.

This comes particularly in light of recent developments and the introduction of global sustainability reporting standards.

These remarks were made during the announcement of the 14th edition of the Financial Reporting (FiRe) Awards, themed "Promoting Excellence in Corporate Reporting: Disclosing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and Progress.

The awards aim to improve the quality of financial and business reporting in Uganda by encouraging the adoption of financial reporting standards and best practices in corporate reporting.

"The ESG theme has run for three years now, and each year, we provide feedback to participating organizations regarding effective ESG reporting,” said Derrick Nkajja, chief executive officer of ICPAU.

This year, Nkajja said they aim to give organizations a chance to demonstrate their progress in implementing the feedback from FiRe Awards evaluators regarding ESG, especially with reference to global sustainability reporting standards.

"We conduct the FiRe Awards with the main purpose of improving the standards of Financial & Business Reporting in Uganda," said Stephen Ineget, the chairperson of the FiRe Awards Committee.

Charles Lutimba, Director of Standards and Regulations at ICPAU, stated that this year's theme of the FiRe Awards is still based on ESG.

He added that it was imperative to continue with this theme since the Global Standards on ESG were launched this year.

"ICPAU will be making a pronouncement on the adoption of the recently launched ESG global standard to guide on the quality of financial and business reporting in Uganda," said Lutimba.

The Fire Awards, established in 2011, aim to enhance the quality of financial and business reporting in Uganda by promoting the implementation of financial reporting standards and best practices.

In 1998, ICPAU adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for general-purpose financial statements in Uganda, necessitating compliance monitoring.

The FiRe Awards provide an effective approach to this end.

Participating entities benefit from benchmarking their annual reports against current financial reporting requirements, receiving recognition for excellence in financial reporting, and obtaining expert feedback on their reports’ strengths and weaknesses at no cost.

Since their inception, the FiRe Awards have impacted over 1,000 organizations. According to CPA Peter Ssenyange, Chief Finance Officer of PostBank, the bank's achievements in financial reporting demonstrate that Ugandans can successfully manage and transform their own institutions.

PostBank won the bronze award at the 2023 FiRe Awards.

Organizations can participate in the FiRe Awards by submitting their most recent annual report, with entries open from June 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024.

Submissions can be made online or by delivering three printed copies of the annual report to the ICPAU offices.

The FiRe Awards are open to all organizations that prepare annual reports, including public sector entities, not-for-profit organizations, and private sector entities. Outstanding organizations will be recognized at the FiRe Awards ceremony on November 6, 2024.