Malaysia's ACCA: Adopt sustainability reporting

Malaysian companies need to adopt sustainability reporting to go beyond compliance to corporate governance, said Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Malaysia (ACCA). Its head, Tay Kay Luan, said that not only will they demonstrate transparency and accountability, communicating such sustainable efforts will bring about competitive advantage required for companies to compete in a changing global landscape.

In line with this, ACCA has released the "Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for Malaysian Companies," a comprehensive introduction to the subject of sustainability reporting. Targeting companies and organisations, the report contains the background, components and applications to sustainability reporting, Tay said.

Some of the best practices of published sustainability reports across the world are also provided.

"By embarking on sustainability reporting, Malaysian companies will be demonstrating their willingness to take corporate governance one step further. Sustainability does not only concern environmentalists," he said.

"Studies have shown companies that practice sustainability reporting are well-perceived and attract more quality investors. Sustainability reporting will help Malaysian companies to be globally benchmarked in their operations," Tay said.

He added that in Malaysia, public listed companies provided some form of health, safety and environmental disclosures.