Objectives of the Award

• To encourage excellent corporate reporting and a wider scope of disclosures beyond the minimum regulatory requirements that are in tandem with the needs of investors and other stakeholders such as employees, creditors and the general public;
• The Best Annual Report Award was introduced to increase awareness, through the encouragement of social responsibility reporting that businesses and organisations are responsible to the community both as employers and corporate citizens;
• The Best Annual Report Award also gives recognition to maiden annual reports of First-Year Listed companies that show an excellent standard of disclosure. The Judging Panel hopes that this will encourage First-Year Listed companies to raise the standard of their annual report disclosures.

Categories of the Award

The Award will be presented for the following categories of companies:

• Listed companies with market capitalisation of S$1 billion and above;
• Listed companies with market capitalisation of S$300 million to less than S$1 billion;
• Listed companies with market capitalisation of less than S$300 million;
• REITS and Business Trusts; and
• First-Year Listed companies.

Screening Process

Annual reports of all SGX-listed companies will go through a two-stage screening process. All annual reports are screened preliminarily by reference to the presence of key information stipulated in the Best Annual Report Award preliminary screening criteria.

The Best Annual Report Award Judging Panel subsequently assesses each shortlisted annual report against the detailed marking criteria, taking into account the quality and presentation of information.

Preliminary Screening Criteria

The annual reports are first screened for the presence of the following information:

• Discussion on corporate liquidity or capital management
• Benchmarking commentaries against industry performance/statistics
• Value-added statements and disclosure made on productivity measure and performance measures 
• Separate CEO/management’s statement
• Earnings prospects by division/territory 
• Discussion of key business risks
• Discussion of risk management strategies
• Presence of quantitative analysis of identified risks, including value-at-risk (VAR) analysis
• Discussion on information technology risks, cyber security and personal data protection
• Remuneration of directors disclosed in nearest dollar amount and not in bands
• Remuneration of key management personnel disclosed in dollar amount and not in bands
• Board succession planning/long tenure of independent directors
• Policy/position on board diversity 
• Sustainability report disclosures included in annual report
  • Environment 
  • Community and social programmes
• Quantification of sustainability performance
• External assurance (including limited or reasonable assurance)
• Investor/shareholder relations activities
• Employee diversity disclosure (gender, age, education, nationality, people with special needs, etc)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Disclosure of business-specific measures of historical performance for portfolios (i.e. such as trademix by area or trademix by gross rent of lease expiry profile etc.)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Presence of financial highlights commentary (discussions on financial statistics presented like ROE, dividend cover, etc)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Discussion on corporate liquidity or capital management (description of loan and borrowing profile)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Disclosure of REIT/business trust manager relationship
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Earnings prospects by portfolios 
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Disclosure of group and strategic directions (clear articulation of vision, mission statement, goals and objectives)

Detailed Marking Criteria

Annual reports shortlisted from the preliminary screening process are examined in detail for the quality of information disclosed according to the assessment criteria in the following areas:

Performance Review (PR)

• Commentaries on historical analysis and ratios (5-year, 10-year trends etc)
• Analysis and commentaries on current year financials - quarterly, half-yearly, segment analysis
• Commentaries on capital management (gearing, debt equity ratios, managing borrowing, refinancing etc)
• Benchmarking against competitors and industry performance (e.g. total shareholder returns, share prices)
• Value-adding statements and productivity ratios
• Discussion on how the Group has performed in relation to its vision and mission
• Group structure and business segment
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Description of portfolio/asset characteristics (e.g. valuation as at latest date, committed occupancy, tenancy mix, top tenants, lease expiry profile)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Detailed description on yield accretive acquisitions and asset disposals (including disclosure of acquisition/disposal fee payment), asset enhancement initiatives, lease renewals

Vision and Strategic Issues (VSI)

• Corporate vision/mission, strategic goals, strategy and business environment;
• Discussion on how the Group has performed in relation to its vision and mission;
• Group structure and business segment;
• Corporate/industry developments and strategic issues;
• Discussion on the Group’s dividend policy.

Business Plan and Prospects (BPP)

• Corporate vision/mission, strategic goals, strategy and business environment
• Business plan and initiatives and planned capital investment (forward looking)
• Outlook and future prospects, including prospects by territory and business division
• Corporate/industry developments and strategic issues

Risk Assessment and Management (RAM)

• Discussion on risk appetite, risk-aware culture and policies
• Identification and assessment of key risks including climate-related risks
• Quantitative assessment of key risks (e.g. VaR, sensitivity analysis, stress testing)
• Risk management responses/strategies 
• Crisis management and business continuity planning
• Discussion on how the entity mitigated information technology and cybersecurity risks, including whether a cybersecurity audit had been performed, and personal data protection (if applicable)

Corporate Governance Issues (CG)

• Quality of disclosures on the Group's policy and practices on diversity within the Board
• Board assessment of director's independence
• Board succession planning for independent directors
• Succession planning for key management
• Management background information 
• Director remuneration (including breakdown, bands, dollar amounts), including quality of explanation for non-compliance, if any
• Key executive remuneration (including breakdown, bands, dollar amounts), including quality of explanation for non-compliance, if any
• Director orientation and training policy and processes
• Key executive and director performance, evaluation and remuneration policy and processes, including link to environmental, social and governance performance
• Fraud and whistle-blowing policy and processes (including procedures and any reported instances)
• Board opinion of internal controls (including Board's basis for the opinion)
• Commentary on the Group’s key audit risk areas (e.g. audit committee/corporate governance report or a separate report)
• Discussion on the Group's dividend policy
• Discussion on adequacy, effectiveness, independence, scope and results of internal audit function (including review of sustainability reporting processes)
• (Specific to REITs and Business Trusts) Relationship between sponsor, manager/trustee-manager and asset/property manager (roles/checks and balances residing with each entity, resolution of conflicts of interest particularly if there are common directors)

Environmental and Social Accountability (ESA)

• Social and environmental sustainability practices, policy and plan
• Quantitative and qualitative disclosures on sustainability performance relating to climate (e.g. climate reporting based on TCFD Recommendations, greenhouse gase emissions, energy efficiency)
• Quantitative and qualitative disclosures on other environmental sustainability performance (e.g. water use, waste and pollution, land use and biodiversity) 
• Quantitative and qualitative disclosures on employees (e.g. evidence on fair practices, training, non-discriminatory policy, health and safety policies)
• Quantitative and qualitative disclosures on wider community (e.g. suppliers, customers, society)
• Discussion of the company’s sustainability targets and performance and its progress in meeting those targets and performance
• Discussion of sustainability reporting with reference to frameworks like GRI, SASB and TCFD or reference to a separate sustainability report with the information 
• Discussion of how the entity supported the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
• Quality of external assurance report for sustainability report (additional points if reasonable assurance has been obtained (as opposed to limited assurance)

Informativeness, Clarity and Presentation (ICP)

• Comprehensive and informative (i.e. no omission of crucial and useful information, investor/shareholder relations activities) 
• Clear and well-organised (i.e. good use of diagrams/charts, easy retrieval of specific information)
• Innovative design and presentation (i.e. attractive, refreshing and novel presentation)