The number of private and public entities that enrolled for this year’s Financial Reporting Award (FiRe) rose to 844 from 362(2021’s) marking a 133% rise.
The increase in the number of entities participating in the Award shows a significant uptake of financial reporting standards that have led to improved transparency in the use of both public and private sources.
The use of new accounting standards and implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, lays a foundation for adoption of new standards on sustainability disclosures for both private and public sector entities issued by The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) respectively.
The Chief Executive Officer for Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) who also chairs the FiRe award, Mr. Geoffrey Odundo said the FiRe Award promotes financial reporting excellence and enhances corporate investment and environmental reporting for financial transparency and accountability in public and private sectors.
“The FiRe Award is critical in promoting and enhancing the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by entities in the country thus enhancing efficient communication of financial information both locally and internationally,” said Mr. Odundo speaking at the 20th edition of the Award in Nairobi.
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The PSASB and FCPA CEO Mr. Fredrick Riaga also speaking during the launch, highlighted the increase in demand in the country by the users of financial statements to link performance-related outputs and outcomes to financial information.
“Users of standards want to understand the impact of the government’s decision on the lives of current and future generations. Linkages between financial and non-financial information, including sustainability and performance reporting is a crucial step towards giving meaningful information to the users of annual reports, and this is what we are promoting in this year’s FiRe Award,” Mr Riaga said.
The FiRe Award theme for 2022 is Promoting Excellence in Financial Reporting through Integrating Financial and Non-Financial Information, organized by five promoters namely, Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (PSASB), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA).