Diesel & Motor Engineering (DIMO) PLC walked away with the top award of the night at the recently concluded ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards 2017, held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Whilst there were several category winners, the night belonged to DIMO as they were adjudged the “Overall Winner” for 2017. The awards recognise Sri Lankan companies for transparency, accountability and responsibility of action as reflected in their Sustainability Reporting. In addition, DIMO was also the winner in the “Retail and Trading” category.
Ranjith Pandithage, Chairman & Managing Director of DIMO speaking on the accolade mentioned, “We have been consistently performing well at the ACCA Awards. While the pursuit of awards has never been a priority in our reporting process, we are delighted with the top recognition received for this year’s annual report. These accolades validate our commitment to transparency and honesty in reporting both the positives and negatives of our impacts, operations and strategies.
Pandithage went on to mention “We believe that strategy and reporting are both essential for a company’s healthy journey. Reporting is the last cog in a series of actions that are embedded in how we work at DIMO – cascading from our vision to strategy, and therein to our operations. Corporates and their leaders need to be story makers and not storytellers. We have over the years, formalised the practice of evaluating the value we create or deplete in every decision and action taken across the organisation; the benefits of this process – whether tangible or intangible, financial or otherwise – have been immense.”
Sustainability reporting is growing globally and locally as more companies identify the value of such reporting. According to research 82% of S&P companies issued sustainability or CSR reports in 2016, compared to 20% in 2011.
DIMO’s corporate philosophy revolves around being responsible for their actions and has been amongst the first corporate entities in Sri Lanka to publish a Sustainability Report; in fact it won its first ACCA Award for Sustainability Reporting overa decade ago in 2005. The company was also the first company in Sri Lanka to publish an Integrated Report. The DIMO Annual Report for year ended 31 March 2017 under the theme “On the front line” was the company’s seventh integrated report.