January 20th, 2022: Kickstarting 2022 in true winning spirit, Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing life insurer Softlogic Life Insurance PLC, garnered the topmost recognition at the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2021, clinching the Overall Gold Trophy for its Annual Report, themed ‘One Lankan’. This milestone made Softlogic Life the youngest Sri Lankan company to be conferred with this prestigious accolade.
Apart from the Overall Gold award, Softlogic Life won three other awards, including Best Integrated Report – Insurance Sector, Special Award – Integrated Thinking and one of the five Excellent Integrated Reports in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, Softlogic Life’s Chief Financial Officer Nuwan Withanage was recognised with the CMA CFO Excellence’ Award that further celebrates all these achievements.
Organised by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA), the awards ceremony was organised to promote both listed and unlisted Sri Lankan companies as well as state-owned enterprises and small and medium enterprises to undertake integrated reporting, which is beneficial to both investors and stakeholders.
The integrated reports are evaluated using guidelines applicable in the International <IR> Framework issued in December 2013. The evaluation considers not only the accounting and financial information but also the non-financial information provided in <IR>. Forty One companies had submitted applications and were reviewed by a competent evaluation panel and an eminent panel of international and local judges.
“The outstanding performance of Softlogic Life at the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2021 stands testament to the firm commitment that we have made towards adhering to the highest global standards of financial reporting. Our drive towards insisting on being the best in every aspect of our business has taken us right to the top in our industry and it is indeed very satisfying to see how it has also propelled the company to stand one step above other leading institutions in the country as well” said Softlogic Holdings PLC Chairman Ashok Pathirage.
Commenting on Softlogic Life’s significant achievement, Managing Director Iftikar Ahamed said, “The strong impacts of the pandemic on business models require a rethinking of reporting practices. In light of these unprecedented times, the mere financial information does not allow one to adequately grasp the impacts of COVID-19 on organisations and corporate management. In such a context, integrated reporting provides a holistic view of business management and a correct representation of value creation processes. Winning the Overall Gold Award, along with three key awards at this year’s CMA Excellence Awards further validates the steps we have taken as an organisation to improve the way we communicate with our key stakeholders to provide reliable and timely information on our performance to obtain legitimacy in the new normal of doing business.”
“I would like to thank our Finance Team for their proactive drive to innovate and for taking the initiative in preparing the Annual Report to meet such standards with impactful and enhanced financial reporting practices. We are committed to continuing our efforts in adopting the highest integrated reporting standards to produce informative financial reports in the future as well.” Ahamed further opined.
Softlogic Life Chief Financial Officer Nuwan Withanage said, “ The annual report continues to be one of the most powerful communication tools that companies utilise to engage with stakeholders, particularly as an insurance company dealing with public funds in this new digital world. It enables us to showcase our operations in both financial and non-financial terms. Integrated reporting is all about communicating the organisation’s strategy and its prospects, performances, and governance in a manner that connects well to the diverse interests of our stakeholders. In this day and age, when businesses are shifting more towards integrated reporting, it will enable companies to go for better reporting, tell our story better and instil integrated thinking at every level of our businesses. We are indeed thrilled to have received this award that places us at the pinnacle of our industry for our commitment to maintaining high-level stakeholder management and guaranteeing good governance, transparency and accountability in financial reporting.”
Softlogic Life’s Integrated Annual Report voluntarily embraces global benchmarks such as the ‘International <IR> Framework’ and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standard ‘Core’ options. This is part of the company’s vision to share its journey of value creation with all its stakeholders by adopting the Six Capital Reporting Framework, under the Integrated Reporting Framework.
Just this year, the company was thrust into the spotlight for being the first entity in Asia and Sri Lanka to obtain external assurance on integrated reporting practices. Softlogic Life also went above and beyond to innovate and deliver Sri Lanka’s first video annual report, in an attempt to effectively deliver their progress and vision to stakeholders. Further, the company continues to leverage novel digital solutions to achieve greater efficiency, speed, accuracy, and transparency to adopt to modern stakeholder requirements moving at unprecedented speed. Owing to its recent work, the company recently took home the Silver Award for Overall Excellence in Annual Financial Reporting at the CA Sri Lanka’s 56th Annual Report Awards 2021 along with a number of more awards, beating some of Sri Lanka’s giant conglomerates.