Paul Arithi 
The promoters of the Financial Reporting (FiRe) Award launched the FiRe Award 2024 edition in a move aimed at pushing for integrated financial reporting across the private and public sectors in the country, thus enhancing accountability and transparency in resource management.
This year’s Award’s theme is “championing for effective sustainability reporting through technology and innovation to enhance transparency,” which underscores the growing importance of business sustainability disclosures as a reporting mandate for private companies and public sector entities.
The FiRe Award is organised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (PSASB), the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Capital Markets Authority (CMA), and the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA).
Speaking during the launch of the 23rd edition of the FiRe Award, the Chairperson of the Award Executive Committee, who is also the ICPAK CEO, CPA Dr. Grace Kamau, pointed out the critical role that sustainability reporting plays in advancing sustainable development goals and promoting corporate responsibility.
She said that by adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), especially IFRS S1 and S2, ICPAK aims to provide guidance and frameworks that allow enterprises to effectively monitor, manage, and disclose their sustainability impacts and climate risks and opportunities.
The NSE Chief Executive, Mr. Frank Mwiti, noted that NSE has placed a special focus on supporting and enabling companies in Kenya to report on sustainability to better manage risks and attract more investments in particular companies.
The PSASB Acting CEO, Ms. Georgina Muchai, encouraged the public sector entities to increase the uptake of ESG reporting noting that “ESG is a growing concern for government regulators, investors, and standards bodies. With ESG, public sector entities now have a great opportunity to prepare for new regulations around sustainability reporting and commit to transparency and accountability.
This means setting out to gather information to inform entities’ strategies, manage risks and achieve a stronger, more sustainable performance over the long term.”
Present during the event was the RBA CEO, Mr. Charles Machira, who underscored the importance of adopting ESG principles in financial reporting by Retirement Benefits Schemes.
Equally, the CMA CEO, Mr. Wyckliffe Shamiah, said that business sustainability and climate-related disclosures are becoming a key consideration for publicly listed companies.
This comes on the back of the publication of standards for Sustainability-related Financial Information (IFRS S1) and Climate-related Disclosures (IFRS S2) by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) 12 months ago.
