• Mr Ong Chee Wai, Chairman of the NACRA 2024 Organising Committee
• Yang Berbahagia Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer- Bursa Malaysia Berhad
• Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Seri Dr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad, President – Malaysian Institute of Accountants
• Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Gan Ah Tee, President – Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Distinguished guests
• Members of the Media
• Ladies and Gentlemen

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• Good morning and once again welcome to the launch of NACRA 2024.
• Thank you to Chee Wai, our Organising Chairman for setting the tone earlier in his welcome remarks. As Chee Wai said, NACRA is increasingly relevant in 2024 in order to drive higher quality corporate disclosure in line with our evergreen theme – “Towards Accountability and Excellence.”
• Chee Wai also touched on the major changes to the NACRA over the past few years. These changes have been designed to future proof corporate reporting in Malaysia in line with global and local developments.
• Importantly, NACRA emphasises strongly on sustainability reporting aligned with Bursa Malaysia’s Sustainability Reporting Framework, which was launched in 2015 and has played a vital role in spearheading the Sustainability Reporting ecosystem. In 2022, Bursa Malaysia enhanced the Sustainability Reporting Framework by implementing/ mandating the following disclosures:

1. 1. One, disclosure of prescribed sustainability matters and indicators that are deemed material for listed issuers across all sectors (common sustainability matters and common indicators);
   2. Two, mandating climate change-related disclosures in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations for Main Market listed issuers and mandating the disclosure of a basic plan to transition towards a low-carbon economy for ACE Market listed corporations;
   3. Three, enhancing disclosure of quantitative information by requiring the disclosure of at least 3 financial years’ data in respect of reported indicators, performance target(s) if set by the listed issuer and a summary of the same information in a prescribed format; and
   4. Four, requiring a statement on whether the sustainability statement has been assured and if so, the subject matter(s) and scope covered. In addition, if independent assurance is undertaken, the conclusion must also be disclosed.

• The disclosure requirements were implemented on a staggered basis, starting with annual reports issued for the financial year ended 31 December 2023. For more details, please refer to the Listing Requirement and Sustainability Reporting Guide (3rd edition) issued by Bursa Malaysia.
• As corporate reporting and sustainability reporting are a long-term journey towards excellence, we hope to see continuing improvement in effective communications by organisations to their stakeholders, especially in the matters of integrating financial and non-financial information and crafting value creation narratives over time. We also welcome greater awareness and adoption of independent assurance on reporting and sustainability statements to enhance transparency and trust.
• On behalf of the adjudication committee, we look forward to reviewing the submitted reports, and to seeing you at the NACRA Awards Presentation Dinner. Thank you!