KARACHI, Aug 23: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Friday the recent geo-political developments in the South Asian region, coupled with the government’s efforts towards structural reforms, have once again put Pakistan in a position to attract foreign investment flows.

Speaking at the Best Presented Annual Reports Awards, 2001, organized by Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP), in collaboration with Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) here, he said the economy is currently in a transitional phase and needs sizable investments in fixed capital.

The minister called upon the companies to achieve maximum compliance with the regulatory requirements to build the confidence of investors and ensure transparency in the corporate sector. He added that appropriate steps were being taken by the regulator to encourage adequate and timely disclosure of material information and a high level of transparency.

“Often, poor disclosures are given, with the intent to avoid liability rather than to provide necessary information. This tendency must be avoided at all costs if we expect to put an end to the growing number of corporate failures and investor losses”, he asserted.

He said the stock market integrity and good stock exchange governance along with other factors, contribute towards investors confidence, these aspects are being effectively dealt with. It is in the area of corporate disclosures and transparency that further improvements are imperative, he added.

“I, therefore, consider this initiative for recognizing excellent reporting of corporate financial extremely important”, he said.

He said the necessary institutional framework is being developed for sound corporate reporting. The Code of Corporate Governance has been recently issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and included in the listing regulations of the stock exchanges.

He said the role of auditors should be emphasized in achieving effective presentation and disclosure of financial information. In the recent past, the international corporate world has been riddled with accounting scandals and failures. The audit firms have immense public responsibilities and it is crucial that public confidence in the credibility of auditors is restored.

President of ICMAP, Badruddin Fakhri said both the institutions have jointly initiated this award for the first time in January 2002 to encourage the timely and professional disclosures by the corporate sector.

Later the minister gave away the awards to the winning companies and declared this practice will go a long way in boosting the confidence of investors and avoid corporate failure.

The selection of the award winning companies was made by the joint committee of the two institutions. Overall first position went to Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited.

In the services sector, Askari Commercial Bank, Faysal Bank, International General Insurance Co of Pakistan, Union Bank and Jahangir Siddiqui and Co. got the awards.

In the textile sector, Gatron (Industries) Limited won the certificate of merit while in the chemical and fertilizer sector, the winners were Engro Chemical, Fauji Fertilizer, ICI Pak, BOC Pak and Glaxo Wellcome Pak.

In the engineering sector, the awards went to Al-Ghazi Tractors, Millat Tractors, Siemens Pakistan Engineering, Atlas Honda and Atlas Battery. In the fuel and energy sector, Pakistan State Oil, Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields, Attock Refinery and National Refinery got the distinction of winning the awards.

Nestle Milkpak, Century paper and Board Mills, Rafhan Maize Products, Shakarganj Mills and Packages Limited also got the awards for presenting the best presented annual report for 2001.

Talking to reporters after the award ceremony, the minister said the prevailing trends in revenue collection, exports and remittances were encouraging and hoped the targets for revenue collection and foreign reserves will be achieved.—APP