The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) took out a clutch of prizes in the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) held in Sydney last week.
As well as earning the highest Gold rating for overall reporting quality, NZS won top spot in two other categories: governance reporting in the public and not-for-profit sector, and; online reporting in the public sector.
In a statement, Steven Burrell, Governance Institute of Australia (GIA) chief, said the ARA accolade was a major endorsement of the disclosure strategies of both NZS and Woodside Petroleum (which was named best in governance reporting for the private sector).
“The New Zealand Superannuation Fund took out top honours in the public sector category for a commendable and well-rounded report that scored well across all aspects of governance reporting, including accountability, transparency, integrity, stewardship and leadership,” Burrell said.
Of the almost 50 Gold-rated reporting entities only NZS and electricity distributor Marlborough Lines hailed from this side of the Tasman.
However, four other NZ organisations – including the Accident Compensation Commission and NZ Post – earned an ARA Silver ranking for their reporting efforts, with IRD and Wellington Council picking up Bronze.
For the last 19 years, the GIA has sponsored the ARA governance awards “to recognise quality and completeness of disclosure in reporting on governance policies and procedures”.
The ARAs, which date back to 1950, were conceived as a way to improve financial reporting standards in Australia.
Last week the $30 billion NZS also refreshed its board, naming the founding chief of the $100 billion plus British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Doug Pearce, and ex Hellaby Holdings chief, John Williamson, as guardians.
In a statement, NZS said Pearce was a “proponent of good governance and responsible investment”.
Former Russell Investments NZ chief, Craig Ansley, was also reappointed to the NZS board until September 30, 2018.
This year Mark Tume, and Gavin Walker (who was replaced by Catherine Savage as chair) exited the NZS Board of Guardians after long service.