Meet the 20 finalists of PwC Malaysia’s Building Trust Awards 2019

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 March 2019 – PwC Malaysia’s Building Trust Awards returns this year for the third time, recognising companies that are making significant efforts to build trust through their communications and interactions with stakeholders.

The Awards – first held in 2015 – assess the quality of corporate reporting of public-listed companies in Malaysia, together with how their stakeholders (e.g. customers, investors, employees) perceive them. No submissions or nominations are accepted.

The 20 finalists are:
(In alphabetical order)

Sridharan (Sri) Nair, PwC Malaysia Managing Partner said:

“Events across the globe and in Malaysia in recent years have shown that people have grown increasingly weary of scandals plaguing institutions and businesses, which has resulted in a lack of trust. At the same time, the bar that has been set by the man on the street for proper business conduct is now higher than in the past, and there has been clamour for reform to address the issues at the heart of public discontent.

On the back of this wave of demands for greater trust and transparency, businesses have no choice but to take the lead in rebuilding trust, and demonstrate through their actions that maximising financial profits isn’t their sole raison d’etre.

In our view, it makes sense for businesses to drive this agenda as their decisions – big or small – have a ripple effect on the country and society, from creating jobs and spurring the growth of the economy, to preserving and protecting the environment.

As a business ourselves, we recognise this. Our purpose to ‘build trust in society and solve important problems’ is a guiding force that inspired our Awards. Through the Awards, we want to broaden the conversation on why trust should always be a priority in business.”

Assessing the annual reports of our finalists is just one aspect of how our winners will be selected. Our Awards also take ‘trust perception’ into account, understanding that it carries considerable weight. By measuring how companies are perceived by their stakeholders alongside their financial performance, the Awards provide a well-rounded perspective on a company’s trust-building journey.

Pauline Ho, PwC Malaysia Assurance and People Partner said:

“Is perception reality? It’s possible for us to sometimes be swayed by an individual or company’s reputation, which may not always be reflective of the whole truth. To test this, we set out to gather the opinions of the public through an online poll - one of our ‘trust perception’ dimensions within our methodology.”

The poll is now open to the general public until 31 March 2019.

http://bit.ly/pwctrustpoll2019

This year, our finalists will also be assessed on their ‘leadership trust’. Collaborating with The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre (Iclif), we shared Iclif’s survey with employees of our finalists, to gauge how they feel about their leadership.

Pauline continued:

“Leaders are the ones who drive the business, and make the big decisions. How they make the final call can either steer the company towards one that operates ethically and responsibly, or one that turns a blind eye to misconduct. The impact on society and their bottom line could be substantial. But let’s not forget – how they choose to lead and empower their employees is critical in influencing and determining their company culture.

Leaders are often regarded as the embodiment of their company values. The ability of leaders to live up to the mark is certainly a deciding factor on whether or not they’re able to build trust authentically.”

The <IR> benchmarking and trust perception dimensions will be shared with an independent panel of judges, who will meet to deliberate and select the winners. The judges are:

• Sir David Tweedie (Chairman, Board of Trustees, International Valuation Standards Council; Past Chairman, International Accounting Standards Board)
• Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood (Under Secretary General, Partnerships, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies)
• Malek Ali (Founder, BFM 89.9)
• Nadiah Wan (Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara; Group Chief Executive Officer, TMC Life Sciences Berhad)

The results will be revealed at our Awards ceremony scheduled to take place in the second half of 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.

PwC’s Building Trust Awards is part of our wider Building Trust programme. Find out more about our other Trust initiatives.

ENDS