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ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Hong Kong hosted the ACCA HK Awards for Sustainability Reporting in Island Shangri-La Hotel today. MTR Corporation Limited , Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited , Architectural Services Department and Hong Kong Housing Authority were among the chosen winners.

Speaking at the award presentation ceremony as the Guest of Honour, Ms Christine Fang, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service said, "Many companies find that traditional financial reporting no longer satisfies the needs of shareholders, customers and communities for information about overall organisational performance. Environmental, social and sustainability reporting, which is a process for publicly disclosing an organisation's economic, environmental, and social performance, fills this gap. I believe that through the joint efforts of organizations like ACCA Hong Kong, the business sector, the Government and our Council of Social Service, we could better fulfill our responsibility of global citizenship and build a better Hong Kong for all of us."

"The accounting profession has an important role to play in sustainable development. It is the accountant's involvement in the twin issues of organisational decision making and external reporting that imposes on the accounting profession the responsibility for understanding, absorbing and articulating the implications of sustainable development issues. ACCA wishes to identify and reward innovative attempts to communicate organisational performance in environmental or sustainability reporting through the Awards," said Leo Lee, President of ACCA Hong Kong.

Notes to Editors

ACCA Awards Scheme embraces two award categories: environmental reporting and sustainability reporting. Award winners are as follows:

Sustainability reporting category:

Best Sustainability Report
MTR Corporation Limited
Sustainability Report 2002

Comments from the judging panel: MTR Corporation Limited's report registered benchmarks against the GRI Guidelines, enhancing its credibility. Moreover, it gave a clear presentation of its targets, achievements, challenges and demonstration of comparative analysis and risk identification.

Commendation
Architectural Services Department
Environmental/Health/Safety Report 2003

Environmental reporting category:

Best Environmental Report
Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited
Health, Safety and Environmental Report 2002

Comments from the judging panel: Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited's report was easy to follow and understand with excellent presentation of corporate context. Furthermore, it had a good balance of report content between health, safety and the environment.

Commendation
Hong Kong Housing Authority
Environmental Report 2002/2003

ACCA is pleased to acknowledge the contribution of the Judging Panel:

Ms Anne Copeland Chiu
Stakeholder Council Member, Global Reporting Initiative

Professor Peter Hills
Director, Centre for Urban Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Hong Kong

Mr Albert Lai
Chairman , Conservancy Association

Ms Christine Loh
Chief Executive Officer , Civic Exchange

 Dr Andrew L Thomson
Chief Executive Officer , Business Environment Council

They based upon three criteria to assess the entries : completeness, credibility and communication.

Since our first Awards were started in the UK, we have successfully launched environmental and sustainability reporting Award schemes through our offices in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa and the USA.

ACCA Hong Kong will accept en tries of Hong Kong Awards for Sustainability Reporting 2004 in the coming November.

ACCA's work with business and sustainability issues is diverse. In addition to the managing environmental and sustainability award schemes around the globe, ACCA issues a bi-monthly electronic newsletter 'accounting and sustainability' , deals with emerging issues such as emissions trading via a Committee, and works closely with organisations such as the Federation of European Accountants (FEE) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

ACCA is the largest and fastest growing global professional accountancy body, with over 320,000 students and members in 160 countries. For over a decade, ACCA has promoted transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development. We are involved in reporting awards in more than 20 countries, including Europe , Africa and the Asia Pacific region. Further information is available from our website, at www.accaglobal.com/sustainability .

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For further information please contact:

Lydia Fung, Corporate Communications Officer
2524 4988 / 9194 3896.