Focus Ireland, Concern, CRH and the ESB were among the winners of this year's Published Accounts Awards, which aim to recognise companies for excellence in financial reporting.
Speaking at the presentation of the awards in Dublin yesterday, Mr John Casey, chairman of the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants, which organised the awards, said the judges were encouraged to report that the overall standards of financial reporting have continued to improve.
"These awards are now in their 27th year and continue to be of relevance as a yardstick for measuring standards of financial reporting contained in the annual reports of Irish companies," he said. "The growing level of competition for these awards leads me to believe that Irish companies will strive even harder in the future to adopt best practice when it comes to their annual reports and accounts."
The full list of award winners is:
* Large quoted companies: CRH plc
* Small quoted companies: UTV
* Charities and not-for-profit organisations: Focus Ireland
* Statutory and unquoted large entities: ESB
* Corporate and social responsibility: Bord na Móna
* Design Award: Concern.
Mr Liam Quirke, managing partner of the sponsor of the awards, Matheson Ormsby Prentice, also congratulated the winners. But he said the introduction of any requirement for regulation should be tested for its cost-effectiveness.
"We need to look at the full cost of regulation and enforcement and weigh it against the benefits that it will bring in terms of transparency, accountability or protection as the case may be," he said. "What we need to do is balance the goods."
