The seventh Pwint Thit Sa/Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) report was published on 20 February 2023.

Pwint Thit Sa/Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) reports assess information disclosure on the corporate websites of Myanmar companies. The objective is to incentivise greater publication of corporate governance (CG) and other information by Myanmar companies through publicly recognising them for their disclosure and transparency. It remains the most extensive public report published about the state of corporate disclosure (CD) in Myanmar.

MCRB published the first Pwint Thit Sa report in July 2014, and further reports were published in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Since 2018, the report has covered an expanded number of companies, and used criteria aligned with the emerging corporate governance agenda in Myanmar, and specifically the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS). As in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the 2022 report has been jointly authored by MCRB and Yever, whose contribution is pro bono.

The 2022 report continues the methodological approach adopted since 2018 by drawing heavily on the ACGS, using 71 of its most relevant criteria. The ACGS was developed by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, of which Myanmar’s Securities and Exchange Commission is a member. It is used widely in the region to assess disclosure of corporate governance by large companies. However not all ACGS criteria have been used for Pwint Thit Sa and the methodology also sources from other international standards. Since 2019, some additional performance criteria concerning sustainability and its relationship to the company’s business model have been added, aligned with the Integrated Reporting Framework.

The scoring methodology once again assesses four dimensions - Corporate Profile, Corporate Governance, Sustainability Management and Reporting – using 151 criteria (see Annex to the report). For 2022 a few additional criteria were added related to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing political crisis.

Myanmar regulatory requirements for corporate governance and disclosure were summarised in the 2020 Pwint Thit Sa report, and are not substantially changed. For most companies in this study, with the exception of those who are publicly listed and ‘public companies’ with more than 100 shareholders and banks, there is no Myanmar legal requirement to disclose any of this information on their website. However, disclosure can help a company to obtain a competitive edge with potential business partners and investors whose first research on a company may involve looking at their website. This year, the methodology has been further strengthened to distinguish between where companies have a legal obligation to disclose and where private companies are choosing to do so. To incentivize disclosure beyond compliance, bonus points were added where companies volunteered to disclose information such as financial statements.

Pwint Thit Sa 2022 assessed 271 companies of which 31 are banks. These include:

• 7 companies listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX), of which 2 are banks

• 45 public companies – of which 8 are banks – identified by the SECM as regulated by them because they have more than 100 shareholders

• 191 privately owned companies – of which 17 are banks – who either:

• paid significant commercial and/or Income tax according to the latest top 1,000 Myanmar companies taxpayers list issued by the Internal Revenue Department

• are well-known or influential in Myanmar, or

• volunteered to participate

• 28 State-owned Economic Enterprises (SEEs), of which 4 are banks

A webinar was held in September 2021 to explain methodology to those companies which MCRB/Yever were able to contact by email/mail. A first assessment of websites against the criteria was undertaken in Q4 2021, and draft scores were shared with companies in hard copy and by email in January 2022. In February 2022, initial findings were shared in a webinar and companies were invited to have individual discussion on their draft scores and receive specific feedback on how to improve their disclosure. Thirty-nine companies met with the assessment team. The initial deadline of May 2022 for updating websites before the final scoring was extended on request. In December 2022, scores were finalized by Yever and cross checked by MCRB.

Results show that the average score in 2022 was 8% compared to 7% in 2020: overall disclosure has slightly improved, with some leading companies rising to the challenge of disclosing more data related to Corporate Governance (CG), sustainability management and reporting on their performance. The three companies in 2022 which score highest on corporate disclosure are CityMart Holdings Limited (CMHL), uab and FMI (First Myanmar Investment). Listed companies, which scored average 40%, are outperforming public (6%) and private companies (8%). However, the variance within each category is significant.. A comparison of scores between the years shows that average score by category mostly improved, except for SEEs and public companies which scores remain stable compared to 2020. The Top 30 companies are listed in the Results section. MCRB and Yever plan to publish an online tool to show how the scores of all companies assessed have evolved since 2018.

As ever, this survey and the ranking it produces is limited by the fact that it only uses publicly available information provided by the companies. It does not assess the quality or detailed performance of the company or the accuracy of the data, something which requires the assurance of an independent expert audit. To combat the risk of companies adopting a tickbox or cut-paste approach, more marks were given for some criteria relating to policies and sustainability to reflect how closely a company’s policy commitment was genuinely aligned to the business. Furthermore, MCRB and Yever’s direct engagement with companies suggested that those who have higher scores are also those developing a stronger corporate governance culture and understanding of sustainability.

In 2023, MCRB and Yever plan to continue to support interested companies to improve their policies, reporting, disclosure, and website accessibility – including for persons with disability – and to complement the training provided by the Myanmar Institute of Directors on corporate governance. A further Pwint Thit Sa report may be produced in 2024.

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