The success of Georgia’s economy will depend in large part on the ability of the private sector to attract investors from home and abroad. Georgia boasts an enviable 6^th place in the World Bank’s global Doing Business rankings. But Georgia’s capital markets, including the Georgian stock market, are underdeveloped and need mechanisms and incentives to stimulate their growth. The Best Annual Report and Transparency Award is being launched by the National Reforms Support Foundation (RSF), with support from the European Union, the World Bank, the Georgian Stock Exchange (GSE), the National Bank of Georgia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and others, to promote better reporting practices by companies listed on the GSE by awarding those listed companies that have the highest quality of reporting. High quality reporting practices, that conform with regulation and emerging global best practice, are intended to better inform and protect Georgian investors and encourage them to invest in Georgian listed companies. This will help the GSE grow by attracting new listings and investors.

Evaluation Process

The awards will be based on a 3-step evaluation comprising initial screening, detailed evaluation of shortlisted companies, and finally a panel of judges, comprising local and international experts, to decide on the award winners. The initial screening will involve identifying companies listed on the GSE that are compliant with current financial reporting requirements as demonstrated by their having an unqualified/clean audit report and submit their annual report to SARAS on time, which are published at www.reportal.ge. Companies that pass this initial screening will then be contacted and advised that they are short listed for the award. Award winners will be determined based on an evaluation of their management reporting, corporate governance statement, non-financial information (NFI) reporting-in accordance with Article 7 of the Law of Georgia On Accounting, Reporting and Auditing - and other (e.g., publication of reports on their website, timeliness of submission of annual report and quality of presentation of financial statements). In so doing the awards act to encourage compliance with legal requirements. Each company will be scored out of 100 / 100% in categories as shown in the table below.