For the third successive year, Victoria’s Knox Council has taken out a Gold Award for Annual Reporting Excellence at the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA).
“The Annual Report is Council’s report card to the community,” said Mayor Jenny Moore. “The ARA Awards are a benchmark for both the community and Council because at least 800 companies and organisations, including all spheres of government, entered the competition.
Australasia wide ARA judges said that Council’s report is an honest, warts and all overview covering disappointments, aspirations and performance indicators for each of its major activities.
“This Council really does believe that its employees are its most important asset,” the judges said. “It encourages people to join… and to stay.”
Mayor Jenny Moore said that this third award indicates to the community that Knox is honest and transparent in its reporting and dealings with the community.
“It demonstrates the very high level of professionalism among Council’s staff,” she said. CEO, Graeme Emonson, said the criteria for award selections are rigorous and assessed against best practice national and international standards, in particular the Global Reporting Index. “The Report must provide clear reporting to stakeholders on all issues, including disappointments,” he said. “It must be transparent, accurate and inclusive. Importantly, the Report must demonstrate a high degree of auditability, completeness, relevance, sustainability, neutrality, comparability and clarity. The Report was entirely written, designed and coordinated in house by Council staff which is an outstanding effort.”
Council was also one of four finalists and the only Australasian Local Government recognised in the Corporate Governance Reporting Award special category.
Knox’s ARA awards follows its Best Overall Local Government Award for Victoria presented by the Municipal Association of Victoria.
