The South Pacific Stock Exchange is encouraging businesses in Fiji to go beyond minimum disclosure requirements and embrace greater transparency in their annual reports.

This comes as SPX expands its Annual Awards this year, introducing gold, silver and bronze recognition for listed and unlisted companies, in a move aimed at encouraging wider participation and improving corporate reporting standards.

Annual reports remain one of the most important documents investors rely on when making decisions about a company.

But the South Pacific Stock Exchange says businesses need to do more than simply meet minimum reporting requirements.

SPX Chief Executive Officer Sheraj Obeyesekere says quality corporate reporting is essential in building investor confidence, supporting investment and strengthening Fiji’s capital market.

This year’s Annual Awards have also been expanded to recognise a wider range of companies, including those in the private sector.

One of the key changes is the introduction of gold, silver and bronze recognition for listed and unlisted companies.

“We found that, generally, it’s touch and go in terms of who wins, and we feel that all the other companies that reach the shortlist also deserve some kind of recognition and highlighting. That’s why we brought that expanded winning and recognition opportunity to the awards,” Oyebesekere said.

The move follows the competitive nature of last year’s awards, with SPX looking to create more opportunities for organisations to be recognised for the quality of their annual reports.

Obeyesekere says transparency should not be viewed as a risk to businesses, stressing that companies can provide meaningful information to investors without revealing confidential business operations.

“You can still have a good quality annual report and transparency without divulging the secrets of your operation or divulging the secrets of your business. Annual reporting is not about divulging our business secrets. It’s about providing perspective in a strategic and efficient way to your investor base and to the general public,” he said.

SPX says annual reports should provide investors with adequate information to assess a company’s performance, understand its operations and make informed investment decisions.

The awards have also attracted significant corporate support, with FMF Group’s three listed companies, FMF Foods, The Rice Company of Fiji and APEC, collectively coming on board as platinum sponsors.

Obeyesekere says this support reflects growing recognition of the importance of corporate reporting and capital market development.

“More than the funding side of things, we also like to see more corporates coming and supporting what we are trying to achieve, which is to enhance corporate reporting and also to recognise stakeholders who excel in our industry.”

The SPX Annual Awards 2026 will be held this Saturday, 14 November.

The exchange is encouraging businesses that have not participated this year to consider entering in future, saying the process itself provides an opportunity to identify areas for improvement and strengthen the quality of their annual reports.