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NEWS
April/May 2013 www.esb.ie/em
ESB'S 2011 ANNUAL REPORT WINS INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
» ESB's Annual Report has done it again! Not satisfied with winning top awards for its 2010 and 2011 annual reports nationally, the company has now gone on to win three prestigious Vision Awards by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) for its 2011 Report ‘Powering You'.
ESB RECEIVED FIRST place worldwide in the Utilities category, won the Best In-House report worldwide and was ranked 7th overall in the world (ranked 47th in previous year).
LACP, the organization dedicated to supporting, recognizing and advancing excellence in the practice of professional communications, said; “the level of creativity exhibited in the report judged for ESB is superb, which is supported by exceptional clarity in communicating this year's key messages. It should also be noted that accessibility to key information sought by readers is outstanding”.
“The level of creativity exhibited in the report judged for ESB is superb, which is supported by exceptional clarity in communicating this year's key messages. It should also be noted that accessibility to key information sought by readers is outstanding”.
According to LACP the 2011 Vision Awards drew an unprecedented number of submissions representing a broad range of industries and organizational sizes,” said Tyson Heyn, Principal of LACP. “More than 5,500 entries were submitted, representing upwards of two-dozen countries and 800 entities, so competition was exceptionally tough. Winners demonstrated an outstanding focus on shareholders, their interests, and their need to understand the strategic and tactical decisions their companies are making.”
The League of American Communications Professionals was established in 2001 in order to create a forum within the public relations industry that facilitates discussion of best-in-class practices within the profession while also recognizing those who demonstrate exemplary communications capabilities.
Speaking after the awards were announced, Executive Director Finance & Commercial Donal Flynn, congratulated everyone involved and said; “Our annual report is the key document we use to communicate our financial health - it is the key to our interaction with shareholders, debt investors, rating agencies and banks. I want to say a sincere thank you to all in Finance who have worked so hard - the process starts with the posting of journals and invoices through our own internal reporting and on to the annual report for external stakeholders. Each person along the way plays a key role and all are essential to the final product.
25TH ANNIVERSARY SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING
ElectricAid - Changing the lives of 1.2m people
ELECTRICAID'S PROGRAMME OF 25th anniversary events was rounded off by an inter-denominational service of thanks-giving and re-dedication at St Stephen's Church, ‘the Pepper Canister Church', on Upper mount Street on Wednesday February 20th. The beautiful setting, the thoughtful and prayerful service, the inspiring speakers and the superb music all combined to produce a truly uplifting event.
Band-Aid has come and gone, but ElectricAid is still with us and still working
We were able to step back to consider, and give thanks for, the 25 years of service to the poorest of the poor, in Ireland, and all over the developing world. Starting off from a meeting of concerned staff in 1987, ElectricAid has gone on to fund 1,750 development projects and to change the lives of some 1.2 million people. It is truly an astounding and outstanding success, and it is a testament to the sustained generosity of the ESB community - staff, pensioners and company.
The service was led by two former ESB staff members, Rev Martin O'Connor (ex-ITS) and Fr Kevin Bartley (ex-Payroll), with exquisite music by harpist Patrice O'Connor and vocalist Denise Kelly of the Dublin Diocesan Choir. In their addresses, Kevin Gaughran, one of the founding fathers, and John Kelly, our current Chairman, covered 25 years of successful growth from those small beginnings in 1987. In John's words, “Band-Aid has come and gone, but ElectricAid is still with us and still working.”
The large and appreciative attendance, most of whom stayed for refreshments afterwards, agreed that the whole service was an inspiring and beautiful way to mark our anniversary and to re-dedicate ourselves for the future.
Sincere thanks are due to so many people, but in particular to the community of St Stephen's for hosting us, and especially to Niamh O'Neill of BSC HR and Patricia Wade of EirGrid for organising this fantastic event.
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CONTRIBUTING €1.8BN TO IRISH ECONOMY IN 2012 - ESB ANNOUNCES ANNUAL RESULTS
ESB's energy retail business, Electric Ireland, returned to profitability during 2012. Electricity and gas customer numbers increased by 80,000. ESB Chief Executive Pat O'Doherty said, “many of our customers are experiencing considerable hardship and we continue to work sensitively with them to help them manage their bills. There was a reduction of 33% in disconnections over the last two years.”
The Annual Report contains details of ESB Group strategy to 2025. Mr O'Doherty said, “The Group Business Strategy positions ESB as Ireland's foremost energy company competing successfully in the converging Ireland/Great Britain electricity market. We are committed to being competitive across all areas of our business to ensure that we give the best value to our customers.”
The ESB Annual Report 2012 is available at: www.esb.ie/main/about-esb/annual-report-2012.jsp
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Profit after tax of €194m from which a dividend of €78m will be paid
• €1.8b contributed to the Irish economy
• €1.1b of bonds issued to support infrastructure investment
• Over €600m invested in Irish Infrastructure
• Over €200m of cost reduction of ESB’s 2015 target of €280m achieved
The Board is recommending a dividend of €78m, bringing the total dividends to the exchequer to almost €1b over the past decade.
FINANCE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME (FITP) UPDATE
DURING FEBRUARY, A number of new finance processes and procedures were successfully introduced across ESB. The new processes for accounting, reporting, billing and receivables were designed to standardise, streamline and simplify a number of complex finance procedures in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ESB Finance, reduce its operating costs and improve the quality of its services.
“Deployment of the new processes is yet another significant milestone for the Programme” said Donal Flynn, Executive Director, Group Finance & Commercial.
Deployment of the new processes is yet another significant milestone for the Programme
“It required huge commitment from many people across Finance, either working directly on the project, attending workshops, testing, or as importantly, dealing with the increased workload back in the Business Units and in Finance Operations,” he added.
To date there have been no major issues with the new processes, however a Post Go-Live Support team remains in place should any issues arise.
New online Performance Management & Reporting system
The Programme is now concentrating on the introduction of improved Performance management and Reporting processes with the launch of a new Reporting system in April.
The interactive online system will be used by senior management in each of the business units to analyse a mix of financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPIs, which are categorised as Financial, Operational, People and Customer & market, are all aligned to the Corporate Strategy.
The system will also be used to review market/operating environment analysis and assess a range of issues and opportunities to the business.
The reports will be presented using a combination of tables, graphics, dashboards and commentary.
As part of the new processes for Performance management and Reporting, Finance Operations will be accountable for signing off that reports accurately reflect the records in the underlying systems, while the Business Units are responsible for signing off that reports reflect business performance over the period.
It is planned that these measures will support a performance focused culture across ESB Group.
Work also continues on the June introduction of a new business intelligence tool, SAP BPC, which is being implemented to support the new approach to Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting. Elements of the SAP BPC system are coming online earlier as it will be used to input data for the new Reporting dashboard.
