Sri Lanka - 9-10 Aug 2007
ACCA SRI LANKA NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2007: CREATING THE DNA OF TOMORROW'S PROFESSIONAL Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 2007
At the ACCA Sri Lanka National Conference, delegates had the opportunity to debate issues concerning the professional and ethical development of accountancy with leading experts from around the world. The Conference began with an evening inauguration event, held in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, and featuring a keynote address from Dr Hans Wijesuriya, CEO of Dialog Telekom. Over 350 delegates attended, primarily CEOs, CFOs, Council members from IFAC member bodies (including the ICASL, CIMA and AAT), and other leading professionals and academics. Chief guest was Dr Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development in the Government of Sri Lanka.
Three technical sessions were held the following day, attracting over 300 professionals from the corporate and public sector, including CEOs and CFOs from major organisations, many of whom were ACCA members.
The first session, entitled Tomorrow's Professional's Toolkit, was hosted by Dushan Soza, executive vice president of WNS Global Services and managing director of WNS Sri Lanka. In his presentation, Dushan Soza considered the evolving global business environment and the new challenges and opportunities currently facing professionals. Against this context he identified the new Toolkit that a professional must acquire in order to deliver superior performance and ‘stay ahead of the pack’. As he commented: ‘The 1990’s have been a wake-up call for organizations with the emergence of a new business environment … characterized by incredible competition and change. The accelerating rate of change in world economic conditions has also created enormous pressure on business and industry to become more competitive.’
The second technical session was presented by Ruth Bender PhD, a former partner at Grant Thornton and senior lecturer at Cranfield School of Management. Speaking on the topic of Professionalism as a Driver for Sustainable Profits, Dr Bender addressed the concept of ‘enlightened shareholder value’. ‘Directors now have a legal duty to promote the success of the company, for the benefit of members, but with regard to other stakeholders,’ she explained. ‘This need to consider employees, customers, suppliers, and the environment adds a new dimension to the way companies look at, and report, performance.’
The programme concluded with a presentation from Krishan Balendra, executive vice president of John Keells Holdings, who considered how to create a professional organisation. ‘Experience has taught us that cultural factors are powerful drivers of business performance’, he said. ‘A culture of performance discipline and healthy employee engagement, underpinned by a strong corporate value system, will ensure the effective execution of strategy, ensure companies operate within professional and ethical boundaries and keep their promises to stakeholders, enable them to emerge as desirable employers - and accordingly, sustainable value creators in the longer term.’
The Conference also included an ‘Open Minds’ Forum where delegates discussed the best way to preserve cultural identity whilst embracing diversity; how to address professional dilemmas when personal values conflict with goals; and whether regulations stifled innovation. The Forum panel, led by ACCA vice president Brendan Murtagh, comprised Clive Haswell, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank; Reyaz Mihular, partner, KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co; and Ismail Radwan, senior economist at The World Bank.
Related photographs
(click on each photograph to see a bigger version)
Photo 1: ACCA Sri Lanka President Dilshan Rodrigo
Photo 2: Audience
Photo 3: Krishan Balendra, John Keells Holdings. Panel members from left to right, Ravi Abeysuriya, Amba Research Lanka, Sujeewa Mudalige, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Keith Modder, Virtusa