Expert speakers to deliver insight at CIMA's technical symposium

SYMPOSIUM: An expert line up of speakers from Sri Lanka and overseas will be sharing their insight, experiences and practical guidance at the CIMA Technical Symposium 2006.

Based on the theme "Driving superior performance", the symposium will provide participants with the opportunity to enrich their competencies and awareness of cutting edge technical developments, enabling them to add value to their organisations while enhancing their employability.

The keynote address on "Striking the performance - conformance balance" will be delivered by Prof. Michael Bromwich, a renowned author of many books on management accounting and financial reporting and has published over 100 articles in leading management and accounting journals.

Voted the ACCA/AA distinguished academic of 1999, he is a past president of CIMA, serves on the CIMA Technical Committee, is the accounting advisor to the Office of Fair Trading and has consulted to a number of leading organisations who are household names.

The Symposium technical sessions will be facilitated by Dr. Martin Fahy, Director of Development for CIMA Asia-Pacific.

Dr. Fahy is no stranger to Sri Lankan business leaders having delivered papers at both the CIMA CEOs' Forum and CIMA CFOs' Forum which took place earlier in October. Martin is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and holds a Ph.D in Business Information Systems from University College Cork, Ireland.

A recognised thought leader in the areas of Shared Service/BPO and finance transformation, he has extensive experience working with some of the world's leading organisations on the new challenges facing finance professionals as they strive to continuously add value to their organisations.

As session facilitator he will be sharing his thoughts on each of the topics presented.

Gillian Lees, a Technical Specialist from CIMA, UK, will deliver a paper on "Addressing the strategic oversight gap". Gillian has been working on corporate governance issues for over 10 years and was a key player in the CIMA/IFAC Enterprise Governance project.

She has a background in the banking sector and co-wrote Corporate Governance - history, practice and future which was published by CIMA in 2000 as well as a number of articles for Financial Management, Corporate Governance International and the FT. Group Finance Director of John Keells Holdings Ltd, Ronnie Peiris will consider the question "Do mergers and acquisitions create value?" has served on the boards of companies involved in a variety of activities ranging from manufacturing to hoteliering, real estate development and financial services. Ronnie has extensive senior management experience in general management and finance. Hemaka Amarasuriya is renowned for his contribution to brand creation and raising the profile of marketing in Sri Lanka.

His association with local industry goes back to 1992 from which time he has chaired the Regional Industry Service Committee, Southern Province of the Ministry of Industrial Development. Hemaka will present a paper on "Brand health and value creation".

"Managing risk at strategic level" will be covered by Trevine Jayasekera, Group Finance Director at Brandix Lanka Ltd.

Trevine has extensive experience in the banking sector where he has held a number of senior positions and counts many years' experience in the financial divisions of several leading companies.

Alison Wilford, Director of Financial Operations, Norwich Union Insurance, UK, and Dr. Arul Sivagananathan, Vice President, WNS Global Services (Pvt) Ltd will speak on "The decision to off-shore business processes" using their experience in this rapidly growing segment in the Sri Lankan economy.

Alison has over 12 years experience in a variety of finance roles in the investment banking sector. She is currently responsible for the off-shored activities of Norwich Union Insurance, part of AVIVA Group.

Arul has worked in the banking sector for many years and is currently responsible for transitioning 300 full-time high-end professionals' work from AVIVA to WNS Sri Lanka.

"Enabling and developing talent" will be discussed in the paper delivered by Dinesh Weerakkody, Managing Director of Cornucopia Lanka Ltd. Dinesh is a leading writer and economic commentator and is a former Chairman/CEO of Employees' Trust Fund Board and former Human Resource Director of Glaxo SmithKline Sri Lanka.

He is also a member of CIMA Sri Lanka Division Council. Manil Jayesinghe is Technical Partner at Ernst & Young and is also a member of the Statutory Auditing Standards Committee and its technical advisory panel as well as member of the Financial Reporting Faculty Management Committee of ICASL.