CIMA, SLASSCOM to drive BPO industry growth

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Sri Lanka division and the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) partnered to promote Sri Lanka as a global centre of excellence for the Finance and Accounting BPO industry.

Sri Lanka is fast emerging as a niche Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) having the second largest pool of UK qualified accounting professionals in the world.

Recent Global Services magazine survey ranks Sri Lanka among the top 20 centres of excellence for FAO in the world. Leading global companies such as WNS, Amba Research, Quattro and HSBC have set up their FAO centres in Sri Lanka among several other local and international companies to take advantage of the growing pool of highly qualified accounting professionals in Sri Lanka.

The main purpose of signing the cooperation agreement is to collaborate in promoting Sri Lanka as a global sourcing destination for Finance and Accounting BPOs and to increase the number of qualified Accounting and Finance professionals in the country.

"CIMA and SLASSCOM bring together a strong collective force to drive the IT-BPO industry which is undoubtedly poised to be the largest export industry in Sri Lanka within the next five years," said General Secretary of SLASSCOM Madu Ratnayake, at the event organized to sign the cooperation agreement.

As an initial joint effort, CIMA, SLASSCOM and ICTA is partnering on a promotional event to be held in UK and Ireland during June to promote Sri Lanka. "CIMA being a global qualification with 171,000 members and students in 165 countries is clearly a "fit for purpose" curriculum for finance and accounting BPO", said Regional Director of CIMA, Bradley Emerson.

He said that Sri Lanka having the second largest student population in the world will strengthen the initiative taken by SLASSCOM. "This is a national effort and it is most timely and CIMA is very pleased to partner SLASSCOM," he said. SLASSCOM acts as the catalyst of growth for the Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry by facilitating trade and business, propagation of education and employment, encouragement of research and innovation, and by supporting the creation of a progressive national policy framework.