CIMA technical symposium

'Provoking thoughts on how to reshape your businesses':

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) recently held its annual technical symposium at the Cinnamon Lakeside with a slate of timely, thought-provoking sessions that merged groundbreaking theory with real-world business insights. The full day program featured leading lights from both the intellectual and corporate spheres sharing their knowledge on the new paradigms shaping the business world.

Beginning with a keynote address from CIMA, Thought Leadership Specialist, Gillian Lees the technical symposium explored a range of issues that currently impact businesses as well as factors that will alter the commercial landscape of the future. Her topical speech focused on enterprise governance, with special attention paid to the need for creating better boardrooms. She highlighted the board's contribution to many of the world's recent financial failures and emphasized the importance of creating a challenge culture in the boardroom, where better decisions are reached through a process of debate and critical thinking. Her remarks were especially relevant considering the audience at the symposium was made up of current and future board members.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, CEO, Ravi Fernando challenged the business leaders in attendance to make a commitment to strategic corporate sustainability, both for the benefit of their organizations as well as for the world-at-large. He said that the world's best companies, such as HP and Sony, are also the ones creating sustainable value for their stakeholders. He said that strategic corporate sustainability rests on three fundamental responsibilities: product safety; environmental protection; and the fair treatment of employees.

Hemas Holdings, CFO, Malinga Arsakularatne delineated the difference between shareholder and stakeholder theory. He spoke on the importance of corporate finance, business strategy, and management processes in creating sustainable value for shareholders and stakeholders alike. Arsakularatne shared his personal experiences in the private sector and pointed out the importance of sustainable value creation in light of the financial crises that afflicted the world.

Butterfield Fulcrum, one of the world's largest independent fund administration firms, the Global Chief Risk Officer, Ravi Raman also provided personal insight into the global economic turbulence. While in New York City on business, he had a front-row seat to the financial market meltdown and pointed to the failure of most organizations to properly use its information resources to manage risk. Emphasising that there are great rewards to be reaped from risk, he described the steps involved in creating an efficient and meaningful business intelligence framework.

His technical insights were perfectly complemented by the real-world experiences of his compatriot, Bharatendu Kapoor, who is currently vice president (vehicle sales) at Mahindra and Mahindra Limited. Kapoor took the audience through the steps that he and his company went through in steering Mahindra and Mahindra back to a position of success. His invaluable description of strategic execution principles were noted down by the business leaders present.

The final paper presented at the symposium was delivered by Executive Director Ronnie Peiris, John Keells Holdings and John Keells Group Group Finance Director. He succinctly broke down the reliance of corporates on performance measurements and asked whether companies are using the right metrics to drive the right behaviour. He emphasised that organizations get what they measure and his eye-opening findings revealed that most performance metrics are dysfunctional and hence drive behaviours that are inconsistent with the company's goals.