ICASL, USJ to develop accounting education
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) and the
Department of Accounting (DA) of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ)
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on January 12 to develop the
accounting education in the country through the collaboration of
accounting academia and practitioners.
USJ Accountancy Department Head Prof Samanthi Senaratne, USJ
Management Studies and Commerce Faculty Dean Prof Sampath
Amaratunga, USJ Vice Chancellor Dr N L A Karunaratne, ICASL
President Sujeewa Mudalige, ICASL Vice President Sujeewa
Rajapakse and ICASL CEO and Secretary Aruna Alwis. |
Following the signing of the MoU, the Institute and the Department
will also co-operate in a spirit of mutual understanding and to develop
closer relationships of goodwill and friendship between the two bodies.
ICASL President Sujeewa Mudalige said that apart from the fact that
the Institute is the largest tertiary education establishment in the
country outside the university system with a student base of over
35,000, a significant number of students from the Sri Jayewardenepura
University and specifically from the Accountancy Department are
following the Chartered Accountancy course at the ICASL.
“Many of our members are alumni of the Sri Jayewardenepura University
and we have had a long-standing mutually beneficial relationship.
Another common feature is that both institutions attract the brightest
students after Advanced Level who are eager to follow a career in
accountancy either in academia or in business.”
“As today’s generation of chartered accountants, we have a
responsibility to future generations to help shape both our profession
and this great Institute, so that those who follow us will benefit in
the same way that we do today. I would like to say that their future is
as critical to our profession going forward as it was in the past. We
are a strong and relevant profession. Strong in the integrity of our
evidence-based decision-making and relevant in our influence and
leadership across all sectors of the economy and the MOU with the USJ
will only further provide opportunities to students who are interested
to take up a career in accountancy,” Mudalige said. Sri Jayewardenepura
University Vice Chancellor Dr N L A Karunaratna said, “The University is
pleased to be associated with ICASL, which is the pioneering national
professional accounting body.”
The Vice Chancellor said that the Accounting Department which is the
pioneer in academic accounting education in the country by offering
B.Sc. Accounting (Special) Degree Program in 1992, has worked very
closely with accounting professional bodies from its inception and
expressed confidence that this association would further strengthen the
cause to work closely with the accounting practitioners for the
advancement of the Accounting profession in the country.
Dr N L A Karunaratna said that the partnership with the Institute
would definitely be a stepping stone for the long term professional
development of all students studying accountancy.
Meanwhile, the signing of the MoU will result in the DA offering its
services of its academic staff as resource personnel in the conduct of
academic and professional activities of ICASL such as curriculum and
course material development and other activities of similar nature, and
vice-versa.
The agreement will also see both the ICASL and the DA jointly sharing
the resources of the two institutions including facilities available at
the computer laboratories, language laboratories and libraries.
The Institute, which is the national body of accountants formed by an
Act of Parliament in 1959, will also examine the possibility of granting
exemptions on a subject basis for the benefit of students following the
BSc. Accounting (Special) Degree Program at the USJ.
Meanwhile, the DA will explore the possibility of providing
exemptions to ICASL students and members in a distance mode degree
(general) program that would be introduced in the future.
Both the Department and the Institute will explore the possibility of
organizing a joint Master’s Degree Program in Accounting which will
benefit the Department’s graduates and members of the ICASL.
Under the agreement, the DA and ICASL will explore the possibility of
jointly conducting an IT based accounting diploma program, while both
bodies will also be tasked with organizing an annual international
research conference in accounting.
Following the agreement, ICASL will also consider the possibility of
awarding scholarships to members of the academic staff of the Accounting
Department for doctoral level studies in the subject areas of accounting
and financial management. |