Business In Brief

ISMM seminar

The Institute of Supply and Materials Management (ISMM) conducted a Seminar on "Maximizing profits through best practices in purchasing" at Hotel Janaki recently for the benefit of professionals involved in purchasing functions in the public and private sectors. The seminar was inaugurated by the ISMM President. Aitken Spence Hotel Managements (Pvt) Ltd Asst. Vice President Danesha Perera. The seminar elaborated on introduction to purchasing, strategic procurement planning, bidding process, strategic sourcing and bid evaluation and was conducted by ISMM Council Member B G Ariyadasa, R A Fernando and H P W Premadasa, Council Member and Procurement Consultant of IRQUE under the Higher Education Ministry.

ISMM also conducted a seminar on "How to bid for govt. tenders" in Colombo and Kandy a few months back and hopes to conduct similar seminars on supply chain related subjects for the benefit of professionals in the public and privates sectors.

Autoimmune update programme

CPC Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd., India and EUROIMMUN AG Germany in co-ordination with their Sri Lankan counterpart HighChem R Ceylon Company (Private) Limited, conducted a seminar on 'Autoimmune diseases and diagnosis - an update' at Taj Samudra in Colombo recently.

This was the first autoimmune update programme conducted in Colombo.

The programme commenced with lighting of the oil Lamp by EUROIMMUN AG, Dr Jasmin Aldag Consultant, Rheumatologist, National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Dr Lalith Wijayaratne, NIIH Mumbai Dr Vandana Pradhan, CPC Diagnostics Managing Director, R Kailasnath, Director Lab Services of Asiri Hospitals, Colombo, Neil Priyath John, CEO Kushaantha Nanayakkara and Director of High Chem Dushantha Gunewardene, Business Unit Head of CPC Diagnostics R. Suresh, made a short introduction on the overview of autoimmune diseases and diagnostics from the South Asian perspective.

The launch of the newsletter dedicated for autoimmune diseases and diagnosis called D.A.S.L.E which stands for Discuss Ask Share Learn and Evolve was also launched at the seminar. The first copy of the newsletter was presented by R Kailasnath to the first and long time user of EUROIMMUN products in Colombo Neil Priyath John. This news letter will be published thrice a year and will have key articles from the autoimmune perspective and will be a forum for discussion.

There were more than 50 delegates including Laboratories and Clinicians being seen in equal number.

Workshop on IFRS

On September 6 and 7, local banks will be given a leg up by Providence Networks and Solutions who have organised a two-day workshop on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with renowned international guest speakers and consultants.

The IFRS Academy will see nearly 180 participants from the local banking sector come together to learn how to tackle the January 1, 2012 deadline set by the Central Bank, in implementing IFRS. Some of the guest speakers at the free workshop at Hotel Taj Samudra will include Dr. Sarath Amunugama as chief guest and the European Bankers Association Secretary.

The workshop hopes to shed light on what has been called 'an incredibly complex' standard.

The new standard was introduced to the country by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) who have taken steps to adopt IFRS by issuing Sri Lanka Financial Reporting Standards (SLFRS) and Sri Lanka Accounting Standards (LKAS) for annual financial periods.