CA sri lanka National Conference inaugurated
The 33rd National Conference of Chartered Accountants was inaugurated
on October 18, amidst much fanfare, at a gala ceremony in the presence
of the countrys corporate glitterati, with Deputy Speaker of Parliament,
Chandima Weerakkody (MP), gracing the much anticipated annual corporate
event as the Chief Guest.
Held at the Waters Edge, Battaramulla, the conference organised by
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), saw
a high profile participation running to over 900, including top
accounting and finance personalities from across the world and business
leaders from Sri Lanka, being present at the inauguration.
The guest of honour was Mark Spofforth, President of one of the
world’s oldest accounting organisations, the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), while the keynote address for
the evening was delivered by Adam Sack, Country Manager of the
International Finance Corporation.
Exploring an inspiring theme, this year’s conference which will
include two days of technical sessions, scheduled to conclude on October
20, will navigate around Country, Corporate, Citizen, which aims to
solve the puzzle of success and thereby ensure ‘winning’ at all levels.
This year’s conference saw a further boost, with the participation of
several eminent personalities from the accounting world, including Keith
Wedlock, President of the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants
(CAPA) which is the largest regional accounting organization. Also among
the high profile guests list was top accounting personality, Prabhakar
Kalavacherla, board member of the International Accounting Standards
Board.
Over 1200 persons have registered for this year’s conference for the
six technical sessions which were held on October 19 and 20 also at
Waters Edge. With the present unpredictable environment pushing
corporates across the world to revamp their overall policies and
strategic framework, the conference this year will explore means to
overcome the current uncertainty prevailing in the world and thereby
ensure ‘winning’ at a country, corporate and citizen level.
CA Sri Lanka introduced the concept of national conference to Sri
Lanka in 1979.
The conference, over the last three decades had built a reputation,
as a business summit that provokes thoughts and spurs insights into
broad economic and business issues; apart from its core emphasis on
finance related topics. Every year the conference attracts over 1,000
participants, making it one of the most attended corporate events in the
country. This year’s conference will cover a range of pertinent issues
relevant in today’s unpredictable economic and business conditions,
including how to recover following the 2008 financial meltdown, the
importance of following a sound and winning strategy, and the importance
of winning against all odds, in the face of failures.
Among the other areas that will be covered during the six technical
sessions, is the importance of cultivating a positive attitude, which is
an absolutely indispensable prerequisite for success, while experts will
also delve in detail on developing a winning image through strong
branding and marketing activities which is critical in the current
economic context. The final session will explore indepth on the
accounting profession, which has seen a significant impact in today’s
business environment and how the profession can lead the business world
towards all time success. Session one on ‘winning economy’ will be
presented by Prof. Premachandra Athukorala, Professor of Economics from
the Australian National University.
The panelists for the first session will include Amal Sanderatne
CEO/Director of Frontier Research and Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Former
Director (Economy Affairs) of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The second
session on ‘inning strategy’ ill be presented by Dr. John Viljoen,
Managing Director of iedex.
The panelists at the session will be Ajay Amalean, Director of MAS
Holdings (Pte.) Ltd., and Rohan Pallewatta, Managing Director/CEO of
Lanka Harness Company (Pvt.) Ltd. The third session on ‘inning against
the odds’will be presented by Ranjith Fernando, Chairman of United
Motors Lanka PLC and will comprise of panelists Rajendra Theagarajah,
Managing Director cum CEO of Hatton National Bank (HNB) and Naomal
Goonewardena, Partner of Nithya Partners.
The fourth session will feature Sanjay Tiwari, Managing Director cum
CEO of Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC, who will speak on winning attitudes.
The session will feature two panelists comprising of Shakthi Ranatunga,
Group Human Resource Director of MAS Holdings Pte. Ltd, and Ms.
Dilrukshi Kurukulasuriya, General Manager, Human Resources of Diesel and
Motor Engineers PLC. The fifth session will centre around ‘winning
image’ and will feature Ranjith Page, Managing Director, CT Holdings and
Deputy Chairman of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC as the speaker. The panelists
for the fifth session will be Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman of the Sri Lanka
Tourism Development Authority and Nandana Wickramage, Group Director and
Head of Marketing and Sales of Ceylon Biscuit Ltd. |