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Monday, 17 July 2017 01:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By AsnahAnver
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA) held its induction ceremony and Founder’s Day Oration recently, during which the institute swore in the President, Vice President and the Governing Council for the years 2017-2019.
Incumbent President Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala and H.M.Hennayaka Bandara took oaths as the President and Vice President of the CMA Governing Council before the Chief Guest—Speaker of ParliamentKaru Jayasuriya. The Governing Council also took oaths at the ceremony which was followed by the Founder’s Day Oration delivered by University of Sri Jayawardanapura Senior Professor in Accounting, Mangala Fonseka.
President Laksman R Watawala congratulated by Chief Guest Speaker Karu Jayasuriya
In his speech, Prof. Watawala pointed to the need to focus on higher education for the country’s economic development and appealed to the Government to implement the Cabinet decision enabling CMA graduates to apply for Government jobs.
Watawala stressed that in order to achieve economic development and eradicate poverty, education and skill development across the country and outside Colombo is important. He asserted that the Government should focus on higher education.
“Forthe Government, the first priority should be higher education. When you want to go to the university, 150,000 get through only 25,000 can enter university. There is a serious mismatch, so we need to look at this and how it can be solved. So these are matters that I think the Government must give priority.”
Prof Lakshman R Watawala
Prof. Watawala added that in order for Sri Lanka to become an education and knowledge hub and solve this problem, the professional institutes awarding professional qualifications in the countrymust be made degree-awarding bodies.
“If you want to make it an education hub, if you want to make it a knowledge hub, we can do it. Today we have so many professional bodies. Not only will they give professional qualifications, make them degree-awarding institutesalso and automatically this problem caused by the universities will be solved.”
He also urged the President of the OPA, to take this matter up. “We have the training, we have the capacity. If we do that which iscombining the professional qualification, those who have the professional qualification will not go with A/L or O/L but a degree and they will be on par with not only our south Asian professionals but the global professionals,” he stated.
Prof. Watawala also called for the new constitution in the pipeline to include a strong administration system for stability. “Today if you look at countries, unless you have a strong administration, a country cannot run. If you look at the Indian system, they have a very strong administration system. Today I have not heard anyone speaking of this constitution which will give strength to the administration, which will give continuity to the activities of our country. If things are going to change, if things are going to be stable, then we need that. So I would appeal to the Honourable Speaker here that this is a very important matter,” he said.
Furthermore Prof. Watawala spoke on the importance of giving due recognition to national level professional bodies. “Today as national bodies we really are not being treated the proper way.These are things that we should look at becausein every country the nation is built by national bodies. Because we have the reason, we have the commitment to build the people of our country. So I think this is a very important matter, because today sometimes what we say is not looked into, but we are saying through experience.”
In parting, Prof. Watawala while expressing gratitude to Speaker Jayasuriya and Foreign Minister and CMA patron Ravi Karunanayake, who briefly attended the ceremony, also made an appeal that the Cabinet decision enabling those who pass out with CMA qualifications apply for Government jobs, is implemented.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has pledged to take up issues raised by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA) with the Government.
“I was informed that in 2014 the Cabinet approved the CMA qualification for recruitment to the Public Sector which has still not been implemented and this is a matter of serious concern where a cabinet decision has not been implemented and I will certainly look into this matter as I feel that this is a grave injustice done to locally-qualified management accountants produced by a professional accounting body incorporated by an Act of Parliament,” Jayasuriya told the AGM of CMA Sri Lanka.
Karu Jayasuriya
He also assured Government support in taking the profession to both the urban and rural areas of the country—“the Government will also provide all necessary support to CMA to take the management accounting profession to the urban and rural areas of our country and make Sri Lanka a truly education hub which will take Sri Lanka to the knowledge economy.”
Commending the oath of office taken by the CMA Governing Council, the Speaker stated that the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) should take the lead in spreading these values.
“I have been deeply impressed by the Oath of Office taken by the CMA Council members which contained important elements of corporate governance, ethics and integrity which should be embedded and practiced by all to become good citizens and to have good Government. The OPA which has a large number of Professional bodies including the CMA should play a lead role in spreading these valuable concepts amongst its professional members and the student population.”
The Speaker informed that he has also introduced the code of ethics in Parliament which he hopes will become law over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker Jayasuriya also commended CMA’s practical training component while noting the need for such training to be brought to the Government ministries and departments as well.
“This is a concept that needs to be brought into the Government ministries, departments and State corporations especially to train new recruits and to have continuing professional development courses for those employed which will develop their skills and make them more modern and put them in touch with new developments in order that Government departments and ministries could provide an efficient and courteous service to the public,” the Speaker stated.
The Speaker also spoke on the beginning of the CMA, while acknowledging the support it received by the Canadian Government through CMA Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in setting up.
“CMA was incorporated in 1999 and launched in June 2000 by a Group of dedicated Chartered Accountants some of them who were also members of the UK Management Accounting body to meet the void of a professional management accounting body in Sri Lanka which existed in the other South Asian countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and those in the developed world such as UK, USA and Canada. I vividly remember the birth of this institution.”
The Speaker also spoke highly of CMA PresidentProf. Watawala who is also the Founding President of CMA and responsible for setting up AAT Sri Lanka as well.
“CMA is a globally recognised qualification, but when the poor sons who are from the rural areas pass our exams they are barred from applying for Government jobs. But we were approved by Act of Parliament.Especially for a professional body, we are working very hard we are putting our heart and soul but then the people don’t recognise us. As a national body priority should be given. They should think nationally – howthey can work for the wellbeing of this country. But if they are unable to do this, as Government servants it is a disgrace and a shame upon all of us. From 2014 this is outstanding. So Honourable Speaker I am sure that you will look into this matter. Because it is a national body let us take a national interest and let us build our nation.”
CMA was incorporated in April 2009 as the National Management Accounting Institution in Sri Lanka by Act of Parliament No.23 of 2009. The Institute is a member of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA).
Apart from the President and Vice President, new council members include Adrian Damien Perera, Udaya Bandara Jayasekera, N.W.G.R.D. Nanayakkara, Dr. HarendraKariyawasa, Manil Jayasinghe and D. Jeewanandan (Additional Secretary – PolicyDevelopment, Ministry of Industry and Commerce).
At the ceremony it was also announced that the CMA National Management Accounting Conference will be held from 17-19 July on the theme ‘Digital Transformation—A New Strategic Imperative’ featuring eminent local and foreign speakers and business leaders. To coincide with the Conference the ‘CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2017’ will also be presented to companies producing the 10 best integrated reports.
- Pix by Krishan Ranasinghe
The CMA Founder’s Day Oration was delivered by University of Sri Jayewardenepura Senior Professor in Accounting, Mangala Fonseka on the topic of ‘Cost Literacy: A Missing Link in the Pursuit of Cost Management’.
Prof Mangala Fonseka
Prof. Fonseka provided an outline on cost management, its use in the discourse of management accounting, the neo-liberalist regime in Sri Lanka and its propagation of management accounting, and where Sri Lanka stands vis-à-vis cost management. It was noted that cost management in Sri Lanka has not been as effective due to a low cost literacy which was defined as “one’s ability and knowledge pertaining to costs.”
In terms of strategies for the future, Prof. Fonseka stated that “a country-wide campaign should be launched to enhance cost literacy among people” while “ at a still higher level, steps should be taken to develop a country-wide awareness similar to the quality movement in Japan or the cleanliness movement in Singapore”.
It was noted that CMA being the national professional management accounting institution in Sri Lanka has a pivotal role to play in such an endeavor while Prof. Fonseka also expressed hope that “CMA Sri Lanka will take the initiative to develop a cost literacy index in consultation with sister professional accounting bodies in the region”.
As a concluding remark Prof. Fonseka stated: “Effective cost management is imperative for the enhancement of productivity and wellbeing in our societies. There is overwhelming evidence that Sri Lanka lags behind in the pursuit of cost management. When looking around for reasons a missing link appears to be the lapses in cost literacy among us. In addressing this issue it is important that we focus on both dimensions of cost literacy: enhancing one’s ability and knowledge pertaining to costs and not merely imparting knowledge. No amount of sophisticated theories, models and techniques will be of any use if we do not come down to the basics and look after our costs well because it is there that we have some control over our destinies.”
Commenting on the Founder’s Day Oration, Jayasuriya stated that the oration “highlighted the great importance of cost management and cost literacy which will enable the Government and the public to have better and stricter control of its expenditure and with the implementation of total cost management and lifecycle costing will provide a systematic approach to managing costs throughout the life cycle of any enterprise or Government department or ministry.”
Begun in 2000, within the period of 17 years CMA has been able to firmly establish itself as the national body of management accountancy with over 2500 members and fellows with a current student population of 18,000.
