BDO Partners strengthens compliance standards of top awards as honorary judging supervisor

Lead Partner Sujeewa Rajapakse – Sri Lanka’s Most Admired Companies Awards and Women Entrepreneurship Awards	Lead Partner R. Vasanthakumar Health and Productivity Awards

BDO Partners this year played a ground-breaking role in enhancing the compliance standards of several leading Sri Lankan award programs including the SLIM Brand Excellence awards 2019, Effie awards, Property Guru Sri Lanka awards and the Sri Lanka Corporate Health & Productivity Awards organised by the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE). 

Recognised as one of Sri Lanka's leading professional service firms, BDO Partners played a crucial anchor role in its capacity as the honorary judging supervisor of the top award events, helping them maintain its high compliance standards and in line with local and international standards. 

Lead Partner Ashane Jayasekara – SLIM Brand Excellence Awards and Effie Awards

PropertyGuru Lead Partner Sasanka Rathnaweera

Apart from BDO’s judging supervisory role at the awards, BDO Partners Managing Partner Sujeewa Rajapakse also served as a member of the distinguished judging panel at Sri Lanka’s Most Admired Companies Awards 2019 organized recently by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL). 

Rajapakse also served as a judge at the Women Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 organised by the Colombo School of Business & Management (CSBM) and Women’s International Foundation (WIF). Over the years, BDO Partners has been at the forefront in supporting women entrepreneurs and the female professional community to take the lead and play a more significant role in the development of the country.   

BDO Partners Managing Partner Rajapakse said that his firm was proud to be part of some of the country’s most respected awards events as its judging supervisor in an honorary capacity. 

His belief was that with BDO taking on this new role, it will not only uplift and further strengthen BDO as a professional service provider, but will also contribute to BDO’s standing as a corporate social responsible firm. 

“As the judging supervisor of these events, it was BDO’s responsibility to ensure the compliance of the events were well maintained and accepted not only at a local but also international level, and to safeguard the trust placed on us, we went above and beyond our responsibility to ensure that the compliance of the events was maintained to the highest standards,” he said. 

Rajapakse also encouraged other professional service providers to follow suit and get on board to support such important initiatives to achieve their vision and goals, which will ultimately benefit the country at large.   

BDO was the official Audit Partner of both SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2019 and the Effie Awards organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM). The 11th edition of the Effie Awards was an important platform aimed at celebrating and inspiring the advertising industry of Sri Lanka, while the Brand Excellence Awards is a national level event where outstanding marketers are rewarded for their exceptional efforts. 

Lead Partner for Brand Excellence and Effie Ashane Jayasekara believes that every organisation in their individual capacity should have the ability to brand themselves no matter how big or small the organisation is.  “Whether we are a country or a company, we should brand ourselves, as that ultimately is our unique identity. Events such as these, also helps our firms to further strengthen our own individual branding all while providing an important service to the event itself,” he added. 

SLIM President Suranjith Swaris highlighted that owing to the importance of the Brand Excellence and Effie awards, it was paramount to bring on board an audit partner who will go that extra mile to ensure compliance of the two events was strengthened. 

“We are delighted by our choice, because BDO Partners went above and beyond our expectations in carrying out their role as the official audit partner,” he said.  

The PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards is the Asian region’s biggest and most respected real estate awards program and rewards and celebrates the biggest and best achievers in the world’s most dynamic markets across Asia. 

PropertyGuru Asia Director Jules Kay said that BDO ensured that the BDO team in Sri Lanka were efficient and reliable and ensured that the most deserving win the awards. "As our official, independent awards supervisor across multiple markets in Asia, BDO ensures transparency and credibility throughout the assessment process. The BDO team in Sri Lanka is very efficient and reliable. They attend all the judges' meetings, joined the project site inspections and checked all the entries against official judging criteria to make sure the final results were accurate, and the winners are well deserving of their awards," Mr. Kay said.  

PropertyGuru Lead Partner Sasanka Rathnaweera noted that the construction and property industry plays a big role in helping a country reach its economic goal, and therefore it is crucial for this industry to comply with local and international standards and regulations. “At BDO, we always ensure that the companies functioning across this dynamic industry fulfil the necessary regulations and standards,” he added. 

BDO Sri Lanka is a leading professional service firm providing audit, advisory, tax and consultancy services to national and global businesses. BDO Sri Lanka is part of the global network sharing knowledge and expertise. 

The firm has expanded into varied service lines providing the client a seamless array of professional services with high quality delivery. BDO brand stands for exceptional client service, delivered by exceptional people.