Biz resilience via Integrated Reporting will boost economic growth: Ravi K

From left Consultant- Strategy & Integrated Thinking South Africa Graham Terry, CMA Sri Lanka President Lakshman Watawala, Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake, IFAC President Olivia Kirtly, ICA- Pakistan MAeem Akthar

By Shehana Dain

Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake yesterday urged companies and management accountants to take up Integrated Reporting (IR) in order to ensure business resilience and sustainability.

“As management accountants we all know the importance of Integrated Reporting as it’s necessary for all of us to be in focus with the objective of achieving business resilience. It’s very relevant as business resilience is a much-needed ingredient to the growth and sustainability of the economy,” Karunanayke said at the inauguration of the technical sessions of the two-day Global Management Accountant Summit 2015 organised by CMA Sri Lanka.

He asserted that for a business entity to be resilient what is needed is not only financial strength but also management input and the way forward is through Integrated Reporting, adding that both public and private sectors in the country could benefit by implementing IR. 

“I’m convinced that Integrated Reporting will be of national importance for financial and management reporting. I’m also convinced the knowledge acquired by the technical sessions today about integrated reporting will benefit both the private and public sector,” he noted.

Karunanayake also highlighted that the accountants in the country were the only capable professionals to resurrect the country from its economic turmoil and urged accountants to stand up for their profession and do what they have to do as accountants.

“If you’re in the public sector, stand up for what you stand for and make sure your profession is heard and seen. We have been silent for 10 to 12 years and that has affected our credibility,” he added.

The Finance Minister further went on to say that accountants had supported the present Government to heal the battered economy. “The Government was handed an economy which was basically a grenade handed over without a pin. We managed to neutralise it with the assistance of professionals such as all of you,” he said.

In that context he stressed that in the next one to two years the Government would fashion Sri Lanka as one of the best finance service hubs. Karunanayake elaborated: “In the next couple of weeks we will show Sri Lanka as a place to come and invest, to put your money, to bring your accounting standards here and before too long Sri Lanka will be known for its service industry.” 

Karunanayake also commended CMA for taking the initiative to hold a two-day conference to share knowledge on how the best practices of IR are met. “In the global sense, Integrated Reporting has tremendous importance and I’m sure the technical sessions of the conference will enhance and empower the ability of Sri Lanka’s accountants to deliver better results.”