CIMA Management Accountant’s conference 2012: Rebooting business beyond financials

New research has revealed that the human dimension: relationships with customers, employees, partners and communities will be of utmost importance in getting things moving and sustaining success in the long run.

CIMA and AICPA conducted an online survey of 280 CEOs from over 21 countries across the world to determine how they viewed current global challenges and what they saw as the priorities in leading their way through them. We followed this up with in-depth interviews with 17 CEOs, chairmen and other business leaders who between them are responsible for over 2.1 million jobs and market capitalisation of $1trillion. Their overwhelming response was that the human dimensions of business; customer and supplier relationships, and talent development, as well as intellectual capital; will be the focus over the next 18-24 months.

This forms the core of the CIMA Management Accountants’ Conference 2012 theme ‘rebooting business beyond financials’.

Emma Cunis, Executive Director of CIMA, will deliver the keynote, providing an overview of the CGMA report, deciphering the key research findings in the context of the conference theme and imparting CIMA’s contemporary findings in the area of skill and talent optimisation. Professor Danture Wickramasinghe,

Chair in Management Accounting and Director, Centre for Accounting and Accountability Research (CAAR) of Hull University Business School, will deliberate on ‘Unlocking and unleashing value in the human dimension’ addressing issues such as, ‘Why did the human dimension in management accounting upsurge?’, ‘How did the industry and management accounting profession respond to this?’ and ‘What are remaining questions to be addressed?’

 ‘Symptoms of short-termism: the impact on corporate health’, an interesting and increasingly critical area affecting corporate survival will be addressed by Alois Hofbauer, Managing Director, Nestle Lanka PLC. The questions he will focus on include; ‘Do we concentrate too much on short term results and direct gains of shareholders?’, ‘Will this negatively impact long terms results and decision making focus?’ and ‘How best can decisions be made considering optimising the requirements of key stakeholders and long terms growth?’

Strategic sourcing is about being more focused to optimise cost, based first on detailed requirements gathering, better understanding of business needs, and then optimised sourcing and supplier management processes. Strategic contracting, collaborative relationships between customers and buyers, and relationship management are some are some of the areas whereby sourcing can be done strategically. Aubrey Joachim FCMA CGMA, Principal Consultant, ‘Leading edge change’ training and business consulting and Past President of CIMA, will provide insights on how corporate performance can be optimised in challenging times through strategic sourcing.

The case of Infosys BPO India which has had sustained success through optimising value from critical human dimensions, such as employee capability, supplier/ customer relationship effectiveness, development and effective use of processes and systems to optimise measuring and management of human capital, will be presented by D. Swaminathan, CEO/Managing Director, Infosys BPO, India.

Ravi Edirisinghe, Vice President of Freight Links International (Pvt) Ltd, will enlighten the audience on how intellectual capital can be developed by harnessing knowledge and developing a culture driven by professionalism. He will dwell on how diverse and well-balanced knowledge of both financial and non-financial areas of the business augments the value of intellectual capital.

The CIMA Management Accountants’ Conference 2012 will provide Sri Lanka’s business community with insights, best practices and techniques to revamp businesses, accelerating performance by optimising the value addition of the human dimensions. Management Accounting is the ideal platform to drive business growth and equip professionals in business with the skills, techniques and knowledge needed to thrive in challenging market conditions. Be a part of this intellectual engagement which will be held on 24 September 2012 at Hotel Galadari, Colombo.