ICASL promotes “Quest for Balance” at 32nd National Conference

By Ben Fowler

From the 20 to 22 October, the country’s national accounting agency, the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Sri Lanka (ICASL), will host its 32nd National Conference, whose theme is “Quest for Balance”.

At a press conference yesterday ICASL President Sujeewa Mudalige said they were forced to host the conference at the Waters Edge in Battaramulla in order to accommodate the enormous amount of participants which they’ve had to cap at 1,000 as there wasn’t a hotel in Colombo large enough to meet the demand for the event.    “With changing dynamics of the accounting profession and the environment in general, the conference has increasingly deliberated on themes beyond numbers facilitated through the exchange of expertise between business leaders and prominent chartered accountants” National Conference Chairman Arjuna Herath said.

Which is to say, accounting, as a profession, has been evolving. He want on to say that the conference “helps define and establish ICASL’s professional role on an on-going basis which enables our members to effectively serve the national agenda and public interest in an economic and business environment that is in a constant state of flux.”

Furthermore, he stated that even after three decades, the conference continues to grow in stature, as well as size.

The ICASL conference begins on the evening of 20 October, and following the President’s Cocktail will be time specifically allotted for networking — a necessary procedure considering the bustling size of the event. The next two days will contain six technical sessions led by high-profile speakers, each taking the “Quest for Balance” and applying it to a different facet of business, whether at the personal or the global level.

One of the technical sessions in particular will address Sri Lanka’s adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), specifically, what the historic change will mean for businesses in terms of shifting business models as well as benefits.

The IFRS strives to set standards in order to increase the ease of participating in global business and investing, and is shaping up to become an international standard.

The adoption of these standards is a clear signifier of Sri Lanka’s intentions of becoming an important player in the global market.

“Over its 52 years of existence, ICASL has become an influential body of professionals. It’s indeed gratifying to see our members at the helm of most of the leading organisations in the country,” ICALS Chief Mudalige said.

“Out of the 4,300 members, over 25% are well employed overseas.”

He went on to say that over 50% of the members of ICASL, himself included, have at some point in their career gained experience working overseas.

ICASL also announced the creation of a new website for the event: www.icasrilanka.com/nationalconference2011. Rather than being merely informative, the website will also function as a forum for input from members, in order to help generate thoughts, ideas, and values, Herath added.