PIM holds successful public lecture on IFRS

The second public lecture titled ‘Convergence of Sri Lanka accounting standards with international financial reporting standards: A business perspective,’ of the Postgraduate Institute of Management Alumni (PIMA) was successfully held on 9 September 2011 at the PIM Auditorium.

The welcome address was made by Dilini Wijeweera, President of PIM Alumni. Professor Uditha Liyanage, Patron and Director of Postgraduate Institute of Management also addressed the gathering. The keynote speaker for the evening was Manil Jayasinghe, Partner, Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka.  Jayasinghe pointed that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence is a paradigm change for business and therefore each and every organisation needs to evaluate the business application of this accounting transformation.

Furthermore, he noted that companies in over 100 countries, including most of the European and Asian countries are already following IFRS when preparing financial statements. A further number of countries are presently exploring conversion and convergence plans which could enable IFRS to potentially become a consistent global platform for financial reporting.

Hence, in the near future IFRS convergence is going to make consistent accounting reporting system around the world which would in turn open a common platform to perform cross border investment analysis.

Analysing the Sri Lankan context, his argument was that, most of our existing accounting standards are already following the IFRS platform and hence there are no major changes in key standards that we follow. However, he pointed out that, industries like real estate, telecommunication, electricity, banking and insurance may have severe impact on IFRS change and the reporting system has many changes on those areas.

The panel of experts comprising of Suren Rajakarier, Partner KPMG Ford, Rhodes, Thornton & Co. Nishan Fernando, Chairman, Accounting Standards Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, together with S. Nagarajah, Executive Vice President-Finance, DFCC Bank discussed and reviewed the keynote speech.

Fernando bringing the plantation industry experience to the discussion table emphasised the impact of IFRS on the sector. He explained the IFRS impact on plantation companies and methodological review on valuation of biological assets of plantation companies. Nagarajah with his expertise on banking and finance sector added opinion in his view on IFRS on baking sector, future cash flows and lending behaviour.  

Rajakarier, Moderator of the session, provided an excellent forum for PIM Alumni members and non members to pose questions and voice opinions. The public lecture was well attended by both PIMA members and non members. It was the second public lecture of this year and PIMA plans to organise a series of sessions on topics arising from issues prevailing at times throughout 2011/12. The next public lecture is expected to be organised during the month of December.