CMA holds 11th Annual Graduation Ceremony

Friday, 26 September 2014 12:35 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Waruni Paranagamage The 11th Annual Graduation Ceremony of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA) was held on Monday at the Galadari Hotel. The Chief Guest at the occasion was University of Moratuwa Vice Chancellor Prof. Ananda Jayawardane, while CMA President Prof. Lakshman. R. Watawala, CMA Examination Committee Chairman Prof. K.B. Mangala Fonseka and other distinguished guests were also present at the event.

Awards and certificates were presented to CMA members and students who had successfully completed their Foundation Level, Managerial Level, Strategic Level and Integrated Case Study at the November 2013 and May 2014 examinations. CMA President Prof. Watawala said that to enhance the standard of practical training programs, the Institute had signed MoUs with more than 100 corporate bodies and audit firms as training partners for students to obtain practical training. “We have also signed MoUs with six government universities, including the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the University of Kelaniya and the University of Jaffna. We have also partnerships with reputed corporate firms and audit firms,” he added.

He further stated that the CMA has a code of ethics that is based on the code of ethics for professional accountants issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). “The code of ethics is mandatory for all members of CMA to observe in the performance of professional services in Sri Lanka,” Watawala declared. The CMA provides the new practical experience requirement (PER) and the logbook has been developed based on the International Education Standard 5 (IES5) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) focusing on four skill areas that help to produce a competent professional management accountant. CMA students need to complete CMA examinations and attain the practical experience requirement, as per the new PER guide, to apply for ACMA. CMA Sri Lanka Examination Committee Head Prof. K.B. Mangala Fonseka said that to become a management accountant, students must develop their knowledge on other parts of the world.

“We have students from remote areas too. We are offering them lectures in the Sinhala and Tamil medium but all the students need to develop their competence, accounting knowledge and communication skills,” Fonseka said. He went on to say that apart from the syllabus, they are conducting English language development programs for students. CMA study programs are conducted by recognised private educational institutions. Study texts are prepared by the Institute for all levels in English and for the first two levels in Sinhala and Tamil according to the new syllabus. Moratuwa University Vice Chancellor Prof. Jayawardane said professional management accountants were needed for the business world in order to provide good governance, expenditure management and strategy decision-making for the growth of a company. Pix by Upul Abeysekara