CA Sri Lanka and CAPA hold largest hybrid conference themed ‘Heritage: Many Businesses, One Planet’

The Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) jointly organised the 42nd National Conference and the 20th CAPA Conference over three days, from 6-8 October live from Colombo. 

The theme of the joint conference ‘Heritage: Many Businesses, One Planet’ inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), brought together over 2,000 delegates comprising accounting, finance and business leaders from across 30 countries representing a wide range of corporate sectors, while the conference was steered by more than 40 speakers and moderators.

The inauguration ceremony

The ceremonial inauguration of the event was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo with speakers attending in-person and virtually whilst all sessions were live-streamed for delegates. 

Tishan Subasinghe, Chairman of CAPA and CA Sri Lanka National Conference Main Committee, set the stage for the summit’s proceedings highlighting the vitality of a pertinent theme that transcends corporate and global boundaries, whilst Anoji De Silva, Chairperson, CAPA and CA Conference Technical Committee provided an overview to the conference’s overarching topics, outlining the impressive range of leaders and visionaries that were slated to speak at the technical sessions.

The Chief Guest Alan Johnson, President, IFAC and the Guest of Honour Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, 2021 Blue Planet Prize Laureate, and Vice Chair, UN IPCC that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize spoke elaborately on the importance of promoting a holistic and systematic approach to sustainability, one that includes ending poverty, protecting the earth and ensuring that all people can live in prosperity by 2030. 

The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Iyad Abumoghli, Founder and Director of UNEP’s Faith for Earth Initiative in his speech explored facets of environmental ethics, emphasising on human beings moral and ethical obligations toward the natural ecosystem, issues around societal attitudes, actions, and policies to protect and sustain ecological systems.

Manil Jayesinghe, President, CA Sri Lanka in his address focused on the evolving role of finance as a key lever to influence sustainable outcomes and its significance to the profession to stay relevant and successful in the current economic and social landscape. 

Representing CAPA, its President, Dr. Chen Yugui and its Chief Executive Brian Blood collectively iterated the requirement for the accountancy function to take an integrated and holistic approach to the changes in culture, technology, and the world of work—the importance of seeking continuous improvement, staying agile, and creating value constantly in a way one could leave a proud heritage for the generations to come. 

The conference launch ceremony was formally concluded by Sanjaya Bandara, Vice President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka delivering his Vote of Thanks by recognising the efforts of the organising team spearheaded by Dulani Fernando, CEO of CA Sri Lanka.

Technical sessions 

The series of technical sessions commenced with the topic ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ featuring Carmine Di Sibio, Global Chairman and CEO of EY who shared his insights on the ways in which organisations grapple with the growing sentiment that capitalism should be inclusive for a wide-reaching stakeholder group, and how this will change the direction of corporate governance in years to come.

Reflecting on this topic, the session chairman Ranel T. Wijesinha, Immediate Past Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Past President CAPA and Past President CA Sri Lanka moderated a panel discussion with Steven C. Kang, Korea ESG Platform Leader and Deputy Assurance Leader of Samil PwC Korea, Keiko Kishigami, Former Executive Board Member of JICPA, Board Member of WWF Japan and Dr. John Purcell Senior Manager ESG, Policy & Advocacy, CPA Australia on what it means to actually practice stakeholder capitalism in 2021.

Global Sustainability Lead at BDO International Ltd., Henning Dräger in his plenary session titled ‘Eco-Investments and Sustainable Finance – Invest Well: Invest Right’ talked about the urgency of sustainable financing to move the world towards the path of net-zero emissions. He pointed at the criticality of private eco-investments and financing to drive this shift in the backdrop of a global pandemic. 

The panel speakers Dr. Nandita Mishra, Universitetslektor Department of Management and Engineering (IEI) Linköping University – Sweden, Ambassador – IIRC London and Country Director – HETL, Julia Tay, Partner, Asia-Pacific Public Policy Leader, EY, Lopa Rahman, ESG Officer, IFC South Asia led by session chairman Asite Talwatte, Chairman of Management Systems Ltd., Past President of CA Sri Lanka, Former Managing Partner, EY Sri Lanka joined in a discussion that delved into various investment approaches and opportunities available to broaden public-private sector participation in financing  such transactions, including focus shed on the responsibility of finance professionals in promoting them. 

Amongst the speakers featured, Dr. Stavros Thomadakis, Chairman, International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) elucidated on the ethical leadership and public trust posed at finance professionals, the existence of the Code of Ethics and its obligation imposed on the professional accountants to comply with it in the journey towards championing resilient economies and inclusive societies. 

The expert panellists Yohan Perera, COO, KPMG Sri Lanka and Past President of CA Sri Lanka, Sujeewa Rajapakse, Chairman of People’s Bank, Managing Partner of BDO Partners Sri Lanka and Past President of CA Sri Lanka, Veronica Poole, Global IFRS and Corporate Reporting Leader, Deloitte along with chairman of the session Reyaz Mihular, Managing Partner, KPMG Sri Lanka and Past President of CA Sri Lanka analysed avenues of rebuilding and maintaining public trust and practices to renew the focal lens on ethical leadership. 

The fireside chat was deliberated on a timely theme ‘Raising Capital During Challenging Times’. The session brought together a specialist panel including; Murtaza Jafferjee, CEO, JB Securities and Chairman, Advocata Institute, Maninda Wickramasinghe, Country Head, MD and CEO, Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd, Dimantha Seneviratne, Group CEO/Director of National Development Bank PLC, Shiluka Goonewardene, Principal, Head of Deal Advisory, Deputy Head of Advisory and Markets at KPMG Sri Lanka, and Nandika Buddhipala, CFO, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, President of National Chamber of Commerce, guided by the session chairman Sanjaya Bandara, Vice President of CA Sri Lanka, Board Member of CAPA and Partner, B R De Silva & Company. 

The panellists shared thought provoking insights on the current economic climate and investor sentiments, its effects to companies and the steps to take to weather the situation around the country outlook in order to raise capital including practical advice on how to build trust amongst investors and resources in seizing investment opportunities.

Shedding light on the theme ‘The Right Artificial Intelligence,’ Postdoctoral Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Kasun Amarasinghe in his keynote session shared the potential AI has to advance sustainable and economic development, however its social, economic and ethical implications to be addressed with caution by putting in place needed data protection policies. He further spoke of the notable breakthroughs happening in the industry, research labs, corporate boardrooms and countries especially in key sectors, health, agriculture and manufacturing. 

Panel members Prof. Marija Slavkovik, Chair of the Department for Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway; Tim Timchur, Managing Director, 365 Architechs Australia; V. S. Parthasarathy, Coach, Mentor & Entrepreneur, Ex-Group CFO Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India joined by Session Chairman Arjuna Herath, Senior Partner at EY and Head of Consulting for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Past President of CA Sri Lanka further weighed in on the policy and regulatory frameworks for AI,  the sensible uses of AI, the possibilities of a wide scope for AI applications and new developments for social good, including the opportunities this could entail for the finance profession.

Addressing a critical topic, ‘The Hidden Pandemic (Wellbeing),’ Prof. Andrew Noblet, Chair in Organisational Behaviour at Deakin Business School (Deakin University) Australia focused on the effects of COVID-19 resulting in isolation, longer working hours, fewer breaks and blurring boundaries between work and private spheres employees face when working remotely, and its impact on mental well-being. He explained the need to mitigate this stress by creating a toolkit of fundamentals to enable a supportive and compassionate corporate culture where employees thrive and deliver greater value. 

Contributing to this important conversation were panellists Dr. Asoka Jinadasa, Founder of Intrinsic Leadership Academy and Award-Winning Author and Speaker; Dennis Chow, Chairman, Deloitte China; Hajar Alafifi, Chairperson and Managing Director, Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd., and session chairman Prof. Andrew Conway, CEO, Institute of Public Accountants Group Australia advocated for mental health pointing out the deep understanding needed by business leaders’ to issues related to mental wellbeing, making available lean-in mechanisms, empathy and training for supervisors and managers, and redesigning the work-as-we-know-it to be more purposeful by following simple methodologies like enhancing the workload and work-pace and introducing flexibility.

The session ‘The Red Flag (Fraud)’ featuring speaker Jason Zirkle, Training Director, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) USA drew on the experience and takeaways of high-profile public scandals whilst exploring issues ranging from ethics, corporate governance, misconduct, fraud and abuse patterns.

The panellists Ransith Fernando, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Forestpin (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka; Keith Williamson, Managing Director and Asia Head of Disputes and Investigations at Alvarez & Marsal, HK & China; Koichiro Kuramochi, Partner, KPMG AZSA LLC and Chairman, IAASB Working Group of JICPA led by session chairman Sujeewa Mudalige, Managing Partner of PWC Sri Lanka, Past President of CA Sri Lanka and Past President of CAPA provided their viewpoints through a live discourse touching on aspects in relation to a combination of internal controls, technology and human intuition required to tackle activities related to fraud, and demonstrate the behavioural red flags to watch out for and the impacts of weakening on the compliance controls due to the global pandemic and how to combat them in the short, medium and long term.

Concluding the conference was a stimulating topic ‘Chronicles of Entrepreneurship’; the keynote speaker of the session Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala, President CMA Sri Lanka and Past President of CA Sri Lanka, traversed the SME world that is full of experiments, successes, struggles, pivots, and its immense contribution to the economic growth of the country. He further immersed into the funding required, concessionary options, development work to be carried out in support of this industry and policy changes needed. 

Joining him in a panel discussion chaired by Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Partner, B R De Silva & Company and Past President of CA Sri Lanka were a vibrant community of entrepreneurs; Ranjan Hanchapola, Founder & CEO at CAP Organic Ltd., Shalin Balasuriya, Co-Founder, Spa Ceylon Ayurveda Wellness, Sashika De Silva, Founder and Managing Director, Cinnatopia Ltd., Basik Foods Inc USA and Prasanna Hettiarachchi, Founder and Managing Director of Saaraketha Holdings Ltd. The spotlight shone on them as each spoke of their relentless journey to success, which gave the participants a window into the real stories behind the brands, their unique value proposition, how they navigated the risks especially in the past 18 months of the pandemic and turned them into opportunities. 

Hayleys PLC, and John Keells Holdings PLC were the platinum sponsors of the hybrid summit. Also lending their support were Gold Sponsors; AIA Insurance Lanka PLC, Bank of Ceylon, Ceylinco Life Insurance Ltd, CPA Australia, Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC, Lanka Tiles PLC, National Development Bank PLC, and Telecommunication partner SLT Mobitel, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), People’s Leasing and Finance PLC, Rhino Roofing Product Ltd., SDB bank were the Silver Sponsors with Global Housing & Real Estate (Pvt) Ltd and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC were the Bronze Sponsors. Providing their support were also, Print Media Partners; Daily Mirror, Daily FT and Sunday Times, and Electronic Media Partners; Legends, TV 1 and Yes FM.