CIMA’S Corporate Partner Programme: A strategic partnership to transform finance function and keep it ‘Future Ready’

CIMA unveiled its Corporate Partners, celebrating a decade of partnerships which play an important role in ensuring the accounting profession continues to evolve with contemporary business needs.  This year’s partnership holds special significance, in addition to acknowledging the 10 year milestone.  In January 2017, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) was formed combining the strengths of CIMA and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).  Representing 650,000 students and members globally, in public and management accounting, the Association strives to power opportunity, trust and prosperity for people, businesses and economies worldwide. To further elaborate on the Association and its relevance for Sri Lankan corporates, Lawson Carmichael (Executive Vice President – People, Strategy & Innovation) and Venkkat Ramanan (Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific) were in attendance to address CIMA’s corporate partners.  Citing geo-political, technological, regulatory and workforce issues which are causing rapid changes to businesses and their operating environments globally, Lawson advocated building stronger corporate partnerships. He said: “Strategic partnerships are differentiating companies of the future.  The Association uniquely differentiates us, delivering value, delivering better business and protecting the public interest.” Supporting these statements, Venkkat explained, “The main objective of the Corporate Partner Programme is to form a closer linkage between the Association and the corporates. While the Programme also provides an essential link for employers seeking professional talent to meet their business needs, the Association is committed to support Sri Lanka’s economy by developing the competencies of not only school leavers but the accounting profession at large.”  Venkkat also emphasised on the need for corporates to gain a better understanding of the local implications of global changes. He added: “In order for Sri Lanka to remain competitive, it is critical that companies learn to adapt to these changes and high quality talent is essential to propel growth.  To this end, a series of roundtables will be conducted with the Corporate Partners to gain valuable insights of how the Association, together with the corporates, can transform the finance function for future business needs.” Also in attendance to meet with Corporate Partners were Irene Teng (Managing Director of Markets – Europe, Africa & Asia) and Bhaskar Ranjan Das (Associate Director – South Asia). CIMA CORPORATE PARTNERS 2017 Platinum Lankem Ceylon PLC Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC Hayleys PLC Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd John Keells Holdings MAS Holdings National Development Bank PLC Hirdaramani Group of Companies Fonterra Brands Lanka (Private) Limited Aitken Spence PLC HSBC Electronic Data Processing Lanka (Pvt) Limited Lanka Orix Leasing Company PLC Associated Motorways (Pvt) Ltd Unilever Lanka Brandix i3 Dharmavahini Foundation Wijeya Newspapers Ltd Gold Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC Seylan Bank PLC Nestlé Lanka PLC Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Sampath Bank Ltd.