CMA business forum today

The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA) in partnership with Ram Ratings (Lanka) Ltd. will have its business forum today at the Hilton Colombo. Invitees from the business sector, regulatory bodies and professional institutes will participate.

CMA is the National Management Accounting Institute in Sri Lanka and RAM Ratings is a wholly owned subsidiary of RAM Holdings — an affiliate of Standard & Poor’s.

The guest speaker, Surinder D. Kathpalia, Managing Director - Standard & Poor’s Singapore will speak on ‘Asia Outlook: Strong Growth should Counter Challenges in 2011’.  In addition to his duties as MD of S&P, Surinder is also responsible for business development across South East Asia.  He has been tasked with further developing Standard & Poor’s leading position in the region’s financial markets across this region. For the last 10 years, Standard & Poor’s has been selected as the “Most Influential Rating Agency in Asia”.  Surinder is a member of the Advisory Board of the Corporate Governance & Financial Reporting Centre in Singapore. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Investment Management Association of Singapore.  

The ensuing panel discussion will comprise K. Dheerasinghe - Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. Preethi Jayawardene – MD / CEO, Chemanex PLC and Krishan Balendra – President Corporate Finance & Group Strategy, John Keells Holdings PLC.

Dheerasinghe has served the Central Bank in the departments of Bank Supervision, Economic Research, Statistics, Information Technology and Public Debt in senior capacities, before being appointed as Assistant Governor in 2004 and as Deputy Governor in 2009. He was the Alternate Executive Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka at the International Monetary Fund from September 2007 to January 2010.

Preethi Jayawardene –MD / CEO of Chemanex PLC is also the Chairman - The Finance Co. PLC, as well as a non executive Director of CIC PLC.  He is a Member of the Monitory Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Senior Vice Chairman of the National Chamber of Industries of Sri Lanka, and a Member of the Executive Council of the Institute of Directors of Sri Lanka.

Krishan Balendra - President, Corporate Finance & Group Strategy, John Keells Holdings Plc. is responsible for the Retail Sector, John Keells Stock Brokers and the Corporate Finance & Strategy function of the group.  He started his professional career at UBS Warburg, Hong Kong, in investment banking, focusing primarily on equity capital markets. After a four year stint in Hong Kong, he continued his career in corporate finance at Aitken Spence & Co. Ltd., Sri Lanka prior to joining John Keells Holdings.

CMA the National Professional Management Accounting Institute will host this business forum with Ram Ratings (Lanka) Ltd. The steady progress of CMA during the past 10 years is attributed to the importance of Management Accounting in business organisations, providing a business qualification, the affordability of the professional programme and its availability to urban and rural students.