FT
Thursday Nov 07, 2024
Thursday, 28 January 2016 01:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shehana Dain
The outgoing CA Sri Lanka President Arjuna Herath on Tuesday expressed caution on the counter productive actions that are in the making by the Government which he said will slow the progress the accounting profession is making.
In his speech at the induction of the CA President 2016, Herath opined that due to lack of awareness about the accounting profession due status and appreciation is not given to local accountants who are on par with global standards.
“There seems to be missions and initiatives contemplated such as a proposal that has been bought to the table to create a separate professional accounting body for the public sector accountants. This new institution will be in addition to five accounting bodies operating in the country, with two of them legislated and three of them international foreign professional accounting bodies,” Herath opined.
Additionally he elaborated on a specific planned change of the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Act in the pipeline which could be disadvantages if executed. “There has been a change that has been proposed to the Securities and Exchange Commission Act to have a new reporting mechanism and an oversight role over the accounting professionals which will have implications on conducting audits in aspects of independence. The SEC wishes to create this role in addition to similar role performed by the existing oversight board The Sri Lanka Accounting Standards and Monetary Board,” he added.
As a solution to this Herath opined that “As the national accounting body needs to create the required awareness of the current status in relation to financial reporting and auditing framework legislations so that any shortfall in fulfilling expectations of stakeholders will be fulfilled using the current infrastructure institution and legal framework and legislation avoiding suboptimal solutions.”
CA Sri Lanka inducts new board with Lasantha at helmNew Board to focus on four core areas, emphasis on research support facility in areas of accounting and auditing
Lasantha Wickremasinghe was on Tuesday inducted as the 23rd President of CA Sri Lanka by outgoing President Arjuna Herath for a two year tenure along with Jagath Perera as Vice President in its new Board for 2016. |
Pivotal role for chartered accountants: Speaker
Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya who was the Chief Guest of the CA Sri Lanka Presidential Installation remarked that the Chartered Accountants should play a pivotal role in enhancing financial management skills in the public sector. |