CMI, KPMG to unravel today’s intelligent finance function

Monday, 11 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The finance function of the future, and indeed of today, must go beyond its business-as-usual financial reporting role to become a provider of intelligence that business units can depend on when making strategic decisions, and that’s exactly what organisations are calling for today. In an effort to even better understand the dynamics of creating an intelligent finance function, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) – UK’s Sri Lanka Branch, has announced a knowledge sharing event organised in association with its exclusive knowledge partner, KPMG in Sri Lanka.

The event captioned ‘Being the Best: Inside the Intelligent Finance Function’ will bring together corporate leaders to discuss how leading finance functions have streamlined their traditional finance processes and are already playing a valuable strategic role in the business. KPMG International’s global survey of CFOs provides insight on the current state and future aspirations of finance functions and how things have changed since 2011. The survey comprising approximately 440 CFOs and senior finance executives in 15 countries, shares opinions on how finance functions are adapting to emerging business challenges.

The event will feature a presentation on the topic by Dulitha Perera, Partner – Risk & Management Consultancy, KPMG in Sri Lanka, followed by an interactive panel discussion. The panel discussion will be moderated by Reyaz Mihular, Managing Partner, KPMG in Sri Lanka joined by an eminent panel of corporate leaders and professionals comprising Nandika Buddhipala, Chief Financial Officer, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Saiful Islam, Vice President – Finance & Control, Nestlé Lanka PLC, Shiromi Rajendra, Chief Executive Officer, Legato Ltd. – MAS Holdings, Dirk Pereira, Chief Executive Officer, Union Assurance PLC, and Rajesh Surana, Vice President, Finance & Controls, Holcim Lanka Ltd. Commenting about the event, Varuna Ratnaweera, President of CMI’s Sri Lanka Branch, said: “As the leaders of today’s finance functions continue to work hard to add value to the business, their biggest challenges lie, in continuing to deliver traditional finance outputs while at the same time redeploying their limited resources to enable higher-value business decision support activities. Thus the objective of the event is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the finance function and its challenges, going beyond the obvious to describe how organisations can drive tangible improvements in their quest to develop an intelligent finance function.” The event is to take place on Tuesday 19 August from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the JAIC Hilton Colombo. For further information and registration please contact CMI on 0710676600 or Ushani on 0115 426428.