ACCA Council Members meet SLASSCOM to discuss developments in BPM sector

Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Council during their recent visit to Sri Lanka met with SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies) with the aim of having a better understanding of how the accountancy profession can support the growing BPM sector in Sri Lanka. Those present at the meeting were Deputy President ACCA Global Council Anthony Harbinson, ACCA Global Council members Lynne Hunt and Hemraz Hoolash, Regional Director ACCA Stuart Dunlop, Head of ACCA Sri Lanka Nilusha Ranasinghe, Business Development Manager Employers ACCA Sri Lanka Ruchera Jayawardena, Chairman SLASSCOM Madu Ratnayake, Chairman Emeritus SLASSCOM and Executive Vice President/Head of IT Sector John Keells Holdings Sujiva Dewaraja, CEO of Infomate Jehan Perinpanayagam, Director SLASSCOM and Senior Vice President Accenture Sri Lanka Virendra Perera, Director and Country Head of Copal Amba Research Chanakya Dissanayake, Director and CEO of Tellida Omar Fatha Rally, Business Development Manager of Orion City, Hariharan Padmanaban and Executive Director SLASSCOM Imran Furkan. Furkan in a presentation to the ACCA delegation stated: “Sri Lanka is listed among the top destinations for Business Process Outsourcing/Business Process Management. There are well over 300 medium and small sized companies which form part of the Sri Lankan IT/BPM sector. These companies compete well with global competitors. They enjoy a talented and enthusiastic labour force that is trained in diverse fields and the current environment is creating a good niche for the business. This is especially true in Colombo which offers a large labour force. Some of the areas that are focused on include the software services sector for the banking, financial services, telecommunication as well as the insurance sector. In addition to that the IT-BPM has already been identified by the government as a key force in growing outsourced businesses.” He further mentioned that large global BPM companies such as WNS, Accenture, HSBC and RR Donnelly had operations here in Sri Lanka, largely thanks to Sri Lanka’s World class infrastructure and extremely talented workforce. Also outlined in the presentation was SLASSCOM’s role in identifying potential start-ups and assisting them to build a substantial ecosystem as well as providing access to the best investors and mentorship. Furkan pointed out that this was specially the case in the outstation BPM’s such as those commenced in Mahavilachchiya and Seenigama that gave many opportunities for young people with great ideas to become entrepreneurs and work within their communities. SLASSCOM Chairman Madu Ratnayake said that local conditions and government policies provided an excellent environment for the BPM industry in Sri Lanka. He said it took less than 15 years to become the 5th largest exporter recording a 100% growth in workforce and 182% growth in revenue. Anthony Harbinson stated that he was impressed with the performance of this sector and added that this meeting has enabled the Council members to learn first-hand the kind of wealth of potential it offers. Stuart Dunlop also informed that to remain relevant it was important for those working in the finance related BPM’s to be well versed in areas such as sustainable management accounting methods, Islamic finance and IFRS. Nilusha Ranasinghe pledged ACCA’s support in providing well rounded and complete finance professionals to the industry.