CA Sri Lanka where are you heading?

CA Sri Lanka, I still like to call it the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), was established under an Act of Parliament to produce ‘Chartered Accountants’ in this country. Hence it is obvious that the core objective of the institute is to produce quality Chartered Accountants.

Over the recent past, this institute has diverted its attention to other areas in a bid to venture into potential moneymaking avenues. The ICASL has started awarding memberships and titles to the Association of Public Finance Accountants (APFASL), Certified Business Accountants (CAB) and degrees in Applied Accountancy, the latest of which confers the title of ‘Certified Finance and Accounting Specialist’, neglecting its core objective. 

The ICASL is there to produce high-quality Chartered Accountants and not half-baked Accounting Mechanics awarded certificates and titles under the ICASL, thereby degrading the esteemed position of the institute and its members. 

These other activities should be handled by other organisations like technical colleges and universities. 

In this regard, promoting a second level of accounting personnel by setting up the Association of Accounting Technicians was a right move.

On the other hand, the ICASL is neglecting its core objective of moulding and producing quality CAs. The mission statement of the institute is “to be the most sought-after qualification for business leaders.” As a very senior Chartered Accountant holding a top finance slot in a large private sector group, I am ashamed and saddened by the absolute poor quality of the CAs that are being produced today. It is a very sad plight that most of them are not even employable. 

When I say not employable I mean that they are not employable in the positions that they should be employed, but are nothing but glorified bookkeepers who can pot around a computer but would not be able to stand up to the challenging demands of the profession.

Their ability to communicate is negligible at times. 

The ICASL is engaged in a process of “manufacturing under outsourcing” chartered accountants without any quality controls and checks and the resultant products are of a very poor standard. 

On a number of occasions I had to recruit CIMA or ACCA members since our young CAs did not measure up to anywhere near expected levels. Sadly, whenever you advertise for an accounts clerk, out of the hundreds of applicants, more than 85% will be those who are sitting for Chartered Final Level examinations, or those who have completed the final level examinations. 

This clearly amplifies the fact that the ICASL is producing unemployable numbers without quality. This is a result of opening the floodgates for students without initiating a proper process of strict intake selection. The process of elimination should be at the intake level or else ICASL will end up producing half-baked accounting mechanics who will be a frustrated lot. 

This reminds me of a story related to me a few years ago by a member of the institute. According to him the colloquial Sinhala word ‘Charter’ has come about due to the opening of the floodgates of ICASL, when every other person on the road was registering to do ‘Chartered’. Most of them when asked what they were doing used to say, “Mama Charter karanawa.” What a tragedy.

I appeal to the President and the Council of the ICASL to take a serious view of the affairs of the institute. The impressive buildings and the bottom line of the financials are of no use sir if the institute cannot produce members as per its mission statement, members who can hold their heads up high with confidence and take up challenging positions.

A senior Chartered Accountant