CA Sri Lanka’s 38th National Conference to focus on dynamism and agility in corporate leadership

• Three-day conference to attract over 1,500 local and international delegates
• CA Sri Lanka President insists professionals to support country achieve its exponential growth 
• Last year’s conference records highest participation of 1,658 delegates

By Charumini de Silva

Given the complexities and volatility, where businesses expected to become more dynamic and adapt to change continuously, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) will take the lead in promoting the importance for corporate leaders to embrace dynamism and agility at the 38th National Conference of Chartered Accountants in October. 

Titled ‘Dynamism – Agility in Leadership’, the three day conference scheduled to be held from 25 to 27 October at BMICH, Colombo will see both local and international speakers steer over 1,500 delegates to think out of the box and understand why it is increasingly important to incorporate dynamism within the corporate culture in Sri Lanka and also look at developing more agile leaders, who understand the importance of changing with time, to ensure sustainable and successful corporates. 

As a country that belongs to the fastest growing region, CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe insisted Sri Lanka too can take great advantage of this exponential growth. 

“Although we are a small nation, we have the potential to become a global player due to our strategic location in the world map. But, to reach this goal, we need leadership with proper vision. We cannot only expect Governments and policy makers to drive our country forward.  As professionals, we too have responsibilities to support this forward journey,” he told journalists in Colombo announcing the 38th National Conference. 

He emphasised that there is an increasing need to encourage agility across the broader spectrum, be it at a national level or corporate level. 

“Agility has been identified as an important factor that will drive a leadership to help achieve success, despite increasing volatility, uncertainty and complexity,” Wickremasinghe added.

Further on the technological revolution, he pointed it was a critical factor for businesses, professionals and corporate leadership to understand the need to adapt with time and stay relevant by being more agile and dynamic in manoeuvring businesses.  

National Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe asserted that there is an increasing need to see more agility and dynamism among business leaders, who also comprise of chartered accountants. 

“This year’s conference will shed important insights on why it’s important to create agile leaders, who know when to adapt, and change with times and more importantly be flexible and move away from archaic mindsets,” he added. 

Subasinghe said the national conference, is the perfect platform to help influence senior executives and business leaders, to understand the importance of an agile culture in an organisation as well the need to groom agile and dynamic leaders, who will not only enjoy individual professional success, but will also help their organisations progress.

Reflecting on last year’s conference it was pointed that the forum recorded the highest participation with a total of 1,658 delegates, which also included top business leaders. 

“An important factor at last year’s conference was the demand by non-members of the institute to participate in the conference, but due to limited seating capacity, we could not accommodate the ever increasing demand, and so we also offer the option of transmitting the conference live via webcast,” he pointed out. 

Outlining the rationale behind this year’s theme, National Conference Technical Committee Chairperson Anoji De Silva said as organisations grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to change faster as managers tend to confine themselves in their comfort zones.

“To break these barriers and constantly challenge the status quo, organisations will require visionary leaders, and agile leadership is the most critical because without an agile leader it is unlikely that an organisation can develop and inculcate an agile culture,” she explained. 

She further pointed that agility of few leaders in an organisation would be of no value if most of the other decision makers are dinosaurs, and hence this is where the culture of agility becomes so important to ensure the momentum of change continues. 

“To survive in this highly volatile and complex world, firms must demonstrate agility in fulfilling customer expectations, product design and enhancement, collaborative innovation and organisational structures. Leaders need to develop a level of organisational agility that matches the increasing level of change and complexity in their business environment,” De Silva said.

The theme of 38th National Conference was unveiled President Lasantha Wickremasinghe in the presence of CA Sri Lanka’s Vice President Jagath Perera, National Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe, National Conference Technical Committee Chairperson Anoji De Silva and Chief Executive Officer Aruna Alwis.