CMA Sri Lanka qualified management accountants deprived of applying for Government jobs

Following is a statement issued by CMA Sri Lanka on CMA Sri Lanka qualified management accountants being deprived of applying for Government jobs, contravening approval granted via 

Cabinet decision of September 2014

Recently there were two gazette notifications, one for the Recruitment to Grade III Sri Lanka Accountants Service as per Gazette Notification of 5 May 2018 published by the Secretary Ministry of Public Administration and Gazette notification 2071 published on 11 May 2018 in which the Auditor General has called for applications to sit for the Open Competitive Examination for Recruitment of Audit Examiners to Grade II of the Audit Examiner Service – 2018.

Surprisingly the professional qualifications recognised for application included for the recruitment to Grade 111 of Sri Lanka Accountants Service included foreign, Commonwealth Country and UK qualifications as given below:

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Commonwealth Country Chartered Accountancy qualification, Commonwealth Country Chartered Management Accounting qualification and Certified Chartered Accountants of UK qualification. 

Both these Government institutions have left out Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA Sri Lanka) qualification despite the Cabinet decision of 4 September 2014, depriving over 1,000 who have qualified at the Final and Intermediate/Operational level mainly from the outstations and rural areas. The students have stated that they have been discriminated despite the Cabinet approval to recognise the CMA qualification.

The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka is the National Professional Management Accounting Body in Sri Lanka incorporated by Parliament Act No 23 of 2009 coming under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Thereafter the official recognition for inclusion in the schemes of recruitment in Government undertakings, State corporations, State-owned companies and banks was granted by Cabinet of Ministers approval on 4 September 2014. 

The Secretary to the Treasury issued a circular on 21 August 2017 to all Secretaries of Ministries to comply with the Cabinet decision of 4 September 2014 and to include the qualification in the schemes of recruitment for accounting and finance related vacancies in institutions coming under them in line with the other local and foreign professional qualifications. 

As per the Cabinet Approval (no (ii)) of 4 September 2014, Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service, Sri Lanka Audit Service and Sri Lanka Audit Examiner Service had been given the approval to recognise the CMA Sri Lanka qualifications equivalent to the qualification of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and other foreign qualifications. 

But this Cabinet Approval has not been implemented by the Ministry of Public administration and Auditor General’s department as per the recently published gazette notifications. This has deprived over 1m000 CMA members and those who are fully or partly qualified to apply for such vacancies. Hence it is imperative to implement the Cabinet decision of 2014 and not to deprive locally-qualified management accountants to serve their mother country whereas foreign and Commonwealth country accounting qualifications are given recognition. This is despite the fact that the Secretary to the Treasury has implemented the Cabinet decision although done three years later. 

The recognition of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA Sri Lanka) as the National Professional Management Accounting body in Sri Lanka received full membership of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organisation for the accountancy profession. 

Founded in 1977, IFAC has more than 175 members and associates in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing nearly three million accountants and includes accounting bodies from Sri Lanka, UK, Commonwealth countries, USA, Australia and many others including CMA Sri Lanka. 

CMA Sri Lanka is also a member body of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), the professional accountancy organisation for the South Asian Region and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) the professional accountancy organisation for the Asian and Pacific Region.

CMA Sri Lanka is proud to be a Sri Lankan professional management accounting body which has received global recognition which includes as members CA Sri Lanka, CIMA UK, ACCA UK, CPA Australia, ICA England and Wales and many others.

A grave injustice has been done to CMA Sri Lanka qualified management accountants and part qualified accountants who are sons of the soil to apply for jobs in the public sector despite the Cabinet approval. 

Therefore we strongly suggest that the closing dates for these applications as per the gazette notifications be postponed and to include the CMA Sri Lanka qualification and re-gazette. 

Considering the grave injustice done to students from rural areas and others who cannot afford to sit for foreign qualifications, CMA Sri Lanka provides students to obtain a professional management accounting qualification at one-tenth the cost of foreign qualifications, save valuable foreign exchange going out of the country and is a body that has achieved international recognition and is greatly disturbed that it is not recognized in its own motherland despite the Cabinet of Ministers deciding to recognise the CMA Sri Lanka qualification in 2014 on par with other local and foreign qualifications.

Therefore we trust that the authorities will immediately implement the Cabinet decision of September 2014 as done by the Secretary to the Treasury and enable them to apply for the Government jobs which have already been Gazetted.