SLID explores financial stewardship obligations of the board to shareowners

Financial stewardship and accountability is to adopt and follow good financial and risk management policies and engage staff or board members who have appropriate accounting and analytical skills. As a director, access to timely, accurate and readable financial reports with relevant and sufficient content to interpret the financial data presented is important. One must use what has been learnt from these reports and other sources to make good management decisions and plan for the future of the organisation. 

With this in mind, The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) is conducting a two day workshop on Financial Stewardship and Accountability scheduled for 26 and 27 November from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is one of the four parts of the SLID Board Leadership Director Certification program which is running its second intake for this year. Financial Stewardship and Accountability discusses four areas in detail. Module One: Financial Oversight examining the financial oversight role of the board. Module Two: Reporting discusses corporate reporting to share owners and other stakeholders. Module Three: Corporate Finance discusses the board’s role in corporate finance. Module Four: The Control Environment examines the board’s responsibility and informal controls.

Each module will be dealt with by a faculty which comprises of very senior, knowledgeable and well experienced business personalities. Module 1 will be handled by Manil Jayesinghe who is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK) and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He is the Head of Assurance/Senior Partner, Professional Practice Director, in charge of Banking and Financial Services practice of Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka, counting over 30 years of extensive experience. 

Sujeewa Mudalige, will deal with Module 2. He has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting practice and in industry in Sri Lanka and overseas, and currently serves as a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers – Sri Lanka. He has been a Partner for 15 years and is the Head of the Assurance practice in Sri Lanka, and a Member of the Leadership Team. He is a Past President of the ICASL and has served as a Commissioner of the SEC.

Module 3 will be addressed by Senaka Kakiriwaragoda who is the Managing Director, NDB Sephyr Partners Lanka Ltd., which is a private equity management company. He is an investment banking and capital markets specialist.  He has been a lecturer for Chartered Institute of Management Accounts (CIMA), UK exams over 12 years. He is also a visiting lecturer for MBA program conducted by University of Sri Jayewardenapura. 

Suren Rajakarier will deliver Module 4. He is Partner and Head of Audit of KPMG Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, ACCA and CIMA of the UK. He previously held the position of Head of Financial Services for the Middle East and Southern Asian region of KMPG. He is also the alternate Chairman of the Statutory Auditing Standards Committee set up under the statute. 

The program will include a series of practical, interactive sessions that will give the opportunity for participants to engage with each other. Identifying and discussing common concerns that come up in routine operations in a variety of industries, and establishing a shared vision for strong corporate governance, is one of the goals of this program. This also includes material specially designed for the course with exercises in the form of mock boardroom sessions that facilitates practical solutions to actual concerns, ensuring that a director is geared to tackle them as they arise in his or her role.

This program targets the current, aspiring and potential directors of companies. This is fully geared to making directors more effective by gaining greater understanding of the entire range of duties and responsibilities of the Boardroom. The program is designed by the materials developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Global Governance Forum and is recognised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lankan as an accredited program of the SEC for directors of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. 

To participate at this two day workshop on 26 and 27 November, please register early as seats are limited. For enquiries please contact 011-2301646/8 or email [email protected]. 

If you have missed registering for the first and second intake, you can always register for the third intake which SLID plans for early 2016 and will commence with the two day workshops starting with Part 1 on Corporate Governance in early February, Part 2 on The Board in mid-March, Part 3 on Strategic Leadership in early April and Part 4 on Financial Stewardship and Accountability in May. Each Part stands alone and can be followed in isolation or consecutively. SLID Members who follow all four parts will be awarded the status of Graduate Member SLID and could use the post nominal GSLID after his/her name. Do join SLID to enhance your performance as a Director and to stand out amongst your peers in the boardroom. Be sharper in the boardroom!