The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) – UK has suspended its local branch, the Sri Lanka Divisional Council, in a move that has stunned its 4,000 members and shocked the local community of accountants.
The UK-based organisation, which controls its Sri Lanka branch, said the suspension was taken on recommendations from an independent review.
This is the first time in the Sri Lanka chapter’s nearly 25-year history that the council has been suspended.
The executive committee of the Sri Lanka Divisional Council is elected by the council’s 4,000 members. Many members of the Sri Lanka council’s 19-strong executive committee have rejected the suspension move, saying the UK parent organisation was protecting the Sri Lanka chapter’s chief executive officer, Bradley Emerson, who is said to have had problems with the council ever since he took up his appointment here 18 months ago.
According to a council member the institute has had serious governance issues with Mr. Emerson, who is at the centre of the dispute.
Several complaints from the executive committee have been lodged with the UK body. One complaint was that Mr. Emerson had been reading the e-mails of the institute’s operations director, Aruna Alwis. Consequently, Mr. Alwis was suspended from the institute. Council members say Mr. Alwis’s suspension was “unprofessionally done”.When Mr. Alwis filed action in the Labour Courts, the UK council settled the case out of court. Mr Alwis is now CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
“There was no proper review,” said an irate council member. “The UK lawyer says there are governance issues, but that’s precisely what we are saying. The council member said the UK body had failed to act on many governance-related issues raised by Colombo over the past few months.
Gowrie Shankar, president of CIMA’s Sri Lanka Divisional Council, said she was shocked by the suspension move. “Mr Emerson has been preventing the council from carrying out its activities and supervising its affairs,” she told The Sunday Times.
When asked to comment, Mr. Emerson referred The Sunday Times to the statement from CIMA (UK).
Despite alleged problems with the local council, Mr. Emerson was recently appointed a CIMA regional director by the CIMA (UK) head office, with some overseas responsibilities in addition to his Sri Lanka duties.
The Sri Lanka branch has repeatedly claimed that Mr. Emerson has acted independently, without consulting the local executive body. The council alleges that Mr. Emerson had “exceeded his brief” on several occasions, including his suspension of Mr. Alwis.
In its statement, the UK council said a committee comprising at least three Sri Lankan council members will be appointed by the president and other honorary officers of CIMA (UK) to advise on matters pertaining to the Sri Lanka Divisional Council while the suspension is in place.
CIMA president Glynn Lowth was quoted as saying that CIMA's commitment to its Sri Lanka branch remained as strong as ever “However the well-established success of CIMA in Sri Lanka has been put at risk due to some failures of governance within the Sri Lanka Divisional Council and by a lack of adherence to CIMA’s global strategic goals and rules.”
CIMA members hold top positions in the local and international corporate world. The Sri Lanka chapter, said to be the global institute’s most successful overseas branch, raises 3 million sterling pounds a year in fees.
The crisis at CIMA Sri Lanka has been deepening by the day. On November 18, the council scheduled an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting to discuss the problems. The meeting came to an abrupt end almost as soon as it started when Ms Shankar said there was a “difference of views”, and brought the meeting to a close.
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