ACCA provides limitless opportunities for it’s students
View(s):ACCA has had the reputation of having opened many doors of opportunity not only in providing students with the technical skills, business insights and providing them the ability to build a fulfilling career tailored to their individual ambitions, but has also helped hone their hidden talents and leadership abilities.
One such individual is Devruwan Fernando, recently appointed as the current president of the ACCA students’ committee. Whilst being a Sri Lankan prize winner for the papers of Financial Reporting and Financial Management, he stated that his role has given him an excellent exposure to build on his leadership and soft skills, and also given him an invaluable opportunity to work with some of the leading corporate personalities in Sri Lanka; which gave him the opportunity to have an early start to build professional relationships in the corporate sector.
Devruwan Fernando
Citing some of the recent successful projects handled Devruwan said “As the Students’ Committee President, my main responsibility is to create platforms for the students to build on their professional networks while contributing to enhance their soft skills to complement the qualification. In such, my committee had the pleasure of organizing the ACCA Corporate Race for the second successive year. It was a great learning experience for us to work with some of the leading corporates that included Unilever, Ernest & Young, Amba Research, Brandix Mercury, Bread Talk and Grand Oriental Hotel. Since this was a unique competition, convincing the corporates alone was one of the many challenges we successfully overcame. It was also a pleasure to hear from all the participants about their learning experience from the competition. We are currently working towards the Students’ Conference to be held on 21st of September 2013 and look forward for the inaugural ACCA Toastmasters workshop in January 2014.”
Citing why he chose the ACCA qualification as the pathway to his career, Devruwan said the syllabus symmetry in ACCA, had a good balance of both financial and management accountancy. It also offered the Oxford Brookes degree , upon the completion of the end of the fundamental level of the qualification. He stated that this was a good balance in terms of ACCA being a professional qualification and the degree being an academic qualification. Plus, ACCA also had more international recognition as the best professional accountancy qualification, especially in the US, where similar qualifications have less recognition. Another contributor was the flexibility offered by the qualification, was a definite plus point.
Having started his degree at APIIT, Devruwan also followed ACCA simultaneously: since it is a flexible course of study allowing him to do even one paper or up to four papers per semester giving him the opportunity to balance both courses.
Talking about the challenging aspects of the ACCA qualification he stated “Well, ACCA being a professional qualification, the examinations are challenging, but are still achievable. I believe that’s what makes an elite qualification such as ACCA valuable. The rigor and coverage of the syllabus is well suited for the evolving business world. With commitment, dedication and effective time management, passing the exams become a simple reality. Employers recognize the value of such syllabus coverage and give you the edge required to top the list at an interview.”
Endorsing the tuition providers he studied with, Devruwan pointed out that he found these institutes had excellent panels of lecturers who were great in the subjects that they teach. The exercise questions and the mock exams conducted also gave support to apply the theory learnt in class. They also had friendly staff and conducive study atmospheres with good supply for study materials.
Referring to the benefits and support received from the ACCA Sri Lanka office he said they have given continuous support in terms of the examinations, the study materials in the library and the conducive study environment. They had also given him advice in terms of selecting the exam paper combinations. Moreover, he stated, ACCA Sri Lanka works closely with employers which has also given invaluable support to the students in terms of seeking suitable employment.
Outlining his ambitions, Devruwan stated that “With a qualification such as ACCA, the options are limitless, but in the short term I hope to gain experience in financial management and analysis, an area that I realized is more critical for today’s competitive business environment. In the longer term I would like to see myself in the top management of a multinational company, to be involved with strategy formulation and investment decision making.”
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