New qualification by CA to recognise BPO as a profession
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, in a bid to address both issues of demand for more people and the high attrition rate in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, is gearing to launch a new professional qualification for the BO Industry, according to eminent Chartered Accountant, Arjuna Herath who was inducted as the 22nd President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka recently.
“This industry needs more people. Some BPOs want 3000 accountants. This is a large number. Also there’s high attrition as many don’t recognize the BPO as a profession. This is why we want to introduce a specific qualification in order to build this up as a profession,” he told the Business Times on the sidelines of a press conference on “Global Accounting Leadership” held by CA recently.
He said that Sri Lanka is known to produce accountants of exceptional ability of international standing having the capacity to serve not only the domestic market but international markets as well. “This is one of the key attributes as to why our country is a preferred
Arjuna Herath (right) being inducted as the new CA Sri Lanka President by outgoing President Sujeewa Rajapakse. Pic by Susantha Liyanawatte
destination for the BPO industry. In order to actively support the country to realize this vision of being the best outsourcing destination in the world, CA Sri Lanka with active participation of the industry body SLASCOM and the government policy making arm in this area, ICTA, will create professionals with the right skills and knowledge specifically required for this industry by launching a Finance and Accounting Outsourcing industry specific qualification.” In this process CA will recognize and reward, people and the corporate entities in the BPO industry in addition to building capacity within the industry. This will be launched in the third quarter.
CA will very soon announce a new revolutionary curriculum that will produce the 2020 Chartered Accountants, Mr. Herath said, adding this new curriculum meets with all the required international standards and it will meet the aspirations of all stakeholders which include students, their employers and industry and commerce at large. The new curriculum will ensure that the 2020 chartered accountants becomes a true partner in business and will create value, enable value, preserve value and report value.
Impetus to Regional Growth
“If this country is to prosper, regions outside Colombo need to quickly gear themselves to become very active economic centers.
Whilst government is doing their part in establishing super connectivity between cities through a great network of road infrastructure and air transport whilst providing other infrastructure requirements, we see the lack of trained human resources in these locations as a significant limitation that will arise for regional growth. In order to overcome this we will ensure that our students and the students of our sister institute – Association of Accounting Technicians have the opportunity to study, obtain training, and qualify at the locations they live so that they will not need to migrate to Colombo,” he said, adding that when this happens CA will produce accounting and finance professionals that will live and work in those locations facilitating others to do the same, enabling the required skills to be available in the regions.
At his inaugural address, Mr.Herath said that CA has ensured that the financial reporting burden on smaller and non-listed entities will be limited, by introducing separate accounting standards for the SME sector. “To ensure that the smallest of the smaller entities too would be able to effectively participate in the financial reporting process and for them to reap the benefit of accounting standards without much burden and hassle we will soon introduce an accounting standards for the micro enterprises.”
Audit environments have become very complex while the expectations from audit have become very demanding. “Consolidation among the Small and Medium Practices and twinning arrangements between Small and Medium Practice firms and the larger firms can add significant value to improve the viability and feasibility of performing effective audits. We will encourage consolidation and twinning arrangements among firms in relation to audits whilst practitioners could continue with other areas of practice as usual,” Mr. Herath said.
CA will soon announce the Chartered Accountant equivalent qualification supported by CIPFA of United Kingdom for anyone who wishes to specialize in public sector accounting and finance, he added.