Seshani Gunathilake, on dreaming big to make it big, with CIMA
View(s):The CIMA Professional Qualification, launched in 1919, remains the world’s foremost professional management accountancy-related qualification. Combining management accounting, financial accounting and business-focused subjects, it continues to produce competent and confident CGMAs capable of leading their organisations to sustainable success. The qualification is the choice of many school-leavers looking to pursue a career in business because of how globally relevant it is. High achiever Seshani Gunathilake is one of many students who decided to pursue CIMA because of how it gives students and members the kick-start they need to soar to greater heights, on both a career and personal front.
Seshani completed the AAT Sri Lanka qualification in tandemn with her O Levels and on completing her A/L exams in 2012, decided to pursue the CIMA qualification with the aim of completing it at her earliest. A little background research on the qualification revealed that it was tailored to suit current global employment market needs. She commenced lectures at a CIMA College while simultaneously using the Kaplan Study Packs CIMA students have access to at the CIMA division library. She credits focusing on examination preparation and using the resources available to her on CIMAConnect from past papers, model papers, examiners’ comments and technical articles with helping her pass successfully.
Balancing university life with CIMA study is no easy feat yet it is an exceedingly common route many students seeking to pursue a career in business and finance take. Elaborating on her choice to do so, Seshani noted that the CIMA curriculum and her undergraduate studies shared common ground, with many core subject areas overlapping. The two, as a result, complemented each other.
Now a management consultant at BDO Consulting (Pvt) Ltd, Seshani was absorbed into the company’s permanent cadre on account of her possessing the CIMA Qualification. Given one of her primary service lines is to develop strategic business plans for prospective clients, she applies the skills and competencies she’s equipped with as a fully-fledged management accountant in her daily work.
What makes CIMA a cut above the rest is its focus on practicality. The qualification is designed to cultivate business leaders capable of shaping the future of the global business landscape, as opposed to simply creating high achieving students. This attribute has made the CIMA qualification the academic path of choice for business and finance students for decades on end since inception. Today, passing CIMA exams is largely thought to be a demonstration to employers of one not simply possessing the necessary knowledge but also of having the competencies and skills of a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). Students like Seshani Gunathilake who dream of making their mark in the business world are destined for career success.