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Financial Times News
Chartered
Accountants of SL and India host mega event As part of
the initiative, the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of India
and Sri Lanka will organise a historic joint conference to be held
in Colombo in October, the ICASL said in a news release. This inaugural
conference on the theme 'Interest of the Public and the Accountant'
commencing on October 5, will be inaugurated at the auditorium of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants by Minister of Commerce and
Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake. The inauguration will be followed
by technical sessions on October 6, at the same venue. The two institutes
have formalised their cooperation with a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) on joint initiatives. Explaining the rationale behind this
MoU of the two institutes and the inaugural conference, Vice President
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Joint
Chairman of the inaugural conference Indrajith Fernando said: "The
alliance of two premier bodies in the accountancy field will immensely
benefit professionals and students as the knowledge and expertise
of accountancy professionals in the two countries could be utilised
to gain a competitive advantage at the Asian and the international
level." Arjuna Herath,
Chairman of the Technical Committee of the inaugural conference
said that four experts in their respective fields will make presentations
on the latest developments in areas which pose challenges to the
accountant of the 21st century. W.A. Wijewardena,
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Chairman of
the Sri Lanka Accounting and Monitoring Board will make his presentation
on 'Financial reporting frauds - a hidden monster'. Dr. Ashok Haldia,
Secretary the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)
will speak on the theme 'Case for a single financial reporting framework
and convergence'. Other speakers include R. Bupathy, Vice President
of ICAI and Lakmali Nanayakkara, Partner of Ernst and Young. The
conference programme includes a panel discussion involving the audience
and several eminent panelists. Right of reply 'BOC profits up, investors lose' Commenting on the letter published in The Sunday Times Business on August 11 under the above caption, Ranjit Athukorala, Bank of Ceylon's AGM (International) has written in to clarify the issue. Here are excerpts from his letter: "The Bank
of Ceylon accepts foreign currency fixed deposits and pays thereon
for periods defined in days (i.e. 365 days, 90 days and 30 days)
in computerised branches and periods defined in months (i.e. 12
months, six months, three months and one month) in non-computerised
branches. A fixed deposit
accepted in a computerised branch for 180 days, matures on completion
of that period and not on completion of six calendar months. The
interest is calculated for 180 days. A fixed deposit
accepted in a non-computerised branch for six months matures on
completion of that period and interest is calculated accordingly. We can assure
depositors that they have received due interest from the bank for
the periods for which they have placed the deposits and that they
are not deprived of their due returns. However, if interest has not been paid to the writer by the Bank of Ceylon for his NRFC deposits on the basis listed, the writer can contact me at the international division in Fort. Immediate action will be taken to make amends if our investigations reveal that he has suffered a loss due to erroneous calculations by our staff." Sri Lanka's solar power gets global boost By Thusara Matthias Sri Lanka's highly-successful solar power programme received much exposure at the global summit on sustainable development in South Africa recently, according to an industry spokesman.
"In
Sri Lanka, 20,000 families received new solar home systems that
were installed within two-and-a half-years under a World Bank and
GEF project with the help of private companies and a local micro-finance
institution," noted Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President
of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Managing Director,
World Bank Group, speaking at the launch of the Global Village Energy
Partnership event in Johannesburg. The project,
pioneered by the private sector, is considered the most successful
power project funded by the World Bank, Pradip Jayewardene, President
of the Solar Industries Association of Sri Lanka, told the Sunday
Times. The Energy
Service Delivery (ESD) project now into its second phase is called
the Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development (RERED). Under the extended
project, plans are underway to provide electricity to 85,000 houses
in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Ampara and Kurunegala
districts. Jayewardene said that with the new goal of the government
to provide electricity to 85 percent of the population from 59 percent
currently, solar power and other alternative energy sources are
some of the ways in which this target could be achieved. Industry officials said that four companies participated in the first ESD project but there are eight companies working under the RERED scheme. Business mission to New York with Prime Minister The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) the premier forum for business in the island in association with the Sri Lankan government, the Board of Investment and the American Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka, in an initiative to leverage global partnership interests of international companies at multinational and Small and Medium Industry level, has organised an investment promotion and technology transfer mission to New York. The mission
consisting of some of Sri Lanka's leading businesses personalities
will be leaving Colombo this week, according to a chamber statement.
"In the wake of the upcoming peace negotiations and the improved
investment climate the mission is considered to be well timed. The
delegates from Sri Lanka will be meeting potential US partners between
September 18 - 20 to assess options of promoting joint ventures,
investments and technology transfers to Sri Lanka," it said. The private sector delegates are as follows: Tilak de Zoysa, Chairman - CCC, Deva Rodrigo, Vice Chairman - CCC, Ms. Alikie Ismail, Senior Assistant Secretary-General/Financial Controller - CCC, Mano Selvanathan and Chandima Gunawardena - Carsons Cumberbatch, Vivendra Lintotawela - John Keells Holdings, Nimal Cooke - Maharaja Organisation (Projects), Mahesh Amalean - MAS Holdings, Ashroff Omar - MAST Lanka, Tony Weerasinghe - Millennium IT, Prema Cooray - Aitken Spence, Abbas Esufally - Hemas Holdings, Ajith Gunawardena - Colombo Stock Exchange, Ravi Corea - Elephant Walk Thru, Roshan Motha - General Engineering, Faiz-ur Rahman - Greater Colombo Transit Co, Susantha Pinto - Infotechs, Arnold Perera - Sierra Networks, Sanjeewa Wickremanayake - East West Information Systems, Zarook Marikkar - Interlink Group, M. Indika Silva - Samson Silva and Co, Graetian Gunawardena - Hands International, S. K. Gandhi - Mercantile Corporation, Sriyan Gurusinghe - Colombo Stock Brokers, W.G.B.M. Ranaweera - Blue Diamond Jewellery Worldwide, Martin Berry - Associated Universal, Ajith Dias - Jewelknit, Gamini Wickremasinghe - Informatics, Kolitha Ratwatte - Lanka Online, Ravindra Pitigalage - Lanka Transformers and K. R. Ravindran - Print Care Ceylon. Ernst & Young Sri Lanka marks 95 years Ernst and Young Sri Lanka, which began its accounting practice under the name of Ford & Co in 1907, completes 95 years of service this year. Having begun
as an all-British partnership, it later changed its name to Turquand
Young and Co and admitted its first Sri Lanka partner in 1961. By
1966 all the resident partners of the firm were Sri Lankans. Following successive
mergers Turquand Young and Co evolved into Ernst and Young. In 1995,
Ernst and Young Sri Lanka expanded its services to the Maldives
with a branch office in Male, according to a statement from the
company. To mark the
95th anniversary of Ernst and Young in Sri Lanka, the company's
Far East Regional Board meeting was held in Colombo on September
14. Among the participants were the head of Ernst and Young China
and Hong Kong, Anthony Wu, who is also the chairman of the Far East
Regional Board of Ernst and Young, John Harvey, who represents Ernst
and Young Global for the Asia Pacific region and the managing partners
of Ernst and Young practices in the Far East Region. Ernst and Young International is one of the third largest accounting firms in the world with 105,000 professionals in over 670 locations in 130 countries worldwide. |
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