IFAC President visiting Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is to host International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) President Fermin del Valle and CEO Ian Ball on January 15 and 16 under the aegis of the four accounting bodies present in the country and on an invitation extended by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), one of the four regional bodies of IFAC.

Seen here Indrajith Fernando (right) with Fermin del Valle, President IFAC at the Annual Meeting of IFAC in Auckland after his appointment as a member of the IFAC Developing Nations committee.

The Association of Accounting Technicians Sri Lanka (AAT), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Sri Lanka (ACCA), CIMA Sri Lanka and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) are jointly organizing a CEOs Breakfast Meeting and Technical Forum on Tuesday January 16 with the IFAC President as Keynote Speaker and the CEO too addressing the forum, a press release from the local organizers of the event said.

The Technical Forum themed ‘The Evolution for Reporting for Economic Development’ will also have a host of other experts addressing timely issues in this era of convergence in financial reporting. The topics include a Regional Perspective on Enterprise Governance by Aubrey Joachim, IFRS Challenges : Developing Nations and SME Perspective by Anushya Coomaraswamy and Challenges in dealing with Fraud, Corruption and Money Laundering by the Vice President of SAFA Syed Md Shabbar Zaidi. CEO of IFAC Ian Ball is billed to present his views on the Importance of Governance and Reporting in the Public Sector. The Technical Forum concludes with a panel discussion on Corporate Governance, Regulation, Poverty Alleviation and Capital Market Development in South Asia.

AAT, ACCA, CIMA and ICA are all members of IFAC, which is the worldwide body for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. Representing 2.5 million accountants worldwide drawn from 155 members and associates over 118 countries, through its independent standing-setting boards, IFAC sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education and public sector accounting standards while imparting the necessary guidance to ensure high quality performance within the accounting profession.

Meanwhile Indrajith Fernando, ICASL’s immediate Past President takes over as President of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) from February.

Fernando has been a Professional Accountant in Business for over 18 years and is currently Director and CEO of the Financial Services conglomerate Bartleet TransCapital Limited.

Fernando is the fourth Sri Lankan to be elected President of SAFA, which is one of three apex bodies of SAARC and one of four regional bodies of IFAC.

SAFA has also announced the appointment of Syed Mohammed Shabbar Zaidi Past President ICA Pakistan as Vice President, Sunil Goyal Past President SAFA and ICA India as Advisor and P B Munesinghe Director ICA Sri Lanka as the executive Secretary for 2007.