"It is encouraging to see professionals from other fields of specialization showing greater interest in improving their financial literacy to be more effective in their chosen fields" says Mr Leon Duval, President of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia whilst sending his best wishes to a group of Certified Management Accountants who recently completed their program. "If you want to achieve the highest possible level in your career, nothing is more important than a sound knowledge of finance" Duval stressed. The 50 member group who graduated as Certified management accountants of Australia comprised of senior business executives from various disciplines of management including , bankers, engineers, HR professionals, marketers and of course accountants who want to pursue further studies in their chosen profession. The final 7 day qualifying workshop was organized by Imperial College of Business Studies and delivered by Professor Janek Ratnatunge of Monash University.
" CMA(Australia) is an extremely fascinating educational journey " says Imal. Fonseka, Managing Director of Hemas Manufacturing. Imal is professionally qualified in both marketing (CIM-UK) and accounting (ICMA-Australia). "Today's business is all about value based marketing. While we need to continue to delight our customers by exceeding their expectations, as managers we are also responsible for increasing shareholder wealth. When we started this program one year back, most of my batch mates including myself were already professionally qualified in marketing. We were holding very senior positions in our organizations. Yet the CMA(Australia) course gave us additional insight to ask the right questions at board level, see the overall picture and enhance our contributions in driving the organizational strategy" he added.
The philosophy of the Institute is to promote CMA as a value creating management discipline. Most of the well established financial courses take years of hard work to complete and therefore not the best option for a mid career professional. The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia now provides a solution to this problem with a unique opportunity for non financial managers to gain the essence of strategic financial literacy without spending years learning. The graduate management accountancy program of ICMA (Australia) is designed in such a way that a University graduate from a recognized University or someone who holds a recognized professional qualification in disciplines such as Marketing, Banking, Engineering, HR, IT or Legal can obtain up to 12 exemptions from the 18 subject course.
According to Mr Duval, ICMA (Australia) has offered the exclusive rights for conducting this program to Imperial College of Business Studies (ICBS). "This course transforms financial and accounting language and concepts into decision-making tools the non-financial manager can use successfully within their organization. We need to ensure the highest standards of quality when offering this program overseas and we have so for approved only on accredited institute in Sri Lanka" explained Mr Duval. The program is fast gaining popularity.
Within a short period of 3 years since introducing to Sri Lanka, 5 batches of students-all professionals- have enrolled for the program. The 6th batch targeting university graduates and professionals from non financial disciplines will commence in December 2008. Details can be obtained by calling Imperial College of Business Studies on 4891222/0777412009, or by visiting the web site www.icbsgroup.com . Imperial College is conveniently located just 50 metres away from the Bambalapitiya Junction.
Leon Duval - President ICMA (Australia)
|
E-mail