The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA), in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), rang the market opening bell to commemorate the CMA Sri Lanka Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards, with the objective of recognizing and promoting integrated reporting among the publicly quoted companies.
The ceremony was attended by the CMA President, Professor Lakshman R. Watawala, Professor Ho Yew Kee from the Singapore Institute of Technology as the Keynote Speaker, CMA Vice President, Hennayake Bandara, Deshapriya Senanayake, Partner Tudor V. Perera & Co., Ms. Dharshini Watawala, Associate Director at PWC Sri Lanka, and senior management from CMA Sri Lanka.
The CSE was represented by the CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekera, CEO, Rajeeva Banadaranaike, and senior management.
Welcoming the invitees to the ceremony, CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekera, congratulated CMA for all the hard work put in over the last 23 years. “For us at CSE, we are proud of partnering with CMA, because we are a disclosure-based market and we believe in promoting the principles of integrated reporting is not just for companies itself or the shareholder, but I think its more for the general public and for all investors who trade to make the information more transparent. We look forward to this partnership, and we hope the bond between our two institutes will get stronger.”
Presenting his views on the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards, CMA President Professor Lakshman R. Watawala stated, “In addition to being a sponsor of the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards, CSE has been a supporting partner for a long time. We have been having experts from South Africa, Singapore, Australia, and many others, including our own experts, who have been supporting us, and we have been able to get independent opinions on the awards given. I would like to mention Professor Ho Yew Kee, who has been the Chairman of the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting judging panel for the last seven years, from its inception.”
“The main thing is that we are able to measure the value creation of companies. All stakeholders are looking for value creation, and in value creation, there are some important elements that we take into account, which are called the six capitals. In addition to the financial capital there is the manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship and natural/environmental capitals.”
The keynote speaker of the event, Professor Ho Yew Kee from the Singapore Institute of Technology, shared his views on the importance of integrated reporting. “CMA Sri Lanka was able to capitalize on the importance and adopt a very proactive step in adopting the integrated reporting framework because it believes that the integrated reporting at the end of the day provides a good framework to allow a company to signal the value creation. This is particularly consistent with what the CSE is all about: creating wealth and value. The integrated framework allows companies not only to be able to perform or show the financial statements, but to articulate the reasons, the contributions, the factors, the risks, and the opportunities in the value creation process.”
“I would like to highlight the five possible things concerning integrated reporting using acronyms. VITAL. V is all about value creation, which sits at the forefront of the entire integrated reporting process. I stand for impeccable information. It is a tremendous opportunity for the company to signal that information in an impeccable, accurate, and transparent manner. T stands for transparency, and we know based on the technology, it is very difficult for companies to sweep things under the carpet. So, the best defensive strategy is always to be transparent. The letter A is about accountability. A company needs to be very clear that they are accountable to the stakeholders, and the stakeholders can be represented by the six capitals. Finally, the letter L stands for leadership. If the company is able to do all of the above through the use of integrated reporting, it can establish itself as a forum and a leader in the space of the corporate world, not merely in governance but in value creation and by being a good global citizen.”
CMA Sri Lanka was initially established as a society in 1999 and launched in June 2000 based on the guidelines of international accounting bodies such as the Society of Management Accountants of Canada, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) of the USA, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which is the World Body for the Accountancy profession, and the Regional Management Accounting Bodies. Thereafter incorporated by an Act of Parliament in the year 2009 as the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka.