ICASL 'Leads a New Beginning' at 30th National Conference

The 30th National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) will be held on September 18 and 19 at the Water's Edge, Battaramulla.

The theme of this year's conference is 'Leading a New Beginning'. Chairman of the Conference Committee Sujeewa Rajapakse said, "This year's theme focuses on our situation today" we are today at end of possibly the worst financial crisis that we will see in our lifetime. At the same time our country has been rid of what was the single largest negative factor holding back economic progress for the past two and a half decades. World economic crisis or not, we now need to embrace this new beginning before us and start realising the opportunities that are 'apparent' as well as those that are 'not-so-apparent'. With renewed energy and the new mindset we need, we will be Leading a New Beginning that will create a new future of hope, opportunity and peace in Sri Lanka".

A much looked forward to event in Sri Lanka's corporate calendar for three decades, the main sponsors at this 30th National Conference are Hatton National Bank, John Keells Group, Sri Lanka Insurance, Sri Lanka Telecom and Tokyo Cement Group.

Chairman of the Technical Committee Channa Gunasekera said that a group of eminent and respected corporate personalities from overseas as well as from Sri Lanka will conduct the technical sessions over two days (September 18 and 19) and take participants through five main presentations.

The final session, 'Survive and Thrive' - is a Panel Discussion which connects all the topics that were discussed in the previous five sessions.

It looks at particle solutions to what the basics of running a good business are and what companies must do in an economic downturn, the best way to prepare for the upturn and how to balance the needs of the different stakeholders while doing all of this.

President of the ICASL Nishan Fernando said that as Sri Lanka's premier National Accounting Body, ICASL'S National Conference has been an annual platform for professionals to gather, deliberate and confer issues that go beyond the paradigms of reading and writing. 'For three decades, the ICASL's National Conference has added great value with themes ranging from economy, people's skills, accountability, governance and ethics etc being deliberated by eminent panels with an equally competent professional audience in an intellectually stimulating environment providing the much needed debate. This year the Conference has been transformed into a 'Leadership Conference' taking into consideration the multitude of areas in management that the ICASL Membership is involved in, as well as to cater to the growing need to bring professionals from all disciplines together for the betterment of the local economy. In addition, this conference also provides a conducive forum for networking, which is an invaluable tool in modern management', Fernando added.