CASL seminar on financial reporting

A program conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CASL) recently highlighted the importance of adopting quality financial reporting and governance for the benefit of an organisation and how it creates value to the owners.

The seminar which focused on the relevance of reporting externally and internally also identified commonly encountered 'sins' in reporting and the limitations in corporate reporting.

The two resource persons, Bachchi Samahon-Oumar and Richard Ebell discussed matters relating to fraud and the need for due diligence by an investor. They also touched on factors such as constraining regulations, while emphasising the important role of people and honest communication in good governance.

It was attended by directors, CFOs, general managers, finance managers, accountants, auditors and business consultants.

Samahon-Oumar shared a personal experience on the start-up stage of a company, creating value for shareholders and on the adequacy of financial information in public traded companies.

Ebell gave an overview on the lessons learnt from major frauds. He also shared his experience on essential elements of governance and how regulation must be effective.

Bachchi Samahon-Oumar has over 20 years experience in finance and management. He has worked at Syringa Networks LLC as Vice President and CFO for the past twelve years. Syringa owns and operates a state-wide Fiber Optic Network serving the telecommunications industry in the US States of Idaho and Utah.

Richard Ebell, a fellow of CA Sri Lanka and counts over 36 years of post-qualification accounting, commercial and general management experience.

He worked for Hayleys PLC for many of years, in finance and operations and was the Finance Director when he left the company in 2009.