Huge opportunities for Lankan accountants in emerging BPO market

President of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (Australia), Leon Duval said Sri Lanka’s growing base of qualified accountants could be a competitive advantage in attracting business process outsourcing opportunities.

He made these observations during a recent visit to Sri Lanka, his 12th here, to conduct a workshop for a group of senior business managers on the latest developments in Strategic Management Accounting, a press release from the workshop organisers said.

“By enhancing financial literacy of non accounting business managers such as Marketers, Engineers and IT specialists, we can compliment the advantage that Sri Lanka already has with a large number of qualified accountants. There are many business process outsourcing opportunities which will require a combined knowledge of finance and other specialist skills,” pointed out Duval who was accompanied on this visit by Professor Janek Ratnatunga of Monash University who is also the chairman of the education committee of ICMA (Australia).

“Every year a large number of Sri Lankan accountants move to the Middle East, Maldives and other markets as Sri Lanka has already got a reputation for producing quality accountants. Why not further develop this already existing resource base to make an aggressive entry into the business process outsourcing market which is taking the region by storm? ” asked Prof. Ratnatunga.

Both specialists are conducting the 12th successive session of CMA finals in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, there are already more than 400 qualified ICMA (Australia) members, according to the local branch President Nalaka Godahewa.

Prof. Ratnatunga said they were not in competition with CIMA, ACCA or ICASL who are totally focused on producing accountants and primarily catering to school leavers.

“We are catering to a different need, where we help mid-career professionals and university graduates to gain a recognized financial qualification as a value enhancement, which will help pursuing their long term career goals.”
Duval said Sri Lankan professionals are of very high standard compared to most other countries.