Dr. Senaka Kelum Gamage and H.M.W.C. Bandara exchanging the MOU renewal documents

Plans are afoot to enroll taxation officers to the fifth batch of the Master of Business Administration degree programme in Taxation (MBAT) of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM). 
For its initiation an MOU was entered into between the PIM and the Inland Revenue Dept. (IRD) in 2015. Upon expiry after 6 years, a renewal of the said MOU has been signed on September 22, at the IRD, and the two signatories were Dr. Senaka Kelum Gamage, Director, PIM, and H.M.W.C. Bandara, Commissioner General Inland Revenue. Champa Weerasinghe, Deputy Commissioner General of Inland Revenue and Jayantha Newunhella, Consultant Specialized Programmes have signed as witnesses. 
This programme has been structured with the objective of enhancing the managerial and taxation administration competencies oftaxation officials, as this move is envisaged to uplift the overall administration of the IRD. Since this degree programme is linked to the current promotion-scheme of the IRD, the qualification will serve as a means towards the carrier development of the targeted officers.
Further, this specialized programme while buttressing the already acquired skills and competencies, will serve as an entry-level qualification to further their academic studies in Taxation. It is, thus, a shot-in-the-arm towards their much-desired career development.    
The culmination of the programme is the need to complete a project which involves identifying, analyzing  as well as developing a study-framework to resolve a tax-related problem, and  providing a cost-benefit analysis including recommendations and a plan of action for implementation. Thus, the programme, is a fine blend of theory and practice of IRD and allied subjects.