ACCA Sri Lanka holds new member ceremony and Advocacy Awards

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Sri Lanka recently held its new member ceremony virtually, to celebrate the achievement of 225 new ACCA members attaining this milestone during the last two years. 

The ACCA membership is considered today as one that provides access to what is widely regarded as the profession’s most comprehensive range of career and professional development resources and opportunities.
Another key part of the event’s agenda, was ACCA, MESA (Middle East South Asia) Advocacy awards, that recognised those who have been using their membership to build the profession and inspire others. As such, the advocacy awards were not about career achievements but focused more on the ways in which members have given back to the industry and helped to develop the next generation of finance professionals the world needs. 

The selection process began with the nominees being asked to provide supporting evidence to show how they had demonstrated advocacy in action in a variety of ways from developing or supporting other members, sustaining and building ACCA’s reputation and leading the profession. The judging panel consisted of members of the ACCA Council.   

This winner for the year 2020 was Acuity Knowledge Partners Associate Director Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan, who bagged the National Advocacy award for Sri Lanka as well as the Regional Award,  putting Sri Lanka on the map and making her country proud. 

Member Network Panel Chairman Nandika Buddhipala stated, “Our members have been great advocates of the profession for a very long time in Sri Lanka, where they have utilised their knowledge and skills to positively impact the finance profession and we are immensely proud of each one of them.”  

Global President Mark Miller in his address emulated, “It is important for everyone to give back – to advocate for ACCA and the accountancy profession in the workplace, the  community and in your life and to serve as a living example of what it means to act ethically at all times, with the highest integrity and with a sense of the public good in all that you do. I believe that it is this commitment and values, which set ACCA members apart and makes ACCA the world’s leading accountancy body.” 

Paying tribute to the winner of the advocacy award for 2020 he stated, “Rathnakala has championed ACCA with so much dedication, vigour and imagination, speaking at so many universities, graduation ceremonies and youth forums and giving so much of her own time to help bright students whose first language is not English and striving to make sure that language is no barrier to their dream of a good finance career. Her work in building the profession in this country is inspirational. She sets down a wonderful example for others to emulate and she has my full admiration and warmest congratulations.”

Nilusha Ranasinghe, Head of South Asia for ACCA (Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh), giving a further insight into the awards explained, “ACCA has always had a robust mechanism to contribute to the advocacy agenda. Up until now, the ACCA Advocacy Awards have been awarded to one member in each country or region. However, with the vast amount of work being carried out by our committed network of members, from 2021 onwards, the ACCA Advocacy Awards will be used to recognise the contribution made by each and every one of those members. This year, 26 ACCA member advocates were felicitated. We believe that an integral part of our growth and international reach is these ambassadors that speak about the value that the ACCA qualification plays in changing lives and creating the strategic business leaders of the future.” 

ACCA will continue to work towards being regarded as the leading global body for professional accountants by reputation, size, influence and strive to be always on the pulse of what is happening globally and in doing so, ensure that their members have the tools to become visionaries and leaders within their respective companies. As such, the Advocacy Awards is an exemplary example of this factor. 

The ceremony was graced by a number of distinguished guests from leading organisations and top employers.