CA Sri Lanka’s 41st National Conference set to navigate through ‘shattered norms’

The 41st National Conference which is dubbed Sri Lanka’s biggest business summit will be held from 02nd to 04th December 2020 at the BMICH, Colombo under the theme “Abnormal: Navigating through shattered norms.”

For the first time in its four-decade long history, this year’s conference will take on a hybrid format with a combination of traditional physical sessions as well as virtual sessions due to the prevailing COVID-19 global pandemic and due to the limited number of participants permitted this year at the venue.

Addressing a press conference organised to unveil the theme of this year’s conference, President of CA Sri Lanka Manil Jayesinghe highlighted that exceptional times such as these call for exceptional measures. “Sri Lanka is known for its fair share of man-made and natural disasters, but COVID-19 is perhaps the biggest challenge we are facing in our lifetime. Therefore, it is imperative that professional bodies such as CA Sri Lanka come forward to help navigate the professional community including Chartered Accountants through such unchartered territories,” he said.

Chairman of the Conference Committee, Tishan Subasinghe said, “I believe this conference will be an important platform to engage and assess the issues facing us all, and also explore solutions from the perspective of the accounting profession, how we can assist the corporate world to embrace the abnormal and create new and innovative businesses.

Chairperson of the National Conference Technical Committee, Ms. Anoji De Silva highlighted that despite the gloom since COVID-19, the pandemic has actually given many an opportunity to ‘redefine’ and come up with a new corporate culture which focuses on stakeholder capitalism and not just shareholder profit. “We must use the pandemic as an opportunity to redefine our values which will ultimately have a long-term sustainable benefit to all stakeholders,” she said.