As the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) announced at a well-attended event on 3 March the launch of its website for the Confederation of Asian Pacific Accountants Conference (CAPA) 2020 in October in Colombo, many members of CA Sri Lanka reminisced the decades-long association CA Sri Lanka, earlier ICASL, has had with the CAPA. The CAPA is by far the largest regional accountancy organisation; its geographical area spans half the globe and has a membership of 34 accountancy organisations in 24 jurisdictions. There was a time when Sri Lanka never won any election to the Exco of the 30-member body from 24 countries. The breakthrough was in 1996 when Ranel Wijesinha, then a member of the council, as the Chairman of the CAPA Bid Committee submitted a winning bid in competition with the Philippines, Indonesia India, Pakistan, and other countries. But Sri Lanka was not on the Exco. However, the Constitution of the CAPA provided that in the event the potential host country was not on the Exco, the host country shall be co-opted to the Exco. Thus, Wijesinha was co-opted to the Exco – a first for Sri Lanka. The next formal opportunity was the election of the much sought-after position of Deputy President of the CAPA. The ICASL nominated past President Ajith Nivard Cabraal who contested Carlos Alindada of Philippines in Seoul, Korea. But Cabraal lost the election. Also, regrettably, due to the repetitive bombs going off in Sri Lanka, the CAPA 2000 venue was changed to the second best bidder – the Philippines. However, one-and-a-half years after the Seoul election, there was an election for the Deputy President of the CAPA and this time, the council unanimously nominated Wijesinha out of respect for his winning the bid in 1996. The election was in Shanghai, China. Wijesinha had been elected convincingly – a first for Sri Lanka in its prior 40-year history. Wijesinha moved up to become the President of CAPA in 2000 and was inducted coincidentally at the CAPA Conference in Manila in 2000, the very conference we won but was moved out of Sri Lanka. Wijesinha served in this position till 2002. His message to the profession in April 2002, which is so very relevant even today, is reproduced below: “The demise of Enron will call for changes in legislation and regulation, not only in the United States, but also on a global and regional scale. These changes will (be) require(d) to be designed and implemented with the utmost urgency. More importantly, the changes will need to be practical and effective, if we are to regain the confidence of investors and employees. “The adequacy of skill and experience of boards of directors and effectiveness of governance structures and systems, which include audit committees, will increasingly be questioned. Accounting and auditing firms will be challenged to objectively review and strengthen their quality control procedures, to match professional knowledge and skill with complexities of assignments, and to demonstrate that they work with the highest levels of independence, objectivity, and integrity. The chief financial officers, corporate secretaries, corporate legal officers, and outside legal counsel will (be) require(d) to perform their roles with far greater professionalism and vigilance. But let me also add that those who monitor corporates from the outside, such as financial analysts, stock brokers and credit rating agencies, will (be) require(d) to strengthen their independence, deploy appropriate skills, and enhance the depth and breadth of their analysis, if they are to be respected by those who depend upon them. “In the aftermath of the East Asian Financial Crisis, western nations in particular and corporate leaders, regulators, scholars, and authors of the West were critical of the East and Southeast Asian nations, their statutory and regulatory systems, the auditing profession in these countries, accounting and auditing standards, and compliance therewith. Their criticism was liberal and in many respects justified. But what is more important, I think, is whether regulators, professions, and corporate boards of even the developed nations in the West are yet as vigilant as the global society inherently expects them to be. “One might argue, however, and quite correctly that systems and procedures, legislation, and regulation alone will not always be potent enough to prevent a major corporate collapse. A necessary ingredient then is ethics and discipline. Personal values and corporate values of the highest acceptable level must converge and become the driving philosophy by which we live and work. In essence, there has to be a restoration of values. I believe that it is possible to realise a vision of a far more respected environment of corporate values, professional values, and personal values. We would be naïve, of course, if we expect changes overnight, but I submit that we would be irresponsible if each one of us institutionally and individually does not incrementally and progressively work towards that desirable new frontier of superior business performance driven by good governance, simultaneously with a robust and respected profession driven by ethics and discipline. “Over time, the collective endeavours of business and the profession will contribute towards the sustainability of business, respectability of our profession, and stability of families and homes. The collapse of the economies of nations – such as what happened four years ago in East and Southeast Asia, or the collapse of corporates such as what happened in none other than North America a few months ago – can be disruptive. It can devastate what otherwise could have been only a continuation of a simple and less-than-extravagant lifestyle for many who are less privileged than those at the higher levels of governance, who are typically better cushioned to absorb the shock and disruptions these events bring. It is this segment of society that I particularly wish to identify and empathise with, since it is only through them that we realise the gravity of the implications of subpar professionalism or poor governance. “As a regional organisation, we must, together with our member bodies and on behalf of our 700,000-plus membership, work together with the other regional organisations in the Americas, Europe, and Africa, as well as with the IFAC (International Federation of Accountants), the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board), the IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), the multilateral funding agencies and regional development banks, and the UN and related bodies that are already working with the IFAD in order to collectively build a robust and sustainable future for business and the professions.” Let us all place this on the top of our agenda for the future.