CIMA's new competition to find Sri Lanka's best young business brains

The CIMA's new Corporate Business Leaders' Challenge will see teams of managers from companies in Sri Lanka battle it out in a new competition designed to test their business acumen. The first teams are due to compete in October this year, the organisation said in a media statement this week.

Companies will nominate teams of four managers with an accounting, finance and business related job scope. The managers will be sent a business case study. They will then present their responses on the case study in front of a team of judges before sitting for the case study exam in November. The judges will mark each team against competitors from South East Asia, Sri Lanka, Gulf Cooperation Council states and India. As the case study is part of the CIMA Professional Qualification which leads to the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation, entrants are encouraged to continue with the course and become a CGMA.

CGMA is the most widely held management accounting designation in the world.

It distinguishes more than 150,000 accounting and finance professionals who have advanced proficiency in finance, operations, strategy and management.

Following the launch of the CGMA designation in 2012, both CIMA and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) have come together to form the Association of International Cer t i f i e d P ro f e s s i o n a l Accountants. Operational since 1 January this year, the Association represents 650,000 members and students in public and management accounting.

Commenting on the launch of this competition, Venkkat Ramanan, the Association's Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific, said: "The Corporate Business Leaders' Challenge is a completely new type of competition, combining teamwork, vocational study, and a live- judged presentation. The aim is to help identify all- round business leaders who have the intelligence, communication skills and ability to withstand pressure needed to drive companies forward. We are looking forward to the first round of entrants."