Q: How do you define ‘building a better working world’?

A: Building a better working world is EY’s tag line. I believe that it’s one of the best tag lines to have at present as it focusses on three key elements: ‘Better Me,’ ‘Better Us’ and ‘Better Working World.’

The purpose is to develop outstanding corporate leaders who team with other outstanding leaders to deliver the best possible service to our clients and communities, to spur sustainable and inclusive economic growth for our economies.

Q: What is the Assurance Service Line – and what value does it offer?

A: The core skill of the EY Assurance Service Line is providing audit services.

EY Sri Lanka serves as the auditor for some of the most significant blue-chip corporates in Sri Lanka. We audit between 38 and 40 percent of quoted public companies and over 30 percent of specified business entities, which are regulated by the Sri Lanka Accounting & Auditing Standards Monitoring Board (SLAASMB).

EY Sri Lanka has 12 audit partners and around 800 professional staff to assist in providing high quality audit services. Ours is a multidisciplinary professional services firm, which gives us the advantage of having specialised resources as part of the audit team.

For example, digitalisation of a client’s operations requires us to audit the IT environment and IT application controls, for which we have specialised IT auditors.

We also have specialised tax, valuations and even forensic auditors who support our audit services. This gives us the advantage of providing high quality audits that promote trust and confidence in business and capital markets.

The firm is able to provide high quality audits by having the right multidisciplinary teams to address the most complex issues, using a proven global audit methodology and deploying the latest high quality auditing tools and technologies. Clients benefit from our sector and subject matter knowledge, as well as the latest insights from our work worldwide.

Q: Besides core technical skills, how does EY nurture its staff to network with industry peers?

A: EY’s senior professional staff is segregated into specialised industry segments such as Financial Services, Insurance, Diversified Groups and Growth Market, which gives them the required knowledge and confidence to be able to interact with industry peers. Business networking outside EY is encouraged and even rewarded during performance evaluations.

EY also has a best in class global learning curriculum that helps our staff to be relevant, and obtain the knowledge of current industry practices and issues. It also makes our professional staff valued professionals to be consulted by our clients and peers.

Q: How are EY’s audit services supporting industry leaders in driving transparency in various domains?

A: We do this by delivering high quality audits, which also support the right transparency and disclosures in the annual reports of our clients.

We’re also trusted business advisors to our clients and they consult us regularly on potential business transactions. This gives us the opportunity to help them clearly understand accounting and regulatory implications, thereby driving transparency and ethical behaviour in business.

We also conduct regular knowledge sessions for industry leaders on current issues to ensure that they have the required global insights and best practices.

Q: What role does EY play in the regulatory landscape and in maintaining quality standards?

A: Auditing a large number of specified business entities, we are subject to regular review of our work by the regulator. Along with the stringent quality standards of EY, this helps to maintain quality standards at their highest.

This year, we had quality reviews from an international team of EY reviewers and also SLAASMB.

We also implemented International Standards on Quality Management (ISQM) processes where both globally and locally, the processes followed by EY were documented and tested with a positive result.

Q: How is your journey at EY emblematic of how its workplace culture supports gender parity and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)? What benefits have you received from being part of the EY Winning Women network?

A: I joined EY as a trainee and ended up an Audit Partner. I realised early in my career that at EY, you are rewarded for performance and not gender or other factors. This encourages our young professionals to try their best.

My best mentors over the years have been my male colleagues and bosses at EY. We also have a very good gender balance with women and men sharing leadership positions at all levels including seven female partners.

The EY Winning Women network gave me the opportunity to interact with and learn from an amazing group of global women entrepreneurs who are supported by EY, and also introduce exceptional women entrepreneurs from Sri Lanka to this network annually.

We have seven Sri Lankan women entrepreneurs who are part of this network at present: Lakmini Wijesundera (BoardPac), Sandra Wanduragala (Selyn), Linda Speldewinde (Academy of Design or AOD), Jayomi Lokuliyana (zMessenger), Charitha Abeyratne Hettiarachchi (Saaraketha), Shiromal Cooray (Jetwing) and Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny (IAS Logistics).

This network and EY are always ready to help them in their journey to scale and grow world-class global businesses.

– Compiled by Yamini Sequeira
COMPANY DETAILS

Telephone: 2463500 | Email: eysl@lk.ey.com | Website: www.ey.com/en_lk