Glaring mistakes in recent gazette published for direct recruitment to SL Accountants’ Service Grade III

BY Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala

The recent gazette for direct recruitment to Grade III of the Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service contains serious flaws, listing non-existent qualifications from certain Commonwealth countries, while excluding the locally qualified candidates from a professional body established by an Act of Parliament. As a result, over 1,500 eligible Sri Lankan accounting graduates have been unfairly denied the opportunity to apply for government accountancy positions.

It has been noted that certain accounting qualifications, non-existent in Sri Lanka, are included for the direct recruitment to Grade III of the Sri Lanka Government Accountancy Service on Professional Qualifications and Merit, appearing in the government gazette of May 16, 2025, which are as follows:

1.Commonwealth Country Chartered Accountancy Institute Final examination

2.Commonwealth Country Chartered Management Accountancy Institute Final examination

3.Institute of Chartered Certified Accountants Body Final examination

As per the recommendations made in the report by the Independent Expert Committee to Revise the Eligibility Criteria for Recruitment to Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service Grade III, appointed by the University Grants Commission, on the instructions of the Public Administration Ministry, set up to Revise the Eligibility Criteria for the Open Competitive Examination and Direct Recruitment to the Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service Grade III, the report stated that the members of the professional accounting bodies eligible to apply for direct recruitment to the Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service Grade III had recommended, including the Sri Lankan management accounting body incorporated by an Act of Parliament, which has not been taken into account, despite many letters and reminders sent to the Public Administration Ministry and Public Service Commission, over a period of three to four years. 

This report has also made recommendations to delete the entry criteria relating to the Commonwealth country chartered and management accountants and to revise them. However, without correcting them, the wrong qualifications have been included in the gazette notification, which is a matter of grave concern for the accounting profession, by not updating the outdated qualifications recommended by the Expert Committee Report. 

As a result, the non-inclusion of the professional qualification awarded by the local professional management accounting body incorporated by an Act of Parliament and approved by the Expert Committee Report for direct recruitment to Grade III of the Sri Lanka Accountants’ Service as per the gazette notice of May 16, 2025, this has shut out more than 1500 students, who are mainly from rural and village areas and have passed the final examination from the local management accounting body incorporated by an Act of Parliament.  

Hence, it is strongly recommended that the gazette notification of May 16, 2025 be corrected immediately and republished as a fresh gazette notification, due to the incorrect professional qualifications published as entry criteria for the Government Accountancy Qualification and to include the Final Exam Qualification and Membership of the Sri Lankan management accounting body incorporated by an Act of Parliament, instead of referring to the Commonwealth accounting bodies and other incorrect accounting bodies.  

(Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala, FCA, FCMA, FCMA(UK), CGMA, FCPM, is Founder President of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA), Chartered Professional Managers of Sri Lanka (CPMA) and Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL))