The CIMA Technical Symposium is considered to be Sri Lanka’s premier technical conference specially designed towards bringing together accounting and finance professionals to discuss and deliberate on pertinent technical issues.

Amongst the high profile speakers scheduled for this year’s conference is Jean Lowes who will present his paper on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). This paper will introduce the concept of Enterprise Risk Management, drawing a distinction with traditional risk management and ERM, presenting the ERM framework and benefits of Enterprise Risk Management. Further this session will focus on business impact analysis, Risk Assessment, Managing Risk at Strategic Level and Embedding Enterprise Risk Management into the Organisation.

Having received a degree in Economics from Swansea University and qualifying as an Associate member of Chartered Management Accountants, Lowes joined Reuters Ltd as a Management Accountant in 1985 and then Eden Vale Ltd in 1987 as a Distribution Accountant. In 1990, he received a MBA from the Cranfield School of Management and joined Safeway Stores Plc, as a Financial Controller. After which he joined the Abbey National Bank for a short period in 1992 as the Temporary Finance Manager. Lowes then took up the position of Financial Controller at The Boots Group. And for the past 10 years he has been Self Employed as a Consultant and Trainer. In the past, Lowes has Developed and delivered courses on Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance, Business Continuity Management and Key Performance Indicators for CIMA. Lowes is currently project managing a finance change project for a UK based bank

This year the symposium will be held on 15 February 2008 at the BMICH and is designed to address key issues arising in today’s business context that will be highly beneficial to members as well as business personalities ranging from the middle management to senior management levels encompassing CEO’s , CFO’s , and other business and finance professionals.