Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe underscored the need to establish a holding company to address complex administrative governance issues of public enterprises in Sri Lanka.
Wijesinghe was speaking at the launch of handbook on ‘Governance for Chairmen and Directors of Public Enterprises’. The event was held at the Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
“The introduction of good governance practices and effective accountability arrangements sets the tone of the organization and brings about financial discipline.
“Some of the public enterprises have complex administrative structures. Going forward; we need to address this issue.”
Noting that Sri Lanka has suffered heavy financial losses due to mismanagements of national carrier SriLankan Airlines and coal power generation projects, commissioned in Sri Lanka over the years, Wijesinghe said, “it is essential to adopt a platform of transparency to review financial performance of these enterprises.”
The Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka (APFASL), President V. Kanagasabapathy also speaking at the event noted that public enterprises still suffer from poor managerial efficiency and financial indiscipline, and this has an adverse impact on overall performance of these entities.
Accordingly, for any organization to run efficiently and ethically, Kanagasabapathy stated that it is imperative to maintain policy consistency and also carry out a ‘fit and proper test’ when appointing new members to the Board.
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