ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the history of how management accounting has developed rapidly in Sri Lanka, from slow beginnings to becoming a very powerful profession in the country. In Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), the birth of the accountancy profession can be traced to two legislative enactments, the Income Tax Ordinance of 1932 and the Companies Ordinance of 1938, which had specific requirements in terms of the qualifications and registration of auditors. It could be said that management accounting as a profession started that evening, when Mr Hayhurst and Mr Furkhan met at Mr Hayhurst's office and decided to organize a meeting of all members of the ICWA(UK) who were resident in Ceylon. The CA(SL) Council signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Certified Management Accountants in Australia (ICMA(Aust)) to provide technical collaboration to conduct a course in the new area of strategic management accounting for CA(SL) members as well as members of other professional accounting bodies.
