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We produce thought leaders to the nation. Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) has been in the forefront in breeding such leaders with character and competence. They are equipped with cutting-edge knowledge and complementary skills needed to perform in both private and public sectors alike. In producing them with clarity and commitment, PIM has always been a centre of excellence in management education with its wings spreading beyond Sri Lanka.

Excellence is all about being exceptionally good. When applied to enterprises, it involves exceptional achievements in a consistent manner. That’s what PIM is proud of being a self-financed, semi-autonomous public entity. Now the time has come to expand our reach, regionally and globally through research and teaching. The leadership of PIM has been entrusted with another generation. Adhering to best practices with appropriate use of technology is the way forward in ensuring enhanced quality and relevance in all our initiatives. PIM will continue to produce value in practicing values, as the nation’s school of business.

We strive to continuously improve all our programs. MBA-T is the newest experience provided by the PIM. It will initially cater for the Department of Inland Revenue. The increasingly competitive world now demands not just to “be an MBA” but “being brilliant as an MBA”. We believe in facilitating holistic

learning with quality and relevance. In doing so, we transform more practitioners to mega professionals who will have global presence with local pulse. That’s why we offer an enriching learning experience in igniting human imagination.

Dr. Ajantha S. DharmasiriDirector and the Chairman of the Board of Management

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As the pioneer of advanced management education and training in Sri Lanka, the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) has continued to serve the business community and the state for over 25 years. As a semi-autonomous body affiliated to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, it is governed by a Board of Management consisting of representatives from business, the professions and government. PIM is the only university institution in the country which is self-financed. PIM’s core degree program, the Master of Business Administration (MBA) attracts, hundreds of young managers annually, and provided the most challenging learning opportunity in management in Sri Lanka.

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The Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) is pleased to announce a significant addition to its range of signature programs. This is the freshly designed Master of Business Administration in Taxation (MBA-T).

The aim of launching of this program is to enhance the managerial capabilities of the officials of the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka (IRD) and in turn contributing to the better administration and higher performance of the IRD. Further, this qualification will serve as a requirement for those officers’ carrier development in the IRD.

It will broaden the academic horizons of young graduates for whom the proposed program will serve as an entry-level qualification for advanced academic studies in taxation such as international professional taxation educational programs. This will also serve as an aid for career change and the progression of the recipients.

On completion of this program including submission of the Management Skills Project Report or Management Research Project Report mentioned under MBAT 518 and MBAT 519 respectively, in this brochure, participants will be accommodated in a special educational program in a foreign country as agreed upon with the IRD, details of which will be declared in due course.

Further the recipients will be able to demonstrate critical awareness of fundamental and advanced aspects of taxation and related functional disciplines and apply relevant techniques in their roles as managerial professionals of the IRD. They will also deal with complex taxation and related issues systematically and make sound judgments and communicate decisions clearly. The whole process, in fact, would enable them to project professionalism in taxation and related functions, in carrying out their official duties with the public.

The program will focus on four key areas of study:

• Preparatory stage

• Management

• Taxation

• Applied Project

The participants must earn a total of 60 credits by way of course work, comprehensive evaluations, and a skills/research project to be in compliance with Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF) exit level 8 requirements.

Who should apply:This specialized MBA-T caters for those who are involved in taxation at operational and policy levels. Although the initial focus is on the Inland

Revenue Department, the program is geared to meet the competency requirements of the general public as well in the near future.

Basic Program Entry Criteria:To be eligible for admission to the MBA-T program, an applicant shall possess one of the following qualifications.

i. A Bachelor’s Honours Degree (SLQF 6) with at least a second class (lower division) standing from a recognised university.

ii. A Bachelor’s Degree (SLQF 5) with a first class or second class (upper division) standing from a recognised university.

iii. A Bachelor’s Degree (SLQF 5) from a recognised university with three year post-qualifying experience.

iv. A Bachelor’s degree (SLQF 5) in taxation or management studies from a recognised university.

v. A Postgraduate Degree of not less than 18 months or Postgraduate Diploma not less than one year in taxation or management from a recognised university with the experience of two years.

vi. A Postgraduate Degree of not less than 18 months or Postgraduate Diploma not less than one year in

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any other field from a recognised university with post-qualifying executive level work experience of two years.

vii. Any other individual who is nominated by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, subjected to the PIM acceptance in the Merit Admission Category.

The Curriculum:Term 1: (Preparatory Term)

MBAT 500: Integrated Course in English (Preparatory Course- 2 credits)

English language and, for that matter, any language, needs to be in constant touch to gain confidence in its correct usage. This means that we should be on a continuous journey to master a language. It becomes truer in our use of English. The more we hear, the more we read, the more we write, the more we become competent and confident in the use of a language. As we miss most of these opportunities due to our involvement in day-to-day activities, it is but natural that there is a gap between the level of competency in the English language we aught to have and the level we have reached. In this sense everyone is and should be a learner, as all living languages, more importantly English is changing pretty fast, in both colloquial and written versions, mainly due its unlimited adoption in almost all our activities.

It has, therefore, become a necessity to acquire a higher level of competency in English. Especially the course of study the applicants have selected would become much easier if our competency in English reaches the expected level.

MBAT 501: Professional Communication (Preparatory Course- 2 credits)

This module deals with key concepts of communication, isolating principal elements of a process that have to be dealt with individually. Thus, it will examine the best techniques of generating widespread information, drafting administrative circulars, drafting cabinet memoranda and observations, conducting effective meetings, writing purposeful minutes and holding productive negotiations. These objectives will be pursued through exercises that will be conducted to help students to initially summarize passages, in their own words and later to organize thoughts to write short essays. Oral presentation skills development will include also the appropriate use of power point presentations.

MBAT 502: Basic Economic/ICT Concepts (Preparatory Course- 2 credits)

Lack of exposure to basic economic concepts has seriously hampered participants in absorbing the substantive courses, which are aimed at teaching development administration. This handicap has been reflected in the poor performance of participants, particularly at the exams on macroeconomics. It is unavoidable that an effective program on Taxation in the new paradigm, has to deal extensively with macro and microeconomic concepts. This module will aim at providing basic knowledge of economic categories that will be dealt with in detail later under the respective modules. For example, participants will be exposed to the concepts of opportunity costs, marginal utility, prices and incomes, factors of production, supply and demand elasticities, average and marginal costs, consumption, savings and investment, and economies of scale, to name a few.

Similarly, a fair knowledge of the basic ICT modules such as Word, Excel, Database and MS Project are required. In addition, the online IT support available at the PIM by way of its Learning Portal (Prajna) and other IT platforms will be introduced in this course. This part of the course will be conducted in the IT laboratory at PIM for the participants to be exposed themselves to an actual practical environment.

Term 2:

MBAT 503: Macro Economic Framework (Management Course-2 credits)

Development promotion and impact assessment require a good understanding of macro-economic variables. Indicators such as GDP growth, balance of payments position, budgetary out tern, inflationary trends, as well as exchange rate and interest rate changes reflect public policy and management. Even those who are solely engaged in service delivery functions such as issuing of licenses and permits contribute, at least indirectly, to these variables. In any case, the whole system of development planning, including at the sectoral, project or regional levels, is based on the framework of macro-economic variables.

MBAT 504: Managing Organizations (Management Course – 2 credits)

Managing Organizations is all about achieving results. The module on the Role of the Public Service sets out the kind of results the public service is called upon to achieve. To do so, in the context of the current challenges of development, public service management has to be more proactive. Even though the objectives are somewhat different, there is a lot

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that could be learnt from the private sector which is constantly in search of innovation to achieve higher productivity. This module focuses on decision-making processes, time management, delegation of authority and managing change.

All public servants will have to acquire a clear appreciation of the vision and mission of public administration - the role of the public service in the new management paradigm. This role has shifted over the years from the Weberian, bureaucratic model to the proactive development promotion model. Public servants need to understand that their role is to ‘steer’ rather than ‘row’, for which the principles of good governance need to be adhered to, not so much for their ethical values, but crucially, as a technical requirement.

MBAT 505: Taxation Legal Framework and Policy (Technical Course- 2 credits)

In general, the basic legal framework calls for taxation according to the rule of law. The fundamentals of this framework are that:

i. A tax can be levied only if a statute lawfully enacted so provides,

ii. A tax must be applied impartially, and

iii. Revenue raised by a tax can be used only for lawful public purposes, not for the king’s private ends.

The rule of law contemplates that these principles will be enforced by independent courts. The role of the courts is often referred to in this course. In some developing and transition countries, however, the judicial system does not, for various reasons, effectively fulfill its role. This is a substantial impediment to the rule of law in tax matters.

In addition to these very general principles, the power to make tax laws is subject to several types of legal limitations. Their sources include;

i. Constitutional or other basic legal principles underlying an organized society

ii. International agreements

iii. Interpretation of the tax laws by the courts

iv. The general framework of civil law and public law,

v. Commercial Law and

vi. The political structure of the country.

Tax laws must be drafted in the context of this legal framework. This course reviews the principles underlying this framework in general terms and on a comparative basis.

Term 3:

MBAT 506: Public Finance and Fiscal Policy (Management Course – 2 credits)

The prime objective of this module is to impart the necessary knowledge to non-financial managers on public sector accounting and cost management systems and procedures. Senior executives of the government are appointed to Boards of Public Corporations, where Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss Accounts and allied Financial Statements are discussed. Hence, this module will help participants to understand the regulatory framework within which the public accounting and costing systems operate. They will learn different accounting systems, and in particular, Financial Statements prepared by Ministries, Departments, Provincial Councils, Local Government Authorities, Corporations and Statutory Bodies. They will gain an insight into

the basic characteristics of financial statements and how to interpret and analyze them. Further, they will learn about the public accountability mechanism including basic cost concepts, public sector costing and pricing methods, as well as cost control.

The Government Budget is the principal instrument of government intervention in the economy - ‘the mother of all instruments’. It is formulated and implemented within the fiscal policy objectives that have been defined in terms of the overall development objectives. The Public Expenditure Programme concept places the Annual Budget in a medium term framework. The rationale is that certain expenditure, particularly capital expenditure on government projects, as well as associated recurrent expenditure has a multi-year dimension. In this module, course participants are introduced to fiscal policy analysis with a view to providing a good appreciation of the economic ramifications of each budgetary component.

MBAT 507: Business Communication (Management Course – 2 credits)

This module aims at enhancing the communication capabilities of the candidates. The key subject areas covered are: communication in organizations, classification of information and typologies, topics and themes, professional and business writing, writing of management reports, executive oral presentation skills, inter- cultural communication; listening skills, creative thinking, negotiation skills, conducting executive meetings.

Among the learning highlights will be overcoming communication barriers, creative and critical thinking, executive presentations and negotiating and conducting meetings.

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MBAT 508: International Taxation Policies and Law (Technical Course – 2 credits)

The globalization of trade and investment profoundly affects the practices and policies of international taxation. Tax advisors, tax professionals and government tax officials increasingly operate in a multinational world in which knowledge of only domestic rules is inadequate. For those who expect international tax law to play an important role in their professional careers, this core course is a must.

The Course provides students a firm grounding in the International tax systems and offers modules that reflect the globalization of tax law principles and practices. Students will be benefited by way of most varied number of classes in international tax law available including modules on international taxation, tax treaties, international tax policy, and regional systems of taxation.

There will be a substantial coverage of Transfer Pricing procedures including the relevance of OECD, intangibles, financial transactions and advanced pricing agreements.

Term 4:

MBAT 509: Human Resource Management (Management Course – 2 credits)

Human resource is the most precious resource in any organization. The private sector has long realized that this is the factor that gives any organization a sustainable competitive edge. Hence, human resource management which includes selection, development, deployment, motivation and retention of employees is given primacy. The tradition in the public service, however, has been quite different. The Administrative Reforms Committee Report of 1987 drew

attention to this problem, and made a few recommendations which are yet to be implemented in the manner and scale envisaged. This module examines the best practices in the private sector with regard to HRM that could be appropriately adopted in the public service.

MBAT 510: Management Decisions and Implementation (Management Course – 2 credits)

Prime objective of this module is to emphasis the vital role that has been entrusted to the Govt. officers to take correct decisions at correct time and to implement them efficiently. The tradition in the public service, however, has been quite different and majority depend on the traditional regulations which do not add value to the prevailing procedures.

Decision making is a vital process in today’s complex context and therefore improving the participant’s skills of decision making process and upgrade the talents in each and every participant towards foreseeing the consequences of the potential decisions that are going to be made is the core component of this course.

MBAT 511: Economic Policy and Taxation (Technical Course – 2 credits)

Economic Policy that is in line with the initiatives on tax principles, tax expenditures, tax base and tax rates and examining economic development accordingly plays the key role towards country’s development. Accountable economic development cases are analyzed in depth in the context of taxes and economic development.

In this course, there will be in depth explanations on tax basics, personal income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, corporate income taxes and other revenue sources. Students will be

exposed to the latest mechanisms in global context to maintain sustainability of tax revenues over time, various tax compliance models and the impact of taxes on the economy.

Term 5:

MBAT 512: Leadership and Business Development (Management Course – 2 credits)

This module aims at strengthening the leadership capabilities of the candidates whilst enhancing their business development ability. The areas covered are: leadership in high performance organizational cultures, historical, modem and postmodern leadership theories, entrepreneurship development, ethical dimension of exemplary leaders; building a leadership pipeline for succession, emergent leadership in crisis and disaster management; business modeling and the business plan, building a high performance culture of commitment and competence, business incubators, design and creation of strategic business units, innovation and creativity in organizations.

Among the learning highlights, designing a leadership pipeline, guidelines for ethical practice, Business modeling, business plan development, business leader characteristics and behaviours appear prominently.

MBAT 513: Organizational Behaviour (Management Course – 2 credits)

The prime aim of this module is to enhance the appreciation of human behavior in organizations. It covers areas such as: historical development of the study of organizational behaviour; perception, multiple intelligences and personality, attitude, values and ethics, theories of motivation, Zimbardo and

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Milgram effects, power, politics and influencing tactics, team dynamics, conflict and stress, identification and involvement, leading to organizational commitment.

Among the learning highlights, psychological determinants of behavior, psychometrics for personality profiling, organizational values, organizational climate survey and modes of motivation are visible.

MBAT 514: Taxation and Governance (Technical Course – 2 credits)

This course looks at the literature on taxation and governance from which it draws four main themes:

i. the centrality of taxation to the role of the government

ii. taxation as a critical component of building of the country and governance

iii. the positive effect of taxation on the quality of governance and the government’s relationship with the people, particularly in respect of accountability, responsiveness and sound public finance management

iv. the positive effect of good governance on revenue mobilisation and compliance.

The course explores areas of convergence and divergence (e.g.: earmarking, tax thresholds, informality) in the debate over tax and governance.

Term 6:

MBAT 515: Information Management (Management Course – 2 credits)

This module aims at strengthening the ICT awareness and capability of the candidates. The topics covered are: business and ICT, the business value of ICT, use of ICT for

competitive advantage, ICT strategy vis a vis business strategy, DMS and data warehouses, the Internet and e-Business, knowledge management in organizations, intra-organizational and global information systems, enterprise information systems, security and control.

Learning highlights include: enterprise systems, business impact of the internet, effective selection and implementation of ICT systems, ROI on ICT investments.

MBAT 516: Financial Accounting and Taxes (Technical Course – 2 credits)

While large corporations and publicly traded companies must follow the financial accounting, small businesses have the choice of using either the financial accounting method or the tax accounting method. The difference between the two accounting methods is in the timing of when sales and purchases are recorded based on either accrual or cash. Most small businesses prefer to use the cash-based tax accounting. Choosing different accounting methods can have different impacts on business and tax returns.

In case of customizing the tax procedures, Tax officers should conversant with these methods of their clients irrespective of the client’s size in order to bridge the relationship gaps for better understanding. Students will undergo theoretical and practical knowledge gathering throughout this core course.

MBAT 517: Contemporary Issues in Tax Administration (Technical Course – 2 credits)

This Course is based upon papers presented by the students during the programme. It covers four discrete areas namely compliance, e-commerce and taxation, international taxation

and taxation within the country and focuses within those areas on issues of topical and continuing interest. In an introduction, the course provide an overview of the subject matter of each of the substantive modules. They conclude by seeking to extrapolate from those modules, notwithstanding their diversity, various matters of wider and contemporary import to taxation.

The treatment of the material in this course by scholars from various academic disciplines and with differing geographical perspectives also gives distinct and instructive insights into widely recognized and enduring taxation problems within the above-mentioned subject areas. Further, an appreciation and understanding of the multi-faceted approaches which may be adopted for problem solving, and which are evident in this course, can only enhance the prospects of the ultimate resolution of these problems.

Term 7:

Two electives ( 15 hrs – one Credit each) are to be selected out of the following courses:

MBAT 600 : Information System Auditing (Elective Course- 1 credit)

Information systems audit, focuses at the evaluation of the management controls within an information technology infrastructure /environment established in an organization. Due to the changing nature of the business and the increasing dependencies on information systems, the need for information systems audit has been arisen. This course covers the need for information systems audit, IT governance and the role of information systems auditor in the process.

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While providing an overview of the infrastructure environment and its process, the course addresses the following areas:

� Information Systems Auditing

� Governance and Management of IT

� Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation

� Information Systems Operations, Maintenance and Support and business continuity

� Protection of Information systems and Information Assets

� Introduction to COBIT framework

MBAT 601: Marketing Fundamentals (Elective Course – 1 Credit)

This module familiarizes the student to the key concepts, theories and application, reflecting the breadth and diversity of marketing. It provides insights into where marketing fits within an organization. It will change or re-establish frame of mind (students) towards marketing in the contextual frame work of the organization. The learnings will facilitate to understand frameworks supporting marketing activities, and helps with challenges in “Big Data Driven” consumer psychology in the market place. It discusses the application of theoretical frame work to identify the consumer as a service organization. This 15 hours module will discuss case studies which illustrate application of marketing fundamentals and emphasis on Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Further it will draw attention of disruptive technology development in pertaining organization marketing operation strategies. Topics included are what is marketing; marketing communications; marketing processes and planning; the use of market research and concept of branding and personal branding.

MBAT 602 : Strategic Human Resource Management (Elective Course – 1 Credit)

In the competitive world of business, Strategic Human Resource Management has a strong bearing upon an organization’s corporate strategy formulation and implementation. It is also the pattern of human resource deployment and activities intended to enable an organization achieve its objectives. This course deals with linking HRM with the strategic management processes of the organization with emphasis on co-ordination and congruence among the various HR practices.

MBAT 603 : Public Sector-Private Sector Partnerships

This module aims at strengthening the capabilities of the participants to get themselves familiarized to the public sector-private sector partnerships whilst enhancing their evaluation ability on this field. A public–private partnership (PPP) involves a contract between a public sector authority and a private party. The private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the project. In some types of PPP, the cost of using the service is borne exclusively by the users of the service and not by the taxpayer.

Typically, a private sector consortium forms a special company called a “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) to develop, build, maintain and operate the asset for the contracted period. The highlights of the course are, the fundamental drivers for PPPs; structures of PPPs; the incurring PPP borrowings.

MBAT 518 : Management Skills Project (MSP)Through the MSP, the student will demonstrate his/her knowledge and understanding in a chosen area of study via a survey of existing knowledge and identification of a public sector related management problem, requiring solutions in a practical setting, by designing a project, implementing it and reporting the results obtained. A wide range of project areas covering management of organizations to deliver development results are available for this purpose. Students are advised to plan for a suitable project early in their study program and then use the skills assignments available in required courses to prepare for the project to be undertaken in the last term of study.

Required: Approval of project proposal; submission of project during the last term of study; and oral examination of project (approximately 1 hr.) Length; 12,500 words, excluding appendices.

MBAT 519 : Management Research Project (MRP)Through the MRP, the student will demonstrate his/her depth of knowledge and understanding in a chosen area of study via an extensive study/survey of existing knowledge, innovative formulation of problems and their analysis; collection, analysis and interpretation of data and information, and developing sound conclusions. Students are advised to select a suitable area of study for this purpose early in their study program, and then use the research exercises given in required courses to explore and develop their research questions and background literature.

Required: Approval of research proposal; submission of paper during the last term of study; and oral examination of paper (approximately 1 hr.).Length: 15,000 words, excluding appendices.

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Course Type No.of Credits

Effective learning and communication (preparatory) 06

Core Courses 15 Nos 30

Elective courses 2 Nos 02

Management Skill Project Management Research project 22

Total 60

Credit Requirements:

Faculty:The management component of the program will be conducted by Core Faculty of PIM and industry experts who are members of PIM visiting faculty. The six technical core courses in taxation will be delivered by the local and foreign experts.

Fee:The program fee per participant: Rs. 750,000/-

The program will span a period of 21 months.

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