Industrial Training Report
MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd
BBA (Level II - Semester VIII)
Name: J.G.B. Jinadasa
Registration No: 2011/MS/4920
Date of Submission: 31/12/2015
Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Colombo
Table of Contents
Page
Declaration......................................................................................................................
i
Certification of the Training Supervisor.....................................................................
ii
Certification of the Academic Supervisor....................................................................
iii
Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................
iv
1. Work Organization..................................................................................................
1
1.1 Introduction to MAS Holdings.....................................................................
1
1.2 About MAS Legato.......................................................................................
3
1.3 Major Functions, Processes and Policies of the Organization......................
4
1.3.1 Accounts Payable Process...........................................................
6
2. Application of Theoretical Knowledge..................................................................
8
2.1 Identification of Opportunities in Utilizing the Knowledge Gathered..........
8
2.2 Applicability of Major Theoretical Concepts Learnt.....................................
9
3. Self Development......................................................................................................
13
3.1 Nature of Soft Skills Developed...................................................................
13
3.2 Extent of Personality Development...............................................................
15
4. Self Change................................................................................................................
16
4.1 Change in Attitudes.......................................................................................
16
4.2 New Skills Learnt..........................................................................................
17
4.3 Misperceptions Unlearnt................................................................................
18
4.4 Adaptability Experienced..............................................................................
19
5. Feedback for Work Organization...........................................................................
21
5.1 Suggestions for Improving the Existing Work Process.................................
21
5.2 Suggestions for New Developments..............................................................
22
References.......................................................................................................................
24
List of Figures
Page
1.1 Global Presence of MAS.........................................................................................
1
1.2 Diversified Portfolio of MAS..................................................................................
3
1.3 Organization Structure of MAS Legato...................................................................
5
1.4 Accounts Payable Division Structure......................................................................
6
1.5 Accounts Payable Process.......................................................................................
7
Declaration
I certify that this industrial training report does not incorporate without acknowledgement
any material previously submitted for a Degree or Diploma in any University, and to the
best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or
written by another person or myself except where due reference is made in the text.
…………………………………
Name : J.G.B. Jinadasa
Date: 31st December, 2015
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Certification of the Training Supervisor
I certify that Ms. J.G.B. Jinadasa has successfully completed a six months internship
program at MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd from 3rd June 2015 to 3rd of December 2015 as a
partial fulfillment of the BBA Degree Program.
…………………………………….
Mr. Ruwan Thushara,
Assistant Manager,
MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd
Date: 31st December, 2015
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Certification of the Academic Supervisor
I certify that Ms. J.G.B. Jinadasa has successfully completed the internship program at
MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd from 3rd of June 2015 to 3rd of December 2015 as a partial
fulfillment of the BBA Degree Program.
…………………………………….
Dr. Tharusha N. Gooneratne
Senior Lecturer
Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Colombo.
Date: 31st December, 2015
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Acknowledgement
It’s a great pleasure to thank everyone who helped me to successfully complete my
industrial training. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and thanks to my academic
supervisor Dr. Tharusha N. Gooneratne for the guidance and encouragement given in
completing the industrial training.
I am extremely thankful to MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd for giving me this internship
opportunity. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following people for the
assistance given to me throughout the training period.

Mr. Dhanya Herat Guneratne – Operations Manager

Mr. Ruwan Thushara – Assistant Manager, Accounts Payable

Mr. Dilupa Hapuarachchi – Human Resource Manager

Mr. Pamitha Rathnayake – Accounts Assistant, Accounts Payable

Ms. Sonali Weldt – Accounts Assistant, Accounts Payable

Mr. Mahan Wilatgamuwa – Associate Process Consultant
I would also like to acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence, my gratitude towards
members of my family, who has always supported me morally as well as economically.
I offer this final word of thanks to the authority of the University of Colombo for
providing a good environment, library facilities and computer lab facilities throughout the
entire degree program.
.
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1. Work Organization
1.1 Introduction to MAS Holdings
MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd is one of the largest conglomerates in Sri Lanka which was
established in 1987. The name MAS has been derived from the first letters of its founders
Mr. Mahesh Amalean, Mr. Ajay Amalean and Mr. Sharad Amalean. MAS Holdings
mainly manufactures intimates apparel, sportswear, performance wear and swimwear.
Apart from being an apparel and textile manufacturer MAS has a diversified portfolio
which includes IT solutions, finance consulting, brands as well as industrial parks. MAS
Holdings currently has 42 manufacturing facilities placed across 15 countries with design
locations placed across the globe and employs over 72,000 people in its operations.
Figure 1.1 Global Presence of MAS
Following are some of the strategic business units (SBUs) under MAS Holdings,

MAS Active

MAS Linea Intimo

MAS Intimates

MAS Capital

MAS Bodyline

MAS Silueta

MAS Linea Aqua

MAS Trischel
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
MAS Fabrics

MAS Legato

MAS Investments

MAS Noyon

MAS Innovations

MAS Attune

MAS Textprint
The clients of MAS Holdings include some of the major global brands such as Nike,
Adidas, Calvin Klein, Speedo, Victoria’s Secrets, GAP, Lululemon, Reebok, Marks &
Spencer and Tesco. As South Asia’s largest intimate-apparel manufacturer, MAS also
happens to be the region’s fastest-growing supplier of sportswear. The company manages
the entire value chain – from product design, development, manufacturing and rawmaterial supply – whilst commanding the latest technology and knowhow. MAS accounts
for 26% of Sri Lanka’s apparel exports. The vision and mission of MAS Holdings are as
follows.
Vision
“To Inspire, Innovate, Create Value and Respect Humanity”
Mission
“Inspire Innovation and Sustainability, Build Talent and Strategic relationships, Achieve
Excellence and Ambitious Profitable Growth”
Building Blocks of MAS Holdings
Values
Core Strengths
Culture
Honesty & Integrity
People
Entrepreneurial & Innovative
Humility
Partnerships
Collaborative Teamwork
Passion for Excellence
Product focus
Cautiously Aggressive
Freedom with Accountability
Process
Participative Management
Trust and mutual respect
Profitability
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Figure 1.2 Diversified Portfolio of MAS
1.1 About MAS Legato
MAS Legato (Pvt) Ltd is a member of MAS group and was established in January, 2014
as a financial outsourcing solutions provider to bring significant savings through
efficiencies for its clients compared to current industry standards. MAS Legato aims to
provide these savings to its clients by utilizing modern IT technology such as intelligent
scanning, bringing in efficiencies and avoiding manual work. The company was set up to
provide financial outsourcing solutions to the group as well as third party clientele. The
company has come up with the name “Legato” which is the Italian word for “tied
together” and the music term meaning “in a smooth, flowing manner without any breaks”.
Aside from the Holding company’s vision and mission MAS Legato has its own vision
and mission.
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Vision
To be “The most respected brand for financial outsourcing solutions”
Mission
Passionately embrace new ideas to provide next generate services
Consistently exceed the expectations of our customers
Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be
Nurture a winning network of stakeholders and build mutual loyalty
Consciously conserve resources and preserve the quality of the environment
1.3 Major Functions, Processes and Policies of the Organization
As one of the largest conglomerates in South Asia, MAS group deals with large volumes
of payments for raw materials and services to support a turnover of $1.4 Bn. When every
dollar spent by the group goes out of a single location, the opportunities for leveraging on
scale are many as it opens avenues to rationalize payments. Before establishing MAS
Legato each SBU would pay each supplier directly. But after establishing MAS Legato, it
has fine tuned its processes where MAS makes one payment to one supplier. Thus this
has driven administration efficiency as well as finance operation processing excellence.
The company has implemented a high degree of automation to enable cost efficient
speedy processing. As the first phase of automation MAS Legato selected Read-Soft
Process Director, a business process management (BPM) solution which is the first
implementation of the end to end process in the region, enabling the payable process of
MAS to be completely paperless and touch-less.
As MAS Legato provides overall financial services to the entire MAS Group it is known
as a Shared Service Centre (SSC) for MAS Holdings. To cater the financial needs of the
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MAS Group, MAS Legato has divided its operations into 3 divisions namely, Accounts
Payable, Accounts Receivables and General Ledger. Each of the 3 divisions consists of
separate teams to handle each SBU of MAS Holdings. Following is the organizational
structure of MAS Legato.
Figure 1.3 Organizational Structure of MAS Legato
Accounts Payables is the core function of the organization and therefore it is the largest
division among the 3 divisions where it handles all the transactions and processes related
to suppliers of MAS Holdings. In this division separate teams are appointed to handle
transactions and processes of each SBU. Each team includes a team leader who checks
and approves the payments and team members who process the payments.
Accounts Payable Division is the most critical division since it deals with the suppliers. A
single mistake in a critical supplier payment can affect the entire production process of
the company. This is because if the company is unable to pay the suppliers within the
credit period suppliers may tighten their credit policies, which in turn would affect the
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cash cycle of the entire business, leading to liquidity issues. Therefore MAS Legato gives
high priority for the Accounts Payable Division. Following is the structure of the
Accounts Payable Division.
Manager
Accounts
Payable
Reporting
Team
Team
Leader –
Intimates
MRP
Intimates
MRP Team
Members
Team
Leader –
Intimates
NMRP
Intimates
NMRP
Team
Team Leader –
Active MRP
Active
MRP Team
Members
Team
Leader –
Active
NMRP
Active
NMRP
Team
Members
Team
Leader Bodyline
Bodyline
Team
Members
Team
Leader Aqua
Aqua Team
Members
Team
Leader –
Other SBUs
Mcap/
Mhol/
Attune
Trischel/
Textprint/
Fabrics
Silueta/
Noyon/
Intimo
Figure 1.4 Accounts Payable Division Structure
1.2.1 Accounts Payable Process
There are two types of payments in the Accounts Payable division, namely Material
Related Payments (MRP) and Non Material Related Payments (NMRP). The initial phase
of the accounts payable process is the receipt of invoices from suppliers. MAS Legato has
appointed scanners and coordinators at each SBU to scan and release the invoices
received through a system called Citrix Verifier. SBU’s receive invoices from suppliers
through means of hard copies and soft copies. Soft copies are sent to an email address
designated for each SBU where as hard copies received by plants are scanned by the
scanners.
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Once the hard copies are scanned and the soft copies are received by email, Legato
Coordinators release the invoices using the Citrix Verifier. After releasing the invoices,
these are sent as work cycles through a system called the Process Director to the payment
requestors and then for SBU approval. Once they accept the work cycles Accounts
Payable team members verify each invoice by checking the vendor name, reference,
amount, currency and bank details. After verifying, the team members book the liability
by posting them in the system and then process the payment.
Once the payments get processed they are again sent as work cycles to the respective
team leaders to get the approval. Team leaders then approve the payment by checking all
the details and upload the payment in the bank net. After the approval by the team
leaders, the work cycles are sent to the respective persons in the Finance Division of each
SBU for further approval. After going through all the approval levels the payment gets
finalized by getting the approval signature of the head of finance of each SBU.
Figure 1.5 Accounts Payable Process
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2. Application of Theoretical Knowledge
The industrial training helped me to apply most of the theories which I learnt under the
BBA degree program as well as to utilize the knowledge gathered during the degree
program.
2.1 Identification of Opportunities in Utilizing Knowledge Gathered During the
Degree Program

Communicating with Stakeholders
During the training period I had to interact with many people; which include suppliers,
merchants, superiors as well as peers. This experience gave me the ability to deal with
people with different personalities and build good relationships with the stakeholders of
the company. Here I was privileged to utilize the knowledge gathered under courses such
as Business Communication (MKT-1200) which taught me formal communication
practices.

Understanding the Organizational Culture and Practices
Knowledge gathered under the courses such as Management Process & Practices (MOS1300), Organization Theory (MOS-1201) and Organization Behavior (HRM-1200) which
were learnt during the degree program helped to get an understanding of the
organizational culture, its practices and how the entire organization has been organized as
a system, easily.

Using the SAP ERP System
In the 6th Semester of the degree program under the course of Computer Based
Accounting (ACT-2304) I learnt about the SAGE 50 Accounting Package and in the final
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semester I participated for the Certificate Course in SAGE Evolution ERP System
conducted by the Department of Accounting. The knowledge I gained under these courses
helped me to get familiarize and understand the SAP ERP System effortlessly.

Use of Management Information Systems
In the 6th semester of the degree I learnt about Management Information Systems (MOS2202) and I was able to utilize the knowledge gathered under this course during my
training period. MAS uses Skype for Business (formerly known as Microsoft Lync) as
their intranet. All communication within the company and between the SBUs takes place
through a Microsoft Lync Server. This makes communications more secure, as messages
do not need to leave the corporate intranet.
MAS uses an Integrated Human Resource Management (IHRM) system to handle
employee related matters. There is an IHRM link where employees can log into and get
information such as the status of leave entitled or even apply leave using that link where
an e-mail gets directly to the respective leave approver.
2.2 Applicability of Major Theoretical Concepts Learnt in the Degree Program
Following are some of the theoretical concepts that I came across while working at MAS
Legato.

Lean
In the 4th and 5th semesters of the BBA degree program under the courses Management
Accounting (ACT-1301) and Advanced Management Accounting (ACT-2301) I have
learnt about lean manufacturing; which simply means the systematic way of eliminating
waste within a manufacturing system. MAS Holdings is an organization which embraces
the concept of lean. MAS has its own lean manufacturing system called MAS Operating
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System (MOS), which is based on the Toyota Production System to improve efficiency
and deliver faster turnaround times. The MAS Operating System (MOS) is a systematic
approach to identify and eliminate waste and non-value added activities of all aspects in
the value chain, improving speed, flexibility and cost.

Auditing
I have learnt about the concepts of auditing in the 5th and 6th semesters of my degree
under the courses Auditing (ACT-2300) and Advance Auditing (ACT-2207). There I
have learnt about different types of audits, which includes compliance audits as well.
Compliance audits refer to a comprehensive review of some aspect of the internal
operations of a company to verify the adherence to specific rules and regulations.
Compliance audits determine whether a process or transaction has or has not followed
applicable rules. In MAS Legato they carry out MOS audits on a weekly basis to check
compliance with the MOS standards and emails the results to everyone on each Friday.

Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility
From accounting scandals to pollutions to executive compensations, importance of
business ethics has become visible. It is related to the broader field of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) which plays a role in ethical investing and influence sustainable
business as well. The course Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility (MKT2304) which I learnt in the 8th semester of the degree program provided me a thorough
understanding on the importance of those concepts to an organization.
MAS Holdings is an organization which do not market their products or services in Sri
Lanka, therefore their social sustainability philosophy is based more on social intent
rather than economic focus. MAS follows a decentralized framework, where control of
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CSR activities is given to the SBUs under an over-arching focus on education, health,
sport and environment to uplift living standards and create a positive change.
MAS Legato recently carried out a CSR project to help the children at the Maharagama
Cancer Hospital. In the hospital, the children who undergo surgery are made to share
Anesthetic face masks due to a shortage. So MAS Legato donated Anesthetic face masks
for the children’s section in the cancer hospital.

Industrial Law
During the training period I was able to apply many of the theoretical concepts which I
learnt under the course Industrial Law (HRM-2201) in the 6th semester. MAS Legato is
governed under the Shop and Office Employees Act No. 19 of 1954. The company has
two employment types namely; permanent employment and fixed term contract
employment. All the interns working in the organization fall under the category of fixed
term contract employment. MAS Legato follows a mentoring system where new recruits
are assigned to senior employees and they are responsible for inducting new recruits to
the company.
When it comes to grievance handling, MAS Legato follows an open door policy where
the employees are given the opportunity to meet the management at anytime without any
restrictions. It’s not just the immediate supervisors that the employees can meet, but
managers at any level of the organization.

Balanced Scorecard
I have learnt about the performance measurement tool “Balanced Scorecard” and it
importance in many courses during the degree program. Balanced Scorecard is a
performance metric used in strategic management to identify and improve various
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internal function and their resulting external outcomes. The balanced scorecard attempts
to measure and provide feedback to organizations in order to assist in implementing
strategies and objectives. MAS Legato too uses this theoretical concept of Balanced
Scorecard in their organization by customizing it in a way which caters their needs. It
prepares Scorecards in a monthly basis for each SBU that they provide service for. Here
they measure the performance of the service provided by the organization to the
respective SBU and send the Scorecards for the month to each SBU within the first 5
working days of the next month. These Scorecards are also used in the progress review
meetings held by the organization.

Performance Appraisal
Under the course Human Resource Management I have learnt about the concept of
performance appraisal which means the process of assessing the performance and
providing feedback to employees to motivate, correct and continue their performance. At
MAS Legato performance review meetings are conducted for employees once in every
three months. This includes interns as well and as the company’s intern contract period is
six months I was privileged to participate for 2 performance review meetings. In a
performance review meeting the employee gets feedback for his/her performance by
his/her immediate supervisor. The employee also gets evaluated by the immediate
supervisor where the supervisor gives a rating to the employee by filling an evaluation
form. Here the employee gets an opportunity give suggestions to improve the existing
work process of the organization and also to inquire about the given ratings if she/he does
not agree with them.
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3. Self Development
Although self development is a lifelong process even this short period of industrial
training helped me to realize a massive development in myself in terms of soft skills and
personality which in turn I believe helped me to identify my true potential and enhance
my employability.
3.1 Nature of Soft Skills Developed
During my training period I was given the opportunity to participate in a two days
residential workshop on leadership skills and soft skills development which was held at
MAS Fabrics Park, Thulhiriya. There I was able to gain lots of valuable lessons on
developing my soft skills and leadership skills. I was also able to develop social networks
and get into professional networks as I met participants from different SBUs of MAS
Holdings.
Following are some of the soft skills which I was able to develop during the training
period.

Communication Skills
This training helped me to develop my ability to actively listen to others and articulate my
ideas in writing and verbally to any audience in a way where I am heard and achieve the
goals that I intend by communicating. Whilst I was in the Reporting Team at the
beginning of my training I had to communicate over the phone, daily with the
coordinators located at each SBU and after getting transferred to the MAS Active Team I
had to communicate with suppliers, merchants, petty cashiers, managers, banks, etc
verbally and through means of emails. All of these interactions helped me to develop my
communication skills.
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
Commitment
I was able to prove myself to be a committed employee who need very little supervision
or motivation to do my best and complete the assigned job, during the training period. I
was recognized as an employee who is dependable, reliable, and enthusiastic and enjoy
hard work, which I believe one of the reasons that helped me to get into the permanent
carder of the company after the completion of the training period.

Team Work Skills
Throughout the training period I was able to develop my team working skills. A team
based organizational structure is visible at MAS Legato, where all the operations are
carried out by different teams. Working as a part of a team helped me to develop my team
work skills. I was able to work effectively with the team members in Reporting Team and
MAS Active Team who had different skill sets, personalities and motivation level to
achieve a better team result.

Self confidence
At MAS Legato I was given tasks which were challenging for me as I did not have any
prior experience. However those gave me the ability to believe in myself and that I
accomplish anything. I also improved my courage to ask questions that need to be asked
and to freely contribute my ideas.

Ability to work under pressure
During the training period I was able to put the stress to one side and focus on the job in
hand. Especially during the month ends the workload is very high. So to meet deadlines
and achieve targets I had to work overtime. And of course I had to balance my university
studies and the work life. All of these gave me the ability to work under pressure.
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3.2 Extent of Personality Development
Before the training period I found myself to be an introvert as I was quite a shy person
who does not find it easy to talk to other people. But this industrial training program
helped me to get rid of that introversion and enhance my personality in many ways.
Following are some aspects which helped me to develop my personality during the
training period.

Social Networking
Working in an organization requires interacting with many people. During the training
period I was able to meet many new people who have different personalities, different
opinions and different cultures. Interacting with such people helped me to overcome my
introvert personality in no time.

Attire
This training helped me to understand how much the business attire contributes in
developing our personalities. It plays an important role in developing the personality
while making a desirable impression. At MAS Legato all the employees must wear in
business attire which maintains the professional image. Being in professional attire gave
myself a confidence boost knowing that I represent professionalism in myself. This in
turn helped me to develop my personality as well.
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4. Self Change
During the period of my internship I myself noted a huge self-change in my life in terms
of my attitudes, skills and adaptability. I was also able to unlearn some misperceptions
that I had before the training.
4.1 Changes in Attitudes
As an undergraduate who haven’t got any previous work experience, this industrial
training program gave me immense opportunities to improve myself in terms of
personality, self confidence, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.
Having the conventional formal work environment in mind I believed that it’s best to use
the last name preceded by the title “Mr” when addressing my boss and other superiors at
workplace as it is the respectful way of addressing someone at the organization. However
MAS use a first-name policy where everyone should be addressed in their first name,
including the CEO. At the beginning it was very difficult for me to call my supervisors
and other executive level staff including managers and the CEO with their first names.
However I was able to get used to it within a few days.
The attitude I had towards working in an organization is that organizations expect their
employees to work all day long and do not expect employees to spend leisure time during
the work hours. However it is not the case at MAS Legato. The work atmosphere and the
friendly culture at MAS Legato helped me to change the attitude I had about working in
organizations. At MAS Legato they have a recreation area where employees can go and
play carom and table tennis at anytime they want, given that they manage their time to
complete their work. There’s also a TV room with a Xbox where employees can come
and play games or watch TV whenever they want.
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4.2 New Skills Learnt
The industrial training program gave me lots of opportunities to learn new skills.
Following are some of the new skills which I learnt during the training.

Microsoft Excel
Before I started my internship my Excel Knowledge was at a very basic level. During the
training period I identified how important and useful it is to have the MS Excel
knowledge. When I joined MAS Legato, at first I was appointed as a team member of the
Reporting Team of the company. There I had to prepare reports using MS Excel and send
them to the management. I was able to learn some useful functions and formulas of MS
Excel which I did not have any understanding prior to my internship. This includes
logical functions such as left/mid/true/false/, statistical functions such as averagea, lookup
& reference functions such as vlookup, etc.

SAP Knowledge
I feel privileged to undergo my training in a company which uses SAP ERP system which
is a product of the world’s largest inter-enterprise software company. MAS uses SAP
throughout its operations. During my training period I was able get a thorough
understanding of the SAP system and its functions. When I was a part of the Reporting
Team of the company I used the SAP system to get the required data to prepare the
required reports. The period spent in the Reporting Team enabled me to get familiarize
with the system. However after moving to MAS Active Team in the Accounts Payable
division as a part of a job rotation undergone, I was able to learn wider aspects of the SAP
system. I was able to learn how to use Read-Soft Process Director (PD), which is a sub
program of the SAP System. There I learnt how to verify and post invoices and payment
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requisition forms. I also learnt many useful functions of the SAP system such as f110,
miro, f-44, fb60, fb03, f-43, eby/pd, etc.

Multi-Tasking
During this training period I learnt how to do multiple tasks simultaneously. As being a
part of the Reporting Team and then a part of the MAS Active team I was able to get an
overall understanding of the organizational functions. Therefore even after joining the
MAS Active Team I was given tasks of the Reporting Team as I excelled at the tasks of
the Reporting Team. When I was a part of MAS Active Team, I used to work overtime
and on weekends for the MAS Intimates team as there was a need to reduce GR/IR
(Goods Received/Invoices Received) balances of MAS Intimates due to Darwin Project; a
project to bring all the MAS apparel business units to use a single SAP instance. I was
able to handle all of these tasks both efficiently and accurately, with a minimum level of
stress due to proper time management.
4.3 Misperceptions Unlearnt
Being able to actively engage in a real life organization, I was able to unlearn some
misperceptions that I had before starting my career life.
One of the misperceptions that I had prior to starting my career life is that a sound
academic background is adequate to get a good job. But when searching for internship
opportunities for the industrial training I found out that it is not true. I saw many of my
colleagues who have more than one professional qualification such as CIMA and CIM,
struggling to secure a workplace for the industrial training. I myself believed that I have a
good academic background as I was an undergraduate from a well recognized state
university in Sri Lanka and as I am also a CIMA passed finalist. But in reality I found out
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that employers seek for more than just a good academic background when recruiting
employees. Paper qualifications are mere a basic requirement and other than that
employers look for employees who have a good personality and communication skills.
Therefore I understood that while it’s tempting to believe that a person with a better
academic track record could find a job without any difficulties, there’s is no certain
relationship with educational success and career success. Organizations no longer select
job candidates solely on the basis of their skills or experience. They hire those whose
personality and values are consistent with their company culture.
Another misperception I had is that I believed that employers do not want to recruit
employees who have qualifications in many different areas such as marketing,
accounting, human resource, as they will find it difficult to identify to what position that
they should hire the employee. In simple terms I believed that been over qualified in
many areas is a disadvantage when finding a job and it is always best to specialize only in
one stream. But on the day of my second interview at MAS Legato I found out that it is
not true. When the Operations manager asked what I’m going to do after the degree and
when I said I am planning to do ACCA, he asked why I’m planning to do another
accounting professional qualification and why not study something in a different stream
such as CIM. Even during the training period my training supervisor always encouraged
me to plan on starting a new professional qualification which is not accounting related.
4.4 Adaptability Experienced
I got attracted to the friendly atmosphere and the culture of MAS Legato on the very first
day itself which helped me to get adapted to the organization culture very quickly. Most
of the employees who are working in the organization are very young and are doing
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studies just like me. This made me comfortable and made it easy for me to get adapted to
the organization in no time.
At the very beginning of the training, I was able to identify my location within the
organizational structure and systems which gave me the ability to adapt to the
organizational systems and procedures. Initially when I was appointed as a part of the
Reporting Team of the Accounts Payable division, I was able to adapt to the daily work
process which required me to prepare and send a set of reports daily to the management,
including the CEO. While I was thorough with all the tasks of the Reporting Team I was
then appointed as a part of the MAS Active team. There again I had to adapt to the work
process which is completely different from that of the tasks I did in the Reporting Team.
But then again the knowledge and understanding I gained while working in the Reporting
Team made it easy for me to get adapted to the work process of the MAS Active team.
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5. Feedback for Organization
5.1 Suggestions for Improving the Existing Work Process
I feel privileged to start my career as an intern in of one of the well reputed and largest
conglomerates in South Asia. During my training period I have come across certain areas
where the organization could make some improvements in the existing work process
which could ultimately increase the efficiency of the process.

All invoices should be soft copy based
Although the organization is practicing a paperless office concept it still accepts hard
copy invoices from suppliers. However if the company could go for a 100% soft copy
based approach it will have cost and time savings as well as improve the overall
efficiency of the process. This is because the current practice is that when the company
receives hard copy invoices, scanners located at each SBU scan them in order to get them
into the system. However if the organization accepts only soft copies of invoices those
could be sent directly to the system and the need of scanning would be none or will be at
a very minimum level.

Going for 100% Slip payments
MAS Legato currently uses five payment methods when processing the payments
namely; Slips (S), Drafts (D), Cheques (C), Internal Transfers (I) and Telegraphic
Transfers (T). Having five different payment methods makes the payment processing
complex as team members have to reallocate payments each time they carry out the
payment proposal using the f110 function in SAP. Therefore going for a 100% Slip
payments approach would simplify the payment process.
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
Setting work cycle response duration as a KPI for merchants
I have come across the issue of lack of response to work cycles sent to merchants when
engaging in day to day operations. This leads to a larger number of overdue work cycles,
which ultimately results in delay of payments to suppliers, which is not good for the
reputation of MAS. If the company could set work cycle response duration as a KPI for
the merchants there is a high possibility of overcoming the said issue.

Ability to send multiple work cycles at once
The current practice facilitates only to send one work cycles at once. However I suggest
that by improving the current practice to a state which facilitates the ability to send
multiple work cycles at once would save time and also would result in improved
efficiencies.
5.2 Suggestions for New Developments

Mechanism for auto discrepancy identification
The existing practice is that it is the responsibility of the team member to identify if there
are any discrepancies such as price variances, quantity variances, missing GRN, incorrect
vendor, etc. However I suggest that by developing a mechanism where such discrepancies
could be automatically identified by the system it could reduce the time that each team
member use to verify one invoice, leading to greater efficiencies in the process and it will
increase the individual efficiency as well.

Ability to auto release
The current practice is that when the invoices are scanned and entered into the system the
coordinators located at the SBUs needs to release them in order for them to get to the
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queues of the team members located at MAS Legato. However if the company could
develop a mechanism where invoices gets auto released without the need of coordinators
releasing them, it will have a greater impact on the time and efficiency of the process.

Mechanism for an automated payment run
Currently it’s the team members who carry out the payment run when processing the
payments. However I suggest that by updating the vendor master with the credit period
the company could come up with a system where based on the credit period the payment
run being automated. This would reduce the workload on the team members and would
result in timely processing of payments.
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References
MAS Holdings, n.d., OVERVIEW – WELCOME TO MAS, Retrieved December 12, 2015,
from http://www.masholdings.com/overview.html#overview
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