Imperial College of Business Studies (ICBS) has a long history going back to 1985 when it was known as CBS, which was a pioneer in CIMA education in Sri Lanka . In August 2002, it changed its name to ICBS and moved to its present location at No.3, St. Kilda's Avenue, Colombo 3. The change of the name, logo as well as location gave ICBS an opportunity to re-launch as a modern business education institute.

Over the years ICBS has established itself as a leading business school in Sri-Lanka with a student population of about 1,750. In November 2004 CIMA UK recognized the high standards maintained at ICBS by awarding the institute the ‘CIMA Quality Partner Status'. This distinguished accreditation is awarded only to institutes which offer evidence of continuous improvements, high pass rates at examinations and stringent overall quality standards certified by an in depended auditor from UK . In March 2005, ICBS was also awarded the prestigious ISO 9001/2000 quality standard certificate.

ICBS is a centre for Computer Based Examinations (CBA) conducted by CIMA. Many students complete their CBA examinations successfully at ICBS.