By supplying power to the LCD alone may not be able to confirm the functionality of the LCD. I once came over a spoiled LCD which displays black box when i supply power to it and tuned the contrast. So it cant be sure.
What i usually do is download the sample code from cytron's SK40C page. Then connect the basic circuit on a breadboard or solder on a donut board. Since the schematic for SK40C is also given in the user manual, there should be no problem to get things right (for this reason, i consider SK40C an open-source product from cytron). After the circuit is done, program the microcontroller and you'll know whether your LCD is working. Time-consuming? Maybe u're right but i built this LCD tester board once and i use it for testing since then. After that i expand its function to test digital/analog input, uart, spi and so on
ABSF WROTE: Dont you have a friend with a working PIC board to test it for you?
Anyway, this is the faster way to do it. Haha.