Jehan Perinpanayagam new Chairman of ACCA Member Network Panel

The Executive Committee for the year 2022/2023

Seated from left: Nilusha Ranasinghe, Nandika Buddhipala, Jehan Perinpanayagam, Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan, and Ruchera Jayawardena

Standing from left: Navin Karunadasa, Adrian Perera, Chaaminda Kumarasiri, Shehan Fernando, Darshana Gunasekara, Suyama Jayasinghe, Prasenna Balachandran and Praveen Ruberu 

Infomate CEO and John Keells Holdings Plc Vice President Jehan Perinpanayagam was appointed the Chairman, Member Network Panel of ACCA Sri Lanka for the year 2022/2023, at the recently held Annual General Meeting at the Hilton Colombo Residencies. 

Jehan counts over 25 years of experience including 17 years in the IT/BPM industry and is a pioneer in the BPM industry with expertise in ERP systems, automation, process excellence, managing large teams and in international partnerships. Jehan has been instrumental in pioneering the country’s first ever rural BPO and was also closely involved in the significant growth of Infomate Ltd., from its early days as the country’s first shared services to one of the leading BPMs in the country 

He also serves as the Vice Chairman for the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), the Sri Lanka Australia New Zealand Business Council and the Nordic Business Council. He is also a committee member of the Sri Lanka Canada Business Council.

In his acceptance speech, Jehan outlined his thoughts on how the member network panel could support ACCA’s vision and strengthen advocacy and make a positive difference to the accountancy profession, to the students, to society at large and the country. An area he emphasised was in sustainability and ESG, and the opportunity to play an even bigger role in helping transform local businesses to deliver a more equitable, green and inclusive future. As such, ACCA Sri Lanka would be looking at driving corporates to uniquely position themselves in adapting and utilising good sustainability practices.

Jehan further emphasised the opportunity to make a contribution nationally: “Today, more than ever before, we are facing a challenge of governance, of accountability and of prudent financial planning. We have in our midst some of the best, most well-versed finance professionals in the country who could be positive contributors in committees and forums, quietly influencing and advocating for the right course of action and we look forward to supporting Sri Lanka in this area.”

Jehan stressed on the importance of advocacy in schools and universities and on guiding the future talent to gain the essential skills and ability to contribute positively to the country’s businesses. “We have just launched a student mentoring program, where ACCA Sri Lanka is possibly the first in the region to launch such a program and we will work on expanding this to our entire student base.”

The Executive Committee for the year 2022/2023 includes Acuity Knowledge Partners Director Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan as Vice Chairperson along with Lanka Rating Agency CEO Adrian Perera, H.C.P. Consulting Ltd. Chairman Chaaminda Kumarasiri, Ernst & Young Principle Praveen Ruberu, Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC Group Finance Head Darshana Gunasekara, Alpha Business School CEO Shehan Fernando, LAUGFS Holdings Chief Internal Auditor Prasenna Balachandran, LSEG Business Analyst Navin Karunadasa and Layer 7 Innovations Ltd. CFO Suyama Jayasinghe.

ACCA Sri Lanka presented the annual report for the year 2021/2022 that celebrated many successes in spite of the challenges faced by all. These included several strategic MOUs signed with CA Maldives, SLIIT, NSBM and CFA Sri Lanka, as well as onboarding two new Approved learning partners, namely Premier Partners as a Gold partner and Online Accounting Learning as a Silver partner.

Other noteworthy achievements consisted of organising ACCA’s first ever virtual Prizewinners Awards Ceremony, rolling out the ACCA Financial hackathon targeting ACCA students and local corporates based on the theme of UNSDGs and in holding ACCA’S annual sustainability Reporting Awards for the 17th year.