ACCA Sri Lanka appoints new Chairman and Board of Directors for 2020/21

Seated from left: ACCA Sri Lanka Head Nilusha Ranasinghe, ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Chairman Nandika Buddhipala, ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Immediate Past Chairman Suren Rajakarier, ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Vice Chairman Jehan Perinpanayagam and ACCA Sri Lanka Business Development Manager Ruchera Jayawardena Peries. Standing from left: Member Network Panel Members Adrian Perera, Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan, Prasanna Balachandran, Shehan Fernando, Dasun Mendis, Channa De Silva, Nisreen Rehmanjee, and Rakitha Jayatunga

ACCA Sri Lanka recently appointed Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC CFO Nandika Buddhipala as the ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Chairman for the year 2020/2021 at the ACCA Annual General Meeting. Infomate CEO Jehan Perinpanayagam was selected as the Vice Chairman.

ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Chairman Nandika Buddhipala

Buddhipala has over 25 years’ experience in the Banking, Telecommunication and Audit & Assurance industries. He has a BSc in Business Administration and Post Graduate Diploma in Management from The University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and holds an MBA, MA in Financial Economics, and MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Colombo.

He is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (MCISI) of UK. He is also a Senior Associate of Financial Services Institute (SA FIN) of Australia, a member of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) of USA, and the Senior Deputy President of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka. 

The rest of the committee for the year 2020 /2021 comprised of ACCA Sri Lanka Member Network Panel Immediate Past Chairman and KPMG in Sri Lanka Partner and Head of Audit Suren Rajakarier, Sascon Holdings Ltd. GCEO Adrian Perera, Acuity Knowledge Partners Associate Director Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan, Hemas Holdings Chief Risk and Control Officer Prasanna Balachandran, Alpha Business School Ltd. CEO/ Senior Lecturer Shehan Fernando, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd. Food Cluster AGM Finance Dasun Mendis, Sarvodaya Development Finance Ltd. Chairman Channa De Silva, John Keells Holdings Executive Vice President Nisreen Rehmanjee, and Attorney-at-Law and Icon Business School Director Rakitha Jayatunga.

ACCA Sri Lanka also outlined their vision for the year ahead which was to develop the accountancy profession that the future world needs. This included their network of members and partners delivering value by acting in the public interest, promoting ethical businesses and supporting economic growth.

In order to meet these strategic outcomes, ACCA Sri Lanka had organised a number of activities that comprised of organising online seminars on topics relevant to the current business context for students and members, renewing MOUs with local Universities and other professional bodies such as COYLE and SLID, and also expanding their learning provider network by appointing three silver Learning Providers over the last couple of months to provide further accessibility of their qualifications to students across the country. The Sri Lanka office also worked very closely with the learning provider network both in Sri Lanka and Maldives to ensure market readiness and digital transformation in respect of teaching, education resources. In addition, several futuristic competitions were rolled out for students and leading educational institutes to participate and enhance their soft skills and talents.

With need to continuously upgrade one’s skills to remain relevant at the workplace that has undergone a dramatic push during this pandemic, ACCA as a forward thinking professional body aims to take a lead role in encouraging and training their students and members to adopt and refresh their skills and to navigate successful career paths in the “new normal”.