Two Lankans nominated to Association of International Certified Professional Accountants MESANA RAP

Mahesha Amarasuriya

Damith Pallewatte

Mahesha Amarasuriya FCMA, CGMA and Damith Pallewatte ACMA, CGMA from Sri Lanka have been nominated to the MESANA Regional Advisory Panel (RAP) for 2020 – 2021 of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

Amarasuriya and Pallewatte will provide perspective on the development of the Association’s strategic plan, the local marketplace and understanding emerging issues in the region – all towards enhancing the management accounting profession and ensuring our continued relevance to the needs of employers and the industry. 

The Association is the most influential body of professional accountants, combining the strengths of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to power opportunity, trust and prosperity for people, businesses and economies worldwide. It represents 650,000 members and students in public and management accounting and advocates for the public interest and business sustainability on current and emerging issues. With broad reach, rigor and resources, the association advances the reputation, employability and quality of CPAs, CGMA designation holders and accounting and finance professionals globally.

Combining the strengths of the two founder bodies, The Association empowers the world’s most highly-skilled accountants – CPAs and CGMA designation holders – with the knowledge, insight and foresight to meet today’s demands and tomorrow’s challenges. They drive a dynamic accounting profession that works every day to build trust, create opportunity and grow prosperity worldwide. 

Mahesha Amarasuriya, AGM Card Services and Corporate Management Member of Cargills Bank is a Fellow Member of CIMA and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). She holds a BA (Hons) Degree from the University of Colombo and a MBA from the Post-Graduate Institute of Management. She counts over 15 years of experience in banking and finance covering corporate, retail, private banking, and cards and electronic payments.

She served on the Sri Lanka Board of CIMA from 2012 to 2016 and was the elected Vice Chair of the Board in 2016. She has served on the MESANA (Middle East, South Asia and North Africa) Regional Board in 2017 and was also the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Country Network Panel of CIMA in 2018. She was the Gold Winner of the Young CIMA Star Award in 2006; an award given by CIMA in Sri Lanka to the most outstanding CIMA member below the age of 30.

Having been nominated to the Regional Advisory Panel for the MESANA Region, Amarasuriya stated, “The coming year will undoubtedly be a challenging one as the entire world has now to fight for economic survival amidst a global pandemic. The Association [of International Certified Professional Accountants], as the largest and the most influential body of professional accountants with a membership of well over 650,000 members and students in public and management accounting has a huge role to play in this process. While the role of finance is being redefined, work and the work environment too is being transformed. As a member of the Regional Advisory Panel for the MESANA Region, I look forward to serving as a key conduit between the members, students and stakeholders in the region and the Association, whilst being vigilant of the environment and issues that impact the stakeholders and provide input and direction to formulate strategy of the Association.” 

Pallewatte is a Banking Professional with 25 years of experience in the banking sector, with 12+ years in Senior/Corporate Management. He has served 3 leading private commercial banks in Sri Lanka and has held many positions in his career covering the full spectrum of banking activities including branch banking, operations, and credit and risk management. He is currently the Deputy General Manager – Wholesale Banking Group, overseeing several critical business verticals which includes corporate banking, emerging corporates, trade services, treasury, project finance, payment and cash management, custody and trustee services and Islamic banking. He was the former Chief Risk Officer/Chief Information Security Officer at Hatton National Bank before assuming the current role. Prior to joining HNB, he was the Chief Risk Officer of Nations Trust Bank PLC.

He was a successful candidate of the CIMA C-Suite Business Finance program and participated at the “CGMA Leadership Academy” held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September 2019. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from Post-Graduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and earned his Bachelor of Science – Management (Hons) degree from University of London, London School of Economics (LSE). Pallewatte is also a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), the foremost qualification for a professional risk manager. He is also an ACI Operations Certificate Holder from Financial Markets Association, France.

Pallewatte played a leading role in setting up Integrated Risk Management frameworks in banks guiding them to BASEL III readiness, preparing banks to embrace IFRS 9 accounting standards and more importantly modernisation of Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB), which is the oldest and most advanced credit information bureau in the region where he chaired the Technical Committee appointed to review futuristic technology application. He is a past president of the Association of Banking Sector Risk Professionals, also Known as the “CRO Forum”. Pallewatte has been a resource personnel for Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka (IBSL) and Centre of Banking Studies, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID). 

Speaking on his nomination, he stated: “I am delighted on being nominated to MESANA RAP and looking forward to be a great ambassador for CIMA and thus, The Association to enhance the Management accounting profession and its relevance in the new world by understanding the emerging issues in the Region whilst embracing unique local perspectives.”

He is also a Director of Acuity Partners Ltd. (APL) and Acuity Securities Ltd., an appointed Primary Dealer which is a part of APL group. He is also an alternate Director for Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB).