CA Sri Lanka members Subasinghe and Kanagasabapathy appointed to top CAPA committees

Two high profile members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), Tishan Subasinghe and V. Kanagasabapathy have been appointed to top committees of the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA), the regional organisation representing nearly 2 million accountants across Asia and Pacific. 

Member of the incumbent Council of CA Sri Lanka Subasinghe was appointed to the Member Development Committee (MDC) of CAPA, while President of CA Sri Lanka’s Public Sector Wing (Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka) Kanagasabapathy was appointed to serve on the Public Sector Financial Management Committee (PSFMC) of CAPA. Subasinghe is the only Sri Lankan to serve in the 10-member MDC, which has representation from countries including Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, and Kanagasabapathy is also the only Sri Lankan to serve on the 10-member PSFMC. 

CAPA said that it had received a ‘high number’ of nominations for the two committees from exceptionally talented accounting professionals and a rigorous selection process was applied to select the best suited candidates in line with established criteria, and with a desire to achieve appropriate representation and diversity. Subasinghe is a fellow member of CA Sri Lanka and has served in the Institute’s Council since 2013. He has led several top committees at CA Sri Lanka, including the Examinations Committee, National Conference Committee, Annual Report Awards Committee, Transfer Pricing Guide Development Task Force and the Committee for Developing Guidelines for Integrated Reporting. 

At present, Subasinghe serves as the Managing Director – Advisory at Moore Stephens Consulting Ltd. and he is also the incumbent Chair of the CAPA Conference Committee. He is a fellow member of CA Sri Lanka and holds an MBA (Finance) from the University of Colombo, LL. B (Hons.) and CISA certification from USA. Kanagasabapathy is a fellow member of CA Sri Lanka, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA) London. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, USA and is a former Council member of CA Sri Lanka. He commands over 40 years of service in the public sector having served in several senior capacities and retired as Director General of Public Enterprise in the Treasury. 

He has also served as a member of the Board of Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka and State Mortgage & Investment Bank. At present, he serves as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Public Sector Accounting Standards Committee of CA Sri Lanka and Director of the Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, which is the owning company of Hilton Colombo. He is also a Council Member of the University of Jaffna. 

Over the years, an impressive number of CA Sri Lanka members have served on top committees of regional and international accounting bodies by offering their expertise and insights towards developing the accounting profession further. CAPA represents 33 national professional accountancy organisations (PAOs) from 24 jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region. CAPA is one of the four regional organisations (ROs) recognised by the global accountancy professional body, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). CAPA’s mission is to enhance the value of the accountancy profession in Asia Pacific by contributing to the development of professional accountancy organisations in the region and promoting ethical values and the benefits of high-quality accounting, reporting and assurance.