Mr. Rajan Asirwatham was the Senior Partner and Country Head of KPMG Sri Lanka – formerly Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co – for well over four decades, from 1961 to 2008. Under his leadership, KPMG diversified into numerous other services apart from accounting and auditing. Despite its relatively small size, KPMG Sri Lanka always retained a place in the global firm’s Middle East and South Asia boards, whereas many larger countries were unable to secure such an exalted position.
During his lifetime of achievement to the profession, Mr. Asirwatham has been the Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon; Chairman of the Institute of Taxation; Chairman – Finance Services Stability Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Member of the University of Colombo Council, Member – Advisory Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce; Member of the Presidential Commission on Taxation and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Asirwatham has held a number of important positions in the public sector and with professional organisations; and he continues to be a director of a number of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). He has been a director of numerous companies in Sri Lanka including Aitken Spence PLC; Aitken Spence Hotels; CIC Holdings PLC; Mercantile Merchant Bank Limited; Browns Beach Hotels PLC and Dankotuwa Porcelain Limited. He also sits on the boards of S. Thomas’ College, Bishop’s College and Trinity College.
Mr. Asirwatham is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, and the first chairman of Faculty of Taxation, a position he held for over 10 years. He has been a paper writer, commentator and session chairman at number of annual National Conferences and a speaker at annual Budget seminars and other seminars on Taxation and Company Law. He was also a paper writer at South Asian Federation of Accountants conference in Chennai, India.
Apart from setting benchmarks in audit and advisory services, while functioning as the Senior Partner of KPMG, Mr. Asirwatham was the Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Sustainable Tourism Project (funded by the World Bank for the Ministry of Tourism),
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants is honoured to induct Mr. Rajan Asirwatham to the Global Accounting Hall of Fame® for his services to the profession in Sri Lanka.
