Eminent Chartered Accountants Tissa Bandaranayake and Ajit Jayaratne inducted into CA Sri Lanka Hall

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently paid tribute to two eminent Chartered Accountants by inducting them into the CA Sri Lanka Hall of Fame in recognition of their exemplary contribution towards the development of the accounting profession, the business world and the country. 

Well-known accounting personalities Tissa Kumara Bandaranayake and Ajit Mahendra De Silva Jayaratne were inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2016 at a ceremony held at the BMICH recently. 

Bandaranayake, a fellow member of CA Sri Lanka, is a highly respected accounting professional in the country, who has served top organisations for several decades including in the capacity of Senior Partner at Ernst & Young (Sri Lanka) where he served for 27 years until his retirement in 2009. 

Bandaranayake has also held top management positions, having served on the Board of Directors of Brown & Co Plc, Harishchandra Mills Plc, Overseas Reality (Ceylon) Ltd, Renuka Holdings Plc, LAUGFS Gas Plc, Nawaloka Hospitals Plc, Samson International Plc, Waters Edge Ltd, Micro Holdings Ltd and Renuka Foods Plc. 

Prior to these positions, Bandaranayake also served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of DFCC Bank and as a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Central Finance Plc. He also served as Director of Lanka Ceramic Ltd, Lanka Tiles Ltd, Noritake Lanka Porcelain Ltd, Lanka Walltile Ltd. and Hayleys Photoprint Ltd. 

As an illustrious accounting professional, Bandaranayake also gave his time towards developing the accounting profession by serving in various committees at CA Sri Lanka over the years. He has served as a member of the Research and Development Committee, Auditing Standards Committee, Accounting Standards Committee, Taxation Committee, Strategic Review, Policy Planning and International Relationships Committee, Continuing Professional Education Committee and Ethics Committee.

Bandaranayake also served as Chairman of the Audit and Assurance Committee and the Audit Faculty, and currently serves as Chairman of the Quality Assurance Board of CA Sri Lanka. 

Jayaratne, who was also inducted into the CA Sri Lanka Hall of Fame for 2016, is a fellow member of the institute who has played a remarkable role in both the public and private sectors of the country, and currently serves as Chairman of both Kia Motors and Colonial Motors. 

He is also a non-executive director of 10 public listed companies including Overseas Realty, Colombo Fort Land & Building Co, ACL Cables, C.W. Mackie and Kotagala Plantations, and serves as Chairman of the audit committees to most of these companies.

During his early days in Sri Lanka, Jayaratne worked at Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co, now known as KPMG, and joined Forbes & Walker Ltd. as an Accountant, where he progressed to become Director and then Chairman of the company. He also served as Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Colombo Stock Exchange. It was during his tenure as Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange that the much heralded Central Depositary System was initiated. 

Jayaratne was also appointed by former President J.R. Jayewardene as the first Chairman of the Finance Commission from 1988-1996. Subsequently, as a result of his significant contribution to the private sector and the stock market in particular, former President Ranasinghe Premadasa conferred the title of Deshabandu on Jayaratne.

He also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Singapore and Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Brunei. 

Jayaratne has also served in various capacities in the public and private sectors, and was the Director of Central Finance, Singer, DFCC Bank, Glaxo and Lanka Hospitals Ltd. of which he was the Chairman. In the public sector, he served as a Director of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, State Development and Construction Corporation and People’s Bank.