CA Sri Lanka honours James Selvanathan Mather with 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) paid tribute to eminent Chartered Accountant, Mr. James Selvanathan Mather by honouring him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015 in recognition of the exemplary contribution made towards the profession, the business world and society, at a ceremony held at the BMICH, Colombo recently.

Mr. Mather, a double degree holder, qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1959, served at the Income Tax Department, Central Bank and Morison Rutherford & Co., in London before moving to TurquandYoungs, the predecessor firm of Ernst & Young in 1960, where he served as a practitioner and Partner for over 40 years.

During his tenure at Ernst & Young which ended in 2001, Mr. Mather was instrumental in playing a monumental role in the way Ernst & Young developed and continues to serve the profession and its clients to date. In his capacity as a Partner, he brought in a strong business focus into the management of the professional practice, and introduced a culture of client service, performance management and a fair and inclusive process for recruitment and training of staff.

He was also instrumental in establishing a scholarship fund at Ernst & Young for needy students providing the seed capital on a personal basis.

Mr. Mather also served as a Director for leading public listed and private companies including; Richard Pieris PLC, Commercial Bank PLC, Ceylon Tobacco PLC, Chemical Industries Colombo PLC, United Motors PLC and Delmege Forsyth & Co. Ltd. Currently, he serves as a  Director at David Pieris& Co Limited.

Mr. Mather was also a member and thereafter a commissioner in the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka until 2005.

He also played a pivotal role in the development and enhancement of the institute by way of serving in the Committee of Education, Training and Student Welfare from 1961 onwards. He also, served on the Council of the Institute during 1974 and 1975 and chaired its Accounting Systems and Standards Committee during that period. He also chaired the Committee charged with the development of an Audit Committee best practice statements in 1998/2000 and was also on the Ethics, Finance and Administration and Examination Committees.

Mr. Mather was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Trinity College, Kandy from 1995 to 2003.