SYDNEY — Sri Lankan-born finance professional Priyan Fernando has been honoured as CFO of the Year at the 2025 Australian Accounting Awards, a recognition that reflects not only his professional excellence but also a journey shaped by resilience, vision, and deep-rooted values.
The award ceremony partnered by CPA Australia was held in Sydney recently and recognises outstanding achievers across Australia within the Accounting industry.
Born in Colombo, Priyan’s early education at St Peter’s College and Elizabeth Moir School set the stage for a life defined by academic brilliance, with distinctions at his GCE Ordinary Levels and straight A grades at Advanced Levels. In 2002, he moved to Australia as an international student and graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2005, beginning his career as a Financial Accountant.
In 2008, life took an unexpected turn when his father, a pioneer in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry, fell into a coma whilst in the US. Priyan returned to Colombo and assumed responsibility for the family’s garment business, which employed over 1,200 staff across four factories. Steering the company through the Global Financial Crisis together with his father, he restructured operations, safeguarded livelihoods, and honed the leadership and financial strategy skills that would define his career. During this time, he also served as General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Chamber of Garment Exporters, earning respect for his commitment to both industry and community.
After returning to Australia in 2013, Priyan resumed his finance career while pursuing further academic growth. He completed an MBA at Macquarie Business School in 2019, ranked as Australia’s leading business school, and in 2022 launched Metrix Advisory, a firm dedicated to providing Virtual and Fractional CFO services for small and medium-sized businesses across Australia. Today, Metrix Advisory operates with a ten-member professional team based in Sri Lanka, a model that reflects Priyan’s ability to bridge talent and expertise across continents.
His recognition as CFO of the Year in 2025 is both a personal milestone and a celebration of his broader vision: to lead with integrity, empower businesses and inspire the next generation of professionals. Priyan’s journey, from Colombo classrooms to the Australian corporate stage, is a story of perseverance and purpose, demonstrating what can be achieved when ambition is guided by values and strengthened by resilience.
