Nisreen Rehmanjee

Nisreen Rehmanjee, a Sri Lankan professional, has been featured in ACCA’s global magazine. Ms Rehmanjee, the head of Tax-Strategy at John Keells Holdings Ltd, was profiled in the accountancy institute’s January 2008 issue.

The magazine said Nisreen, as a young professional embarking on a finance career, was keen to pursue a role in corporate finance, bit when an opportunity arose in the tax division at KPMG Sri Lanka, she felt compelled to take it. ‘Initially, tax seemed off my radar, but I thought there would be nothing to lose in trying it out, at least temporarily. I certainly didn’t bank on acquiring a passion for the field, but have. I thoroughly enjoyed working in the tax division of KPMG Sri Lanka. It was a challenging and enriching experience, particularly working with the partner, Ms Premila Perera, who guided me in the art of looking beyond the obvious.’

It said at the age of 28, Nisreen was appointed director tax at the firm. In 2005, she decided it was time for a change. She was appointed Assistant Vice President – head of Tax Strategy at John Keells Holdings. “After having worked for KPMG for nearly 10 years, mostly in a consultative capacity for a database of over 500 corporate clients, it was time for me to move out of a consulting mind frame and get hands-on with how business actually operate. John Keells has business interests that are almost as diverse as my former corporate database, taken collectively. It was a tremendous opportunity and a challenge I could not resist.”

She acknowledge that complex and ever-changing tax law means that she has to be alert and ready to respond to issues. ‘In an environment where tax laws are subject to sporadic change, it is challenging not only to keep up with these changes but also to be able to proactively influence policy-makers by lobbying against changes tat would be detrimental to industry.’