Under British rule, Sri Lanka like many other colonies expanded their trading practices which created the need for professional accountancy firms to monitor compliance of an increased number of trading organizations. This led to the establishment of Church and Co. which was established as a small accountancy firm in 1897 under the leadership of Mr. F. P. Church who set up in practice as a public accountant. The name was later changed to Ford, Rhodes, and Church in 1910 when Ford, Rhodes of London acquired an interest in the firm and subsequently Mr. H.D. Thornton was admitted as a resident Partner revising the name of the firm to Ford, Rhodes, Thornton and Co.

In 1962 the leadership of the firm passed on to the first Sri Lankan Senior Partner Mr. S. Vellupillai. He was a prominent Chartered Accountant and a founding members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka in 1959. Mr. S. Vellupillai served in the council of the Institute from 1965-1966 and he was also one of the first members of the Taxation Committee of the ICASL.

In 1966 Mr. N. G. P. Panditharathne took over as Senior Partner. It was under Mr. Panditharathne’s guidance that in 1987 Ford, Rhodes, Thornton & Co. became a representative firm of the Big 6 and then a full member firm of the KPMG network by 1992.

Today, KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms and is also the oldest Chartered Accountancy firm in the country. The firm presently has a resource base comprising of 20 partners and over 1000 professionals and associates providing audit, tax and advisory services to over 1,500 client organizations in Sri Lanka.

KPMG in Sri Lanka is governed by a strong value system which is built on the pillars of integrity, honesty, professionalism, transparency, ethics, accountability, diligence and sound governance. The commitment towards upholding this value culture has established a strong market reputation for the Firm. KPMG in Sri Lanka was recognized as one of “The Most Respected Entities In Sri Lanka” in the ranking published for 2009, 2012/2013 and 2014. More recently KPMG was ranked among the most respected entities in the country for 2015, in the 11th and latest edition of LMD’s rankings and was the first in the financial service category. 

KPMG was ranked first for the 10th consecutive year auditing 40 of the LMD 100 companies in the financial year 2014/2015 as indicated in the LMD 100, a listing of Sri Lanka’s leading listed companies by the independent publisher, Media Services. 

The firm also led in the LMD 100 Auditors League in the previous three financial years and was ranked first in the LMD 50 Auditors League, a previous index by publishers Media Services, for six consecutive years since the inception of the publication.