Dr Suresh P. Kana

Biography

Dr Suresh P. Kana is the former chairman of the South-African standard-setter, the Financial Reporting Standards Council. He is a non-executive director and chairman of Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited and deputy chairman of the stock exchange in South Africa, JSE Limited. He is also a non-executive director of Quilter plc and chairman of the Audit Committee of the United Nations World Food Programme based in Rome.

Dr Kana has contributed extensively to thought leadership in the fields of accounting, auditing, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. He has served on a wide range of boards and committees working to improve transparency and corporate reporting. He is currently the chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance and deputy chairman of the Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa. 

From 2013 to 2015 he served as chairman of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and from 1995 to 2003 he was South Africa’s representative on the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board. From 1999 to 2005 he was appointed by the Ministry of Finance in South Africa as a member of the Boards of Appeal for the Stock Exchanges Control Act, Pension Funds Act and the Unit Trust Controls Act, dealing with several appeals in the financial services industry.

Dr Kana joined Coopers & Lybrand, which later became PwC, in 1976 and became a partner in 1986. He has held various roles at PwC, including member of the PwC Global Board and member of PwC’s Global Strategy Council, before being elected as chief executive officer and territory senior partner of PwC Southern Africa in 2008 and PwC Africa from 2012 to 2015. 

He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa in 1979.