Pavithra Siriwardhane

Pavithra is a lecturer and course coordinator at the School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain. She is also the program manager of postgraduate studies in the Department of Accounting. 

Before joining the academe, she had gained experience in the advisory services. She has been employed in tertiary education since 2001. 

Pavithra's current research interests are the accounting profession, accounting education, professional ethics, SDGs, Diversity and Inclusion and Accountability. She has received many internal and external research grants. 

Pavithra holds a PhD in accounting from RMIT University. She is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and Chartered Accountants  Sri Lanka. She is a member of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ). 

She was the past president of the Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka, Australia Chapter in  2021-2022. 

Pavithra is a co-convenor of the annual RMIT Accounting Educators' conference. 

Pavithra has taught various financial accounting courses and has had the honour of receiving several teaching excellence awards.  

In her teaching philosophy, she firmly believes in offering students from diverse backgrounds active and authentic educational experiences that nurture their critical thinking skills, creativity, ethical values, and lifelong learning attitude. This approach empowers students to be better equipped to adapt to and thrive in the constantly evolving accounting landscape. 

Teaching Awards

• Certificate of Excellence Teaching Award presented to the academic staff member with the highest teaching performance and/or greatest teaching practice innovation and/or outstanding mentoring of teaching staff in the School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain in 2024. 

• Certificate of Excellence Teaching Award presented to the academic staff member with the highest teaching performance in the school of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain in 2020. 

• Learning and Teaching Award for excelling in Passion, 2019, College of Business, RMIT University.

• Teaching Excellence Award for a creative course that applies creative approaches that provide transformative student experiences, 2018, School of Accounting, RMIT University. 

• RMIT Teaching Excellence Award 2016, Higher Education, College of Business - For applying accounting theories to material from popular culture and bridging the theory-practice gap for final-year postgraduate students.