Dr. SMR Kithsiri Samarakoon

kithsiri@wyb.ac.lk
+94702704813
Department of Accountancy, Faculty of Business Studies and Finance, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Kuliyapitiya. 60200

Dr. SMR Kithsiri Samarakoon

Senior Lecturer

Education

  • PhD in Finance, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-Kharagpur), IndiaTitle of the Thesis: Essays on Equity Derivative Markets: Success, Economic Impact, Usage, and Mispricing Dynamics
  • M.Sc. in Financial Mathematics, University of Moratuwa (2020)
  • M.Sc. in Applied Finance, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (2019)
  • B.Sc. (Special) Degree in Accountancy and Business Finance, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (2013)

Professional Qulifications

  • Passed Finalist of CASL (2012)
  • Passed Finalist of AATSL (2006)

Teaching Interests: Experience in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Levels

  • Financial Derivatives
  • Python for Finance/ Machine Learning for Finance
  • Financial Mathematics
  • International Financial Management
  • Financial Risk Management and Risk Modeling
  • Econometrics/Financial Econometrics/Times Series (with R, Python, Stata)
  • Strategic Finance
  • Investment Management/Portfolio Theory/Fixed Income Securities
  • Business Valuation
  • Actuarial Science
  • Corporate Finance

Research Interests

  • Index Futures Mispricing
  • Financial derivatives Markets
  • Asset Pricing Models
  • Futures Market Spillovers (Commodity/Financial/Energy/Carbon Derivatives) and connectedness
  • Cultural Finance
  • Annual report Readability and Tone and Textual Analytics
  • Climate Change Disclosure
  • Gender equity and equality in corporations – Disclosure

Scholarships/ Awards/ Medals

  • Wayamba University Most Outstanding Young Researcher 2023 - Faculty of Business Studies & Finance, Faculty Level Research Awards - Wayamba University Research Congress (WURC) 2024
  • Certificate of Merit - Wayamba University Most Outstanding Young Researcher 2023 - Wayamba University Research Congress (WURC) 2024
  • SHRI GOPAL RAJGARHIA INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM (SGRIP) Scholarship Winner (2022/2023/2024) – Competitive academic performance-based scholarship awarded by IIT Kharagpur.
  • GURU KRUPA FOUNDATION (GKF) Postgraduate Scholarship Winner (2022/2023/2024) – Competitive academic performance-based scholarship awarded by IIT Kharagpur.
  • Best Presenter Award - Gold Medal for the overall best presenter of the conference - 2nd South Asian Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (SAMR) 2019 - Paper titled Application of Geometric Brownian Motion Model to Simulate the Share Prices in Colombo Stock Exchange - Samarakoon SMRK, Dissanayake AR
  • Prize winner- 3rd in order of merit prize-Intermediate Examination-January 2007-The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL)
  • Prize winner- President’s Prize- 1st Place in Order of Merit- Final Examination –June 2006- The association Of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL)
  • Prize winner- Subject Prize- Cost & Management Accounting & Quantitative Techniques- Final Examination - June 2006- The association Of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL)
  • Prize winner- 3rd in order of merit prize-Foundation Examination-June 2005- The association Of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL)
  • Prize winner- Subject Prize- Economics-Foundation Examination-June 2005- The association Of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL)

Administrative/ University/ Faculty/ National Contributions

  • Academic sub-warden - Kuliyapitiya Premises- from 2018 January to 2021 December
  • AHEAD Project ELTA - ELSE, Faculty of Business Studies and Finance - Activity Coordinator - Activity 04 - from 2020 January to 2021 December
  • Academic Coordinator – Diploma in Accounting Information Systems (DAIS) – From 2021 January to 2021 December
  • Coordinator – Proposed B.Sc. (Hons) in Quantitative Finance and Analytics Degree Programme (2021/ January to Date)
  • Student Counsellor, Faculty of Business Studies and Finance (2020 - 2021), Wayamba University of Sri Lanka

Selected Publications
Indexed journals

  1. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., & Perera, D. A. M. (2025). Index futures mispricing: A global phenomenon? A comparative analysis of market dynamics. Borsa Istanbul Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bir.2025.07.001

  2. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Rajapakse, R. P. C. R., et al. (2025). From complexity to clarity: Unraveling the determinants of annual report readability and tone in an emerging market. Quality & Quantity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-025-02155-1

  3. Amarathunga, B., Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., & Sarathkumara, S. M. N. N. (2025). Global ambitions, local challenges: The complex dynamics of graduate migration intentions in an emerging economy. International Journal of Educational Development, 115, 103285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103285 

  4. Sarathkumara, S.M.N.N., Samarakoon, S.M.R.K. and Pradhan, R.P. (2025), “Navigating financial interconnectivity: analyzing oil, exchange rates and US market influences on Asia-Pacific equities using the time-varying parameter vector autoregressive connectedness approach”, Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-10-2024-0674

  5. Narthana, H. D., Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., & Rajapakse, R. P. C. R. (2025). Fiscal signals in frontier markets: unveiling the impact of government budget announcements on stock returns. Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/17520843.2025.2453297

  6. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Tripathy, S., & Jayakumar, M. (2024). Does the VIX act as the main transmitter of mispricing in index futures markets? Insights from European and American regions. The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 76, 102341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.najef.2024.102341

  7. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Mishra, R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Jayakumar, M., & Bagchi, T. P. (2024). Annual report readability, ESG disclosure, and risk perspectives of Indian firms: the mediating role of corporate governance and earnings management. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41310-024-00272-1

  8. Samarakoon, K. and Pradhan, R.P. (2024), “Index futures mispricing: a multi-regime approach to the NIFTY 50 Index futures”, Managerial Finance, 50(12), 2091-2114 . https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-03-2024-0166

  9. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Gunathunga, I. K. D., & Tripathy, S. (2024). Financial Derivatives Usage and Firm Value in Turbulent Periods: Comparative Evidence from India during the COVID-19 Crisis. Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, 1-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-024-09457-8

  10. Pradhan, R. P., Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Maradana, R. P., & Sahoo, P. (2024, April). Climate change disclosure and firm value in a frontier market: Exploring the determinants. In Natural Resources Forum. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 49(2), 1391-1964. https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-8947.12462

  11. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., & Maradana, R. P. (2024). How does equity derivative market affect economic growth? Evidence from the Asia‐Pacific region. Review of Financial Economics, 42(2), 186-205. https://doi.org/10.1002/rfe.1195

  12. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Maradana, R. P., & Sahoo, P. (2023). What determines the success of equity derivatives markets? A global perspective. Borsa Istanbul Review. 24, 15-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bir.2023.10.008

  13. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Pradhan, R. P., Ediriweeera, E. A. I. N., & Maradana, R. P. (2024). Dynamics of Price and Volatility Spillovers Among Stock and Foreign Exchanges: Evidence from South Asian Countries. Journal of Economic Development, 49(2), 111-138.  https://doi.org/10.35866/caujed.2024.49.2.006

  14. Samarakoon, SMRK, & Perera, KLW (2018). Short-run price performance of IPOs and corporate governance practices: Evidence from a frontier market. Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review, 2(1), 34 – 42. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgsrv2i1p3

  15. Gunarathne UGVDD, Priyadarshanie WAN, Samarakoon SMRK, “Impact of Dividend Policy on Stock Price Volatility And Market Value Of The Firm: Evidence From Sri Lankan Manufacturing Companies” Corporate Ownership & Control/ Volume 13, Issue 3, P 219, Winter 2016, ISSN 1727-9232 (printed version)1810-0368 (CD version)1810-3057 (online version) https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv13i3c1p8

Conferences – International

  1. Accepted for Presentation at the 32nd Annual Global Finance Conference 2025, Malta, for the paper co-authored titled “A Multi-Model Approach to Navigating the Return and Volatility Spillovers Across Index Futures, Commodity, and Carbon Emission Futures”.
  2. Accepted for Presentation at the 31st Annual Global Finance Conference 2024, University of Cagliari, Italy, for the paper co-authored titled “From Complexity to Clarity: Unravelling the Determinants of Annual Report Readability and Tone in an Emerging Market.
  3. Co-Authored the paper titled “Climate Change Risk and the Firm Financial Performance: Evidence From Indian Agriculture Related Firms”, presented at the International Conference on Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Development in Global South, held in New Delhi, India, from August 10-12, 2023, organized by the Institute for Human Development (IHD), NITI Aayog, and University of Florida, in partnership with various academic and government institutions.
  4. Co-Authored the paper titled “Dynamics of Price and Volatility Spillovers among Stock and Foreign Exchanges: Evidence from South Asian Countries”, presented at the 30th Annual Global Finance Conference, held in Treviso, Italy, from June 12-14, 2023.
  5. Co-Authored the paper titled “Success Factors of Equity Derivative Markets: Evidence from Asia Pacific Region”, presented at the 5th International Conference on Financial Markets & Corporate Finance (ICFMCF 2023), held at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, from July 6-8, 2023.
  6. Co-Authored the paper titled “Earnings Announcements and Stock Returns: Comparative Evidence from South Asia”, presented at the International Conference on Business Management and Allied Disciplines (ICBMAD-2022), organized by the Institute of Management in Kerala and School of Distance Education, University of Kerala, in association with Maseno University, Kenya, and Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Ethiopia, from August 22-24, 2022.

Full Papers Published in Refereed Journals

  1. Rajapaksha, I. P. A. T., Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., Rajapakse, R. P. C. R., & Uluwatta, K. (2024). Balancing Profit and Morality: Confucian Insights into Financial Management and Corporate Governance. Vidyodaya Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences – University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 9(02). http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v09i02.05
  2. Samarakoon, S. M. R. K., & Rajapakse, R. P. C. R. (2023). Dynamics of Price and Volatility Spillovers among Stock Markets and Foreign Exchange Markets: Evidence from South Asia. International Journal of Accountancy (IJA) – University of Kelaniya, 3(1) https://doi.org/10.4038/ija.v3i1.47
  3. Kodithuwakku, K. A. S. S., & Samarakoon, S. M. R. K. (2021). The Behaviour of Stock Prices of Sri Lankan Hotel and Travel Sector Companies: A comparison of Civil War and Easter Attack 2019. International Journal of Accountancy (IJA) – University of Kelaniya, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.4038/ija.v1i2.35
  4. Soyza, W. S., Kodithuwakku, K. A. S. S., & Samarakoon, S. M. R. K. (2021). Stock Price Reaction to the Stock Splits Announcement of Listed Companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange.Vidyodaya Journal of Management – University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 07 (II), 17-33.  http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31357/vjm.v7iII.5094