Built on Trust | Driven by Integrity | Grounded in PNG
- Trust that your advisor will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
- Trust that your advisor’s findings are independent, impartial and never shaped by competing interests.
- Trust that when your advisor says they know PNG, they really do.
That is the professional standard we hold ourselves to, every day, with every client.
MASH Advisory Limited (MASHAL) was established in Papua New Guinea to serve PNG-based businesses, financial institutions and regulatory bodies with specialist forensic, due diligence, and corporate advisory services. These are delivered to the highest Big Four accounting firm standards, with the speed, flexibility and personal commitment that only an independent practice can offer.
Contact MASHALMashal is not a name chosen lightly. PNG’s business environment has always demanded knowledge, connections and sound judgement. Today, with the pressures of international regulatory scrutiny, the grey listing of the PNG economy in February 2026, and the enhanced compliance requirements that follow, it also demands clarity.
MASHAL provides that, bringing light to complex situations and illuminating the way forward for our clients with clarity and optimal solutions.
We support regulators, financial institutions and PNG-based businesses to understand where they stand, what the risks are and how to move forward.
Originating from the millennia-old Sanskrit and Persian civilisation languages, MASHAL means a flame torch – a bright flame on top of a stave or torch stick held forward to illuminate the path ahead.
Mahadevan Shankar
Founder, MASH Advisory Limited
Mahadevan Shankar — known to most as Dev
Mahadevan Shankar – known to most as Dev – is an experienced professional who raises the quality of every conversation he is part of.
Whether addressing a thousand accountants at the CPA PNG national conference, engaging with CXOs or the Central Bank regulatory senior team, sitting across the table from government officials, or working on forensic investigations within and outside PNG across multiple jurisdictions, he brings preparation, independence and a commitment to getting it right.
Dev has built a 30+ year career at the intersection of accounting, forensic investigation and cross-border corporate advisory. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in both India and Australia, is a Certified Public Accountant with CPA PNG, a Professional Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors Australia, and a former Partner with a Big Four accounting firm. He was also the founding Vice President of the Society of Indian Chartered Accountants in PNG (SICA).
During his career, he has worked across multiple sectors and economies including PNG, Australia, India, Canada, Russia, the Central Asian Region, South Pacific nations and Africa.
Career Overview
Dev is a specialist with decades of deep expertise in the areas that matter to PNG businesses and institutions right now – forensic accounting, AML/CTF compliance, due diligence and cross-border transaction advisory.
Recognising his knowledge and analytical rigour, the National Maritime Foundation of India appointed him as an Adjunct Fellow in 2021. He contributes regularly to think tank papers globally and has been invited to participate as a panellist in many annual Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogues since 2021.
The PNG Connection
Dev’s connection to Papua New Guinea dates back to the early morning hours of 10 December 1997 – a Friday – when he landed in Port Moresby on an Air Niugini flight from Singapore to begin work at a Big Four accounting firm.
Since then, his experience has spanned years of on-the-ground engagement across every province of the country including remote logging operations along the border with Indonesia, oil and gas production in the Highlands, the large Lihir gold mine on New Ireland and agricultural and fisheries operations on the mainland.
As a result, he has developed solid, long-term professional relationships across multiple industries, and made valued contributions through his work with key organisations.
Deep FATF MER Knowledge
In November 2025, Dev addressed the CPA PNG conference – one of the most significant gatherings of professional accountants in the country. He posed a simple question to the audience of a thousand accountants:
Not one hand went up in the audience.
That moment crystallised what MASHAL is here to do. The knowledge exists. The legislation exists. The international expectations are clear. What has been missing is the expertise, independence, and willingness to translate all of it into practical guidance for the businesses and institutions that need it most.
That is MASHAL’s purpose.
Global Connections, Local Delivery
Beyond his PNG and forensic work, Dev brings a breadth of international networks that benefit MASHAL clients directly. He is an Adjunct Fellow of the National Maritime Foundation of India (NMF), a former National Advisor at the Australia India Business Council (AIBC) and a former National Convener of the Defence and Security Industry vertical at the Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC).
He has facilitated signed MOUs between major industry bodies in India, Australia and Japan, including between the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and the Australian Industry and Defence Networks (AIDN), and between the SatCom Industry Association of India (SIA-India) and the AICC. He is a founding contributor to the Geospatial World Chamber of Commerce (GWCC) in the Oceania Region and a former founding committee member of the Current and Strategic Affairs Forum (CASA) think tank in India.
During 2016 and 2017, Dev played a key role in Project Finding AE1, facilitating the introduction between the Chairman of the Project and a global organisation. Together, those organisations completed the final search – and in December 2017, they found the Australian submarine AE1, submerged approximately 300 metres underwater outside the port of Rabaul in PNG. The submarine went down on 14 September 1914 during WW1. That underwater location is now designated as a museum by both the PNG and Australian governments.
These are working relationships that means Dev can pick up the phone and make something happen, whether a client needs an introduction in New Delhi, Canberra, or Port Moresby.
Built for this moment in PNG.
MASH Advisory Limited was registered in Papua New Guinea in 2025, with the support of the Investment Promotion Authority of PNG. It was the natural next step in a long professional journey that has already seen Dev spend years building relationships, conducting investigations and delivering results in PNG.
MASHAL exists as a dedicated PNG entity, focused exclusively on PNG-based clients and designed to provide locally grounded, operationally committed services that clients in Port Moresby and beyond deserve.
Through MASHAL’s strategic partners across Australia and the broader Indo-Pacific, MASHAL brings international standards of expertise directly to PNG – under PNG registration, with full commitment to PNG’s regulatory and commercial environment.
Our goal is to bring clarity, integrity and expert guidance to PNG-based businesses and institutions navigating an increasingly complex regulatory and commercial landscape.
Our Strategic Partners
MASHAL maintains active affiliations and working relationships with a range of professional bodies, regulatory organisations, think tanks and industry groups across the Oceania region, India, Asia and global economic hubs including Singapore, Dubai, London and New York.
