"It is very important to use that (strong) language. It's such a competitive arena out there. Why give anyone a reason to NOT buy what you are selling?" GBD58. Julie Holunga is a leadership trainer, speaker and coach who works with CPAs, attorneys and other professional women. She tells Jennifer Gardner of AICPA & CIMA(Durham, USA) about the way we're perceived by others. They unpick how communication is not simply the way we speak but the way we 'show up', how we present ourselves at meetin...
May 15, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 58
"Are you looking for incremental improvement, or are you REALLY trying to become a future-oriented organisation?". GBD57. Jennifer Gardner (AICPA & CIMA, Durham USA) talks digital disruption with CPA Technologist David Cieslak aka "Inspector Gadget". Frequently recognised as one of the top 100 most influential figures in the industry, David recently presented a session at the AICPA's CFO 2019 Conference in Chicago. Here, he outlines the drivers of change in today's digital world. WE DISCUSS:...
May 08, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 57
"For CPAs who know about the space already, you've already got the trusted advantage. Now all you need is the blockchain knowledge". GBD56. "TheBitCoinCPA" himself, Kirk Phillips, joins the AICPA & CIMAs's Kyle Hannan to share his passionate interest in how blockchain will transform accounting. Kirk has a niche consulting practice in the crypto blockchain space in addition to pioneering many other projects. He authored the Ultimate Bitcoin Business Guide , The AICPA’s Blockchain Fundamentals...
May 01, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 56
"We operate better when we engage. Look up, meet the people and understand the human being behind things". GBD55. As the AICPA & CIMA CFO Conference begins in Chicago, we talk to the Group Chief CFO of Bowmans Law, Jo-Ann Pohl. A qualified chartered accountant and professional banker (PBSA), in 2014 she was named by Euromoney as one of Africa’s top 20 rising stars. Jo-Ann is part of the 2013 South Africa Boss of the Year alumni and member of the African Leadership Network (ALN). WE DISCUSS: ...
Apr 24, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 55
"What is driving change in our profession? The fuel is TECHNOLOGY". GBD54. We sat down recently at AICPA & CIMA's London Office with Jim Bourke, CPA, CITP, CFF, CGMA, and Managing Director of Advisory Services for US-based WithumSmith+Brown. Visiting the UK on a speaking tour, Jim's passion for the profession is clear as he discusses the technological changes that will offer profound opportunities. He outlines the digital mindsets that will help our profession move forward, and describes the...
Apr 17, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 54
"To flourish and use AI, a company needs to be proficient in the strategic acquisition of data" GBD53. In a fast-evolving cyber tech landscape, our guest Pratish Sharma advises finance and other organisations on safe practices with their digital footprint. He is a corporate trainer and speaker, an expert in AI (Artificial Intelligence), cybersecurity and RPA (robotic process automation) through Excel & Automated Solutions. Pratish tells AICPA & CIMA's Kyle Hannan what he's learned from y...
Apr 10, 2019•37 min•Season 1Ep. 53
"Companies need to identify the third parties they work with because if they lose data, YOUR company's going to be facing the problem even though you weren't the one that lost the data'. GBD52. Expert certified 'ethical hacker' and top-rated tech speaker Mike Foster of the Foster Institute took time off from planning conference keynotes to talk to us during a skiing break in Montana. He tells Kyle Hannan (AICPA & CIMA, UK) about the ICT journey that has taken him from the C64s of yesterday t...
Apr 03, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 52
"What you realise is that people don't mind when people have clear boundaries. In fact, they APPRECIATE them". GBD51 Gretchen Pisano and Alexis Robin are co-founders of pLink Leadership, a US-based management consultancy that provides leadership-development, executive coaching, and curriculum-creation. AICPA & CIMA's Jennifer Gardner hears from our guests about an adaptive mindset. Why it matters? How it helps us decide to intervene on behalf of ourselves, speed up how we adapt to a changing...
Mar 29, 2019•26 min•Season 1Ep. 51
"We need individuals who are in those different positions of power in the blockchain space to really bring us in to discuss how we can change things before it gets too solidified. There's a LOT of room for change!". GBD50 Daisy Ozim is CEO and co-founder of Resilient Wellness, a California-based public health-technology company designed to empower community-building and empowerment for collective health and sustainability. She talks to AICPA & CIMA's Mballa Mendouga about creating a public h...
Mar 27, 2019•20 min•Season 1Ep. 50
"As a society we've raised our children to make fear-based decisions unintentionally. Being able to change that mindset to an OPPORTUNITY-based decision really changes the way you think about what is possible for you". GBD49. Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA is the Vice President of Finance & Tax at 1st Financial Bank USA, and was recognised as one of 2018's "Most Powerful Women in Accounting" by AICPA and CPA Practice Advisor and one of CPA Advisors’ 2017 "40 Under 40". She talks to AICPA &...
Mar 22, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 49
"Have those boundaries. Don't just push through...and sacrifice your lunch, sacrifice your sleep, sacrifice... because that has a bigger impact and risk than if you actually just ask for what you need". Lauren Baptiste is a CPA, former Senior Manager at Ernest and Young (New York) and now CEO of Acheloa Wellness. Her Manhattan-based boutique wellness consulting firm specialises in preventing and transforming stressful corporate cultures that lead to burnout, high turnover and huge staff-attritio...
Mar 20, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 48
"When technology is put into place the RIGHT way, in ethical ways, we actually create MORE human connection than less" AICPA & CIMA's Jennifer Gardner talks to author, accounting powerhouse and CPA Amy Vetter about ethical ICT-implementation, the power of mentoring, tech-transformation...and yoga. WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH. This March we're featuring a bonus selection of interviews with women who've become movers and shakers in the accounting, finance and business professional sphere. Episodes e...
Mar 15, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 47
"It doesn't mean you have to be best friends with everybody...but just take a moment and recognise that there are people behind processes - and connect into that very simply." This International Women's History Month, we dedicate all of our March episodes to conversations with women driving the future of the accounting and finance professions. Jennifer Gardner (AICPA & CIMA, Durham USA) talks to Canada-based author, speaker and workplace culture architect Carolyn Swora. They discuss the driv...
Mar 13, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 46
In this special IWD2019 episode, four experts share their thoughts on tech and the future of the accounting and finance professions. Hear from Oracle's Kimberly Ellison-Taylor and "Changemaker's Playbook" author Amy Radin. We also feature Jennifer Gardner and Clar Rosso of the AICPA & CIMA. There'll be more at our Women's Global Leadership Summit in late 2019 in California. In our first conversation, Kim Drumgo (Diversity and Inclusion Manager for AICPA & CIMA) talks to Kimberly Ellison-...
Mar 08, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 45
"Have grit and persevere, no matter WHAT happens, because you are so intrigued and attached to an idea.” March's special Women's History Month content series continues. Mballa Mendouga (AICPA & CIMA, Durham, USA) talks to a Hong Kong-born tech disruptor who dropped out of University in her early 20s to launch a multi-million dollar startup called BitSpark. Based in Hong Kong, Bitspark is a remittance platform operating out of Hong Kong which uses blockchain for users to send cash overseas fa...
Mar 06, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 44
"What I like to tell people - part of my methodology - is that you have no more, no more, than TWO professional goals at a time.” We begin our month-long special content series for Women's History Month by talking to author, academic and marketing and strategy consultant Dorie Clark. A frequent contributor to the likes of the Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur and Forbes, she consults and speaks to a diverse range of clients, including Google, the World Bank, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley. In ...
Mar 01, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 43
"Buzzwords are about the things that are coming, not the things we already have" Joining us during a business visit to China, Areiel Wolanow is an experienced business leader and former CPA with over 25 years spent working with leading corporations, central banks and financial regulators around the world. He was one of IBM’s key thought leaders in blockchain, machine learning, and financial inclusion, a topic particularly close to his heart. Currently serving as insurance industry advisor for th...
Feb 27, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 42
"The biggest mistake at CFO level is not focusing on the boring stuff, the stuff that their finance team's getting frustrated by, that's making things inefficient". Andy Carfax became a qualified CMA over two decades ago and previously headed up KPMG's technical EPM delivery team. He now specialises in Enterprise Performance Management as MD of LucaNet UK which provides software that enables Group Consolidated Reporting. Andy talks to Kyle Hannan (AICPA & CIMA, UK) about how CFOs can optimis...
Feb 20, 2019•34 min•Season 1Ep. 41
"Make sure you engage any resisters in your change process as if they're there to help...but they just don't know how yet" A speaker at AICPA & CIMA's forthcoming "CFO 2019" Conference in Chicago, Dr. Jeremy Lurey is an internationally-respected organisational consultant who has worked at both PWC and Andersen Consulting. Now President & CEO of Los Angeles-based Plus Delta Consulting and Practice Lead for SingerLewak’s People & Change Management Advisory Services, he tells Kyle Hanna...
Feb 13, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 40
On 31 January 2019, the Association launched the 2019 CIMA Professional Qualification and the updated CGMA Competency Framework. These are designed to help Management Accountants and their employers understand the knowledge required and skills needed for current and desired roles. This was a core element of the very well-attended Future Of Finance Festival in London, which also featured several keynotes and panel discussions from leading finance and accounting thought-leaders. Among these, which...
Feb 08, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 39
"The more that we talk about mental health in the workplace, the more employers and organisations need to be prepared for that" New ways that organisations can build employee resilience and create environments which strike a better balance between the 9-to-5 and what makes them thrive. UK-based Lauren Gasser shares her deeply honest and personal journey as she changed tack from working inside the AICPA & CIMA to becoming a yoga teacher, mindfulness coach and podcaster. TALKING POINTS: How to...
Feb 06, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 38
"Financial figures are the results of decisions, and you need to be involved in the decisions if you want to influence the financial figures". Data is vital. So vital that, when there's no data network infrastructure where your business is based, you have to get it built yourself. This relies on relationships, partnering with mobile phone companies and local government to get it done. Cape Town-based Pieter de Wit is CFO of Afrimat South Africa, a leading black-empowered open pit mining company ...
Jan 30, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 37
"Most common organisational issues could be solved if we had a better understanding of how individuals and groups operate, and of how those forces impact upon organisations" Author, journalist and researcher Sarah Niblock is Chief Executive of the UKCP, the country's leading body for research, innovation, education and regulation working to advance psychotherapies for the benefit of all. She tells AICPA & CIMA's Kymberley McAdam about the psychotherapist's message of hope and its relevance a...
Jan 23, 2019•25 min•Season 1Ep. 36
"The things that come to us easily tend to be the nature of our bias" Khalil Smith is Head of Diversity and Inclusion Practice at the NeuroLeadership Institute (North Carolina, USA). He talks to Kim Drumgo, Director of Diversity and Inclusion (AICPA & CIMA, USA) about the unconscious brain dynamics that feed into biases and assumptions. He reveals how it impacts our work relationships and explains what we can do about it. TALKING POINTS What is Unconscious bias? Who has it? What triggers it?...
Jan 16, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 35
"The future of accounting is in someone who understands guidance and all the rules, (with) the technical 'chops' and knowledge to APPLY that" When accounting legislation changes, accounting businesses have to change as well. Our guest, Mike Whitmire, responded by disrupting a specific niche in the market, transforming his accounting operation by growing his team and developing innovative AI-driven software to help them keep to deadlines and stay on target as they expanded. Speaking from Californ...
Jan 09, 2019•40 min•Season 1Ep. 34
""Finance teams are most effective when they've got a clear purpose: when they know WHY the team actually exists"" We begin 2019 with a guest who's an accountant and consultant coach by profession. Duncan Brodie, MD of Goals and Achievements Ltd, has worked with over 5 thousand professionals in the finance field. He tells Oliver Rowe (AICPA & CIMA, London, UK) about what he's learned helping sector professionals and organisations to develop their leadership, management and team-working skill...
Jan 02, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 34
"Be really clear that you're trying to develop SOLUTIONS... as well as being aware of your own biases, your own motivations for challenging" December's "Human Intelligence" theme concludes with a look at key changes in the field of critical thinking for corporate governance and Boards. Gillian Lees is a Research and Development Specialist in Corporate Governance and Risk-Management. She talks to Harry Domzalski (AICPA & CIMA, UK) about key changes in the field of critical thinking for corpor...
Dec 26, 2018•24 min•Season 1Ep. 32
"Leaders recognise that skills, knowledge and experience simply won't cut it anymore. They have to change HOW they know things, not just WHAT they know." Another episode in our 'Human Intelligence' strand for December. While many see AI automation as a threat, there are many clear ways to protect and enhance the value that our profession offers. Three-times TED Talks presenter Dr. Alan Watkins offers challenging perspectives on Polymath Integrators and insights on how to avoid being a 1-dimensio...
Dec 19, 2018•25 min•Season 1Ep. 31
"Creative accounting might be frowned upon but creative thinking - innovation - is not. Creativity is a muscle in the brain and requires exercise". Your December podcasts are inspired by our "Human Intelligence"-themed work around the world. This episode features Heather Wright, an international facilitator 20 years into a mission to learn as much as she can about the psychology of influence over our own thinking as well as with those around us. She tells AICPA & CIMA's Samantha Louis, VP fo...
Dec 12, 2018•22 min•Season 1Ep. 30
"We could communicate by email but the pendulum is swinging back. People want face-to-face communication" Our "Human Intelligence" work inspires our December episodes and our guest for the first of them is Dexter Moscow. He shares his depth of insight into how professionals and their teams can rise above the hum of the tech to positively impact and motivate others. Dexter talks to AICPA & CIMA (UK)'s Kyle Hannan about why he loves seeing the lightbulb come on when people finally 'just get it...
Dec 05, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 29
