On this episode, Simon Dermarkar, associate professor of accounting at HEC Montreal, discusses the evolving role of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and data governance. Simon emphasizes the critical importance of data as the fuel of AI. He argues that it is natural for CPAs to apply their expertise in assurance and internal controls to the vast domains of digital data and AI-driven processes. By ensuring the quality of data that feeds into AI models...
Apr 08, 2024•22 min•Season 6Ep. 6
On this episode with Benjamin Alarie, CEO of Blue J and a tax law professor at the University of Toronto, we explore another case study of an AI-driven platform penetrating traditional CPA competencies. Blue J's “Ask Blue J” platform allows professionals to input complex tax queries and receive detailed, sourced responses in conversational language. This shift signifies a move from manual research to a streamlined, AI-enhanced approach. Tax professionals may feel anxiety towards the incursion of...
Mar 25, 2024•23 min•Season 6Ep. 5
On this episode, Ryan Meyers, chief product officer at Manifest Climate, discusses how Manifest Climate, helps companies measure their sustainability efforts against regulations and see how they stack up against others. The platform uses AI to quickly check a company's reports against 50 regulatory standards, offering detailed comparisons and identifying where improvements are needed. Manifest Climate offers a case study in how artificial intelligence can be applied to the challenge of sustainab...
Mar 11, 2024•23 min•Season 6Ep. 4
On this episode, Jean-Sébastien Charest, chief information officer at the Business Development Bank of Canada discusses Canada’s productivity crisis. Canada’s labour productivity, which is measured by the real gross domestic product (GDP) by hours worked across the economy, has been compared with the United States and other advanced economies, and Canada is lagging behind. Charest believes one key factor to Canada’s falling productivity is the underinvestment in new technologies, particularly th...
Feb 26, 2024•24 min•Season 6Ep. 3
We are continuing our conversation on Generative AI, often referred to as Gen AI, with Cathy Cobey, FCPA , global responsible AI co-lead at EY, to explore the potential risks that come with introducing this new technology to the accounting profession. Cobey brings extensive experience working on the ethics and control implications of AI and other autonomous systems. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI and how it falls to the CPA to ensure the...
Feb 12, 2024•24 min•Season 6Ep. 2
We’re kicking off season six with Sree Balakrishnan, partner at Deloitte Canada, and Zohaib Akhtar, senior manager on Deloitte’s Omnia AI team, as we explore how the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will be shaped by the evolution and adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI). Our guests bring their extensive experience working with CFOs and finance professionals to the table to discuss how Gen AI is moving beyond mere automation to become a strategic partner in enhancing prod...
Jan 29, 2024•26 min•Season 6Ep. 1
On this episode, Shreya Verma Mair, CPA, senior associate at ESG Global Advisors discusses the launch of the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) sustainability disclosure standards and their impact on sustainability reporting. While for many, this is seen as a major and unsettling shift in the way we manage reporting standards that may cause panic, Verma Mair says this is an opportunity for CPAs – if they’re prepared. Verma Mair believes that it is imperative for CPAs to get ...
Nov 13, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 6
On this episode, Annie Veillet, the national Intelligent Automation practice leader at PwC Canada dives into the rise of generative AI and what it means for the accounting profession. Will these tools replace CPAs? Veillet doesn’t believe so. Hear her thoughts as she discusses how these tools are being used internally at PwC, as well as addressing the very real concern about the reliability of generative AI. Veillet envisions a future where the relationship between AI and humans is collaborative...
Oct 30, 2023•25 min•Season 5Ep. 5
In May 2021, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) produced a study called Ground-breakers: Gen Z and the future of accountancy . The study suggests the future of accounting is no longer in the hands of baby boomers and gen-Xers. Millennials have stepped into leadership roles and a new generation with a distinct perspective on the profession is entering the workforce. Generation Z, born after 1996, are digital natives who...
Oct 16, 2023•25 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Liane Davey, PhD., and author of ‘The Good Fight’, distinguishes healthy and unhealthy workplace conflict and how CPAs can cultivate an environment that encourages collaboration. On this episode, renowned team effectiveness advisor and author of The Good Fight , Liane Davey, PhD., discusses how to manage problems in a workplace arising from individuals with polarized views. Bringing people together around common goals and bridging the gaps between various parts of an organization is integral to ...
Oct 02, 2023•27 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Jan Taylor, CPA, PhD, addresses a growing movement in the United States to have accounting considered as a STEM field and its potential impact on attracting new talent into the profession. On this episode, Jan Taylor, CPA, PhD, academic in residence and senior director of academic and student engagement at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), passionately advocates for the inclusion of accounting within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic...
Sep 18, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 2
We’re kicking off season five with Kevin Kolliniatis, CPA, the national technology leader for KPMG in Canada’s audit and assurance practice. Kevin has been instrumental in KPMG’s transition towards continuous auditing. This emerging aspect of accounting can be described as a transformative shift from traditional practices. It’s characterized by a continuous flow of client information that is analyzed, monitored and flagged for exceptions in real time. Kevin highlights numerous benefits of contin...
Sep 04, 2023•24 min•Season 5Ep. 1
On this episode, we speak with Jerome Dwight, CPA, the co-founder and CEO of BoomerangFX, a tech company aimed at private health-care providers. Instead of discussing what keeps him up at night during times of uncertainty, Jerome shared his perspective on the possibilities that can arise with an unsettled economy. He believes CPAs are well-positioned to identify hidden opportunities and manage the risks in a volatile economy. As Canada was navigating the global economic crisis in 2008, Jerome co...
Mar 27, 2023•20 min•Season 4Ep. 6
On this episode, Chris Dulny, CPA, chief digital data and innovation Officer at PWC Canada, discusses his deep concern that in tough economic times, Canadian businesses will prioritize short-term goals over long-term innovation strategies and potentially stifle their ability to adapt and thrive in the long run. Chris argues that innovation should not be viewed as a peripheral activity that can be put on hold until the economy stabilizes, but rather as a fundamental aspect of an organization's lo...
Mar 13, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 5
On this episode, Priyanka Lloyd, Executive Director of Green Economy Canada, discusses how taking meaningful steps to reduce emissions can make businesses stronger and better equipped to navigate an unpredictable future. When times are uncertain, it's natural to become risk-averse and cling to familiar processes and approaches. However, she argues that this is the ideal time to rethink spending on energy. Despite global uncertainty, many organizations continue the shift to sustainability, but no...
Feb 27, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 4
On this episode, we speak with Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group’s president and CEO Stéphane Lefebvre about his experience facing what seemed to be the worst-case scenario for the entertainment giant. In March 2020, Cirque du Soleil had six shows in Las Vegas with another 10 shows touring around the world. Then suddenly, within just six days, their revenue plummeted from over a billion dollars per year to zero. In his previous role as CFO, Stéphane helped identify new sources of funding for ...
Feb 13, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Our guest in this episode, Anish Chopra, FCPA, shares his approach when it comes to managing investments during times of macroeconomic uncertainty, and how being a CPA has helped him manage his emotions during high-stress periods. Anish Chopra is the managing director and portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Corporation. Prior to this, he oversaw over $100 billion dollars in investment management mandates as managing director of the Innovative Solutions Group at TD Asset Management. Season ...
Jan 30, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 2
We’re kicking off season four with Obed Maurice. Obed is a partner at Avail, a mid-sized business advisory and accounting firm in southern Alberta. He's a CPA and he leads the firm's cloud accounting service. It's a specialty he developed on his own as the founder of Maxim Management, one of Canada's earliest cloud accounting firms. Avail acquired Maxim in 2019. What keeps him up at night is not the future of cloud accounting or digital services or the uncertain future of any of the industries A...
Jan 16, 2023•24 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What does it look like when the CPA skillset is applied to the global challenge of sustainability? Janice Tran offers one concrete example. She is the CEO and co-founder of Kanin Energy, a Canadian company that turns excess heat from industrial sites into electrical power. And the potential is huge. Kanin’s technology captures and converts the wasted energy from exhaust stacks to a carbon-free flow of electrons, which across North America could delivery as much as 20 gigawatts of untapped, clean...
Nov 14, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In 2013, Peter Bakker wrote an article in the Harvard Business review titled Accountants Will Save the World . Almost 10 years later, Roopa Davé continues to share Bakker’s enthusiasm for the impact CPAs can have on the biggest issues facing our planet. Davé is a partner in KPMG’s Sustainability Services practice. “The skillsets and abilities of the CPA coupled with those of others will be very important in coming up with solutions in the fight against climate change,” she says. On this episode,...
Oct 31, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Are sustainability reports fundamentally different from financial statements? Armand Capisciolto says, not really. Both deliver information that providers of capital seek before making investment decisions. So, what is the CPA’s role with these information documents? Through the application of accounting standards, CPAs add credibility to the information in financial statements. Then as auditors, CPAs provide an additional layer of credibility to that information. By applying these core competen...
Oct 17, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In 2021, Guy Cormier wrote an opinion piece published in the National Observer titled It's Time to Give Capitalism a Do Over. Mr. Cormier’s editorial is part of a debate that's been gaining momentum in the past few years. Broadly speaking, the debate is between traditional shareholder capitalism and the rise of stakeholder capitalism. A 1997 U.S. Business Roundtable argued that the paramount duty of directors is to serve the interests of shareholders. Guy Cormier has a very different view. Guy C...
Oct 03, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 3
The rise of sustainability in business reporting requires CPAs to develop new skills and a new knowledge set. This may seem daunting, but Blake Phillips sees it as a way of future-proofing your career. Blake Phillips is the director of the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo. He is the co-developer of a new program at the university, one that is aimed at training tomorrow’s green financial experts. The Bachelor of Sustainability and Financial Management officially star...
Sep 19, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Is the shift toward sustainability an added burden or a new opportunity for CPAs? Bettina Pierre-Gilles argues that we are entering a sort of golden age for accountants. As Pierre-Gilles explains, this is a fantastic time for CPAs. They have the opportunity to be at the start of this next societal wave where companies, society, and regulators are coming together to achieve a common goal. Bettina Pierre- Gilles is the founder and CEO and President of Luxeum Renewables Group Inc. in Calgary. She i...
Sep 05, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 1
The rise in globalization and the ever-increasing sophistication of corruption schemes have exponentially expanded the scope of the professional accountant’s role. The challenges CPAs currently face are significantly different from those encountered 20-25 years ago. It is important that CPAs rise to this challenge and equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to effectively combat misconduct at both a local and global level. Our first guest, José Hernandez is the Founder and Chief Executive...
May 09, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Dans ce septième épisode de la deuxième saison du balado, Jean-Sébastien reçoit Pierre-Yves McSween, un invité qui porte plusieurs chapeaux. Effectivement, Pierre-Yves est non seulement CPA, mais aussi chroniqueur à la radio et animateur de l'émission L'indice McSween sur les ondes de Télé-Québec, en plus d’être l’auteur de plusieurs livres dont le livre : En as-tu vraiment besoin ? Il a aussi un passé en enseignement. Cet homme à tout faire réinvente la profession comptable traditionnelle en vu...
Apr 25, 2022•19 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode, we're asking how AI can help CPAs make smart decisions about capital allocation? One area that is notoriously difficult to analyze is marketing. Making smart decisions about marketing expenditures can be challenging because the correlation between marketing investment today and the long-term impact on financial results in the future is not obvious. AI can help fill in this gap between decisions today and results months or years in the future. Our first guest Dave Bunce is the CE...
Apr 11, 2022•22 min•Season 2Ep. 6
>> This is the first of two French episodes this season. English listeners can find show notes below along with links to the English transcript << « Un CPA, c'est des professionnels qui ont une très grande polyvalence, mais en même temps la rigueur nécessaire pour faire l'audit. Ça nécessite une certaine vision, une capacité d'analyse, puis être en mesure de prendre tout le fruit du travail et être en mesure de synthétiser et de produire un rapport qui va être le plus porteur possibl...
Mar 28, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Newly designated CPAs have a wide range of options ahead of them, but for many, the CFO office remains the ultimate goal. However, today’s CFO looks very different from decades past. Advanced technical skills are now just table stakes. CEOs are looking for CFOs to be strategic partners focused on growth and increasing shareholder value. According to our first guest, this means aspiring CFOs need to accumulate a wide range of experiences beyond finance. Ross Woledge is Partner at Odgers Berndtson...
Mar 14, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 4
As organizations generate larger and larger amounts of data, traditional accounting practices like audits are increasingly difficult to perform effectively without the help of technology like AI. And while AI presents CPAs with the opportunity to expand skillsets and manage massive datasets, it also comes with significant risks. In this episode, David McGuffin speaks with professional accountant Rachel Kirkham about how she navigates a path between the opportunities and risks of AI in her role...
Feb 28, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 3
