If you are a financial executive that is looking to increase your impact on your organization, drive positive change, and amplify the power of your teams, this workshop is perfect for you. In this workshop, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Amplifiers, Tom Finegan will facilitate a working session to help you identify the styles, motives, and traits of leaders, followers, and amplifiers in your finance team and throughout the organization.

You will be given the tools to scout for Amplifiers and to facilitate your own sessions at your organization to activate leaders and followers to build the right talent framework for your business. The content for this workshop has been leveraged with leaders who are ready to help their business transform to the next level. Each workshop participant will receive a signed copy of Amplifiers.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the common styles, motives, and traits of leaders, followers, and amplifiers and why these matter
• Identify the tools needed to scout for Amplifiers at their own organization and empower them to drive improved team performance
• Formulate a plan for how to best leverage their organization’s amplifiers, leaders, and followers to achieve outcomes for the financial health of the organization

After experiencing one of the most severe economic shocks of the past century in 2020, the US economy has vaulted into one of the most rapid recoveries in modern history in 2021. Still, it’s not time to pop the Champagne. The recovery process is far from complete, and the next stage of the recovery will be trickier to navigate.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the economic outlook for 2022
• Assess market implications of inflation and interest rate outlook

In the increasing competition for talent, market leading organizations are those that best leverage the unique skills and talents of their employees. At the center of the organization, financial leaders are uniquely positioned to drive transformational change in their organization by focusing on talent.

This session provides a framework for how finance professionals can facilitate the process necessary to scout and identify talent throughout their organization, develop those employees, amplify what’s important for their career fulfillment, and empower them to improve team and corporate performance.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize traits, motives, and styles of leaders, followers, and amplifiers and why this is important to understand as an executive
• Discern the difference between leaders, followers, and amplifiers and how to apply these definitions in their organization
• Identify how amplifiers can work across functions, industries, and organizations to deliver outsized returns for their business

This session will provide an update on the FASB's standard-setting activities, including recently issued Accounting Standards Updates and current projects on the FASB's technical agenda that may impact private companies. Specific topics that will be covered include updates to the new leasing standard, certain aspects of accounting for business combinations and asset acquisitions, subsequent accounting for goodwill and identifiable intangible assets, and fair value considerations for share-based payment awards.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the FASB's current agenda and active projects
• Identify narrow-scope improvements being made to the new leasing standard (ASC 842)
• Assess changes to the accounting for asset acquisitions and business combinations, as well as the subsequent accounting for identifiable assets and goodwill
• Evaluate the relief being provided to determine the fair value of equity-classified share-based payment awards issued by a non-public entity

Many organizations are undergoing significant change as they prepare for the future of their industries. As a function, the expectation for finance means evolving to new ways of thinking and new ways of working. The connection between what we do and how we do it becomes more pivotal to driving efficiency and critical insights for the business. How can you fully embrace transformation and driving change while still needing to meet the needs of the organization?

This session will discuss what drives a successful transformation and how finance leaders can use bold thinking and innovative methods to lead their organizations into future.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply new ways of thinking and working to financial practices
• Identify opportunities that can drive transformation
• Recognize insights for future transformation

Despite the impact of the global pandemic, there has been no shortage of merger and acquisition (M&A) and divestiture activity. Deals rose by 65% in 2021 to more than $5.6 trillion .Respondents in a global survey by Bain & Company expected M&A to contribute to 45% of their growth in the future compared with about 30% over the past three years.

Finance has always been an integral part of the M&A process. However, until relatively recently, that role has been mostly focused on performing financial due diligence, integrating financial systems, and tracking synergy savings realisation. In the current environment, we are seeing the role of finance expand from purely an accounting lens to a more strategic role in M&A.  During this session we will explore what makes a successful strategic finance M&A capability.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the expanding role of finance teams in the successful execution of M&A
• Identify the skills needed from finance professionals
• Assess the elements of a successful M&A capability

This session will explore how being resilient allows you to take risks and fail and how to build this muscle as a Leader and Mentor.

Resiliency is the ability to cope with change, let go of things that are no longer serving you, learn from each experience, and develop. Change is truly the only thing that is constant. Each of us have agency in how we navigate and react to change.

“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.” - Maya Angelou

Learning Objectives:

• Define resiliency and the skills to build your resiliency muscle
• Compare the correlation of values and resiliency
• Distinguish ways to help your mentees practice resiliency

This session will focus on the remaining timetable to implement Topic 842…the FASBs New Lease Accounting standards.

As a co-author of six publications in the Journal of Accountancy over the last several years on this topic, Steve Austin will review the Top 10 Lessons Learned to expedite the process for those working toward implementation and controls for post implementation.

He will highlight a winning strategy to be efficient in the process with accuracy and quality control and to understand the sequence of events necessary to complete this on time in 2022 or 2023.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze key highlights from implementing thousands of new leases
• Determine how independent auditors are testing Topic 842
• Identify how to leverage key lessons learned to find efficiency and completeness

In this engaging presentation, Stafford Wood will offer the good, the bad and the ugly of using social media for your company. She will cover best practices in social media marketing with an eye towards mitigating risk, limiting liability, reducing time spent, budgeting for expenses and encouraging appropriate employee engagement with corporate social media policies. This presentation is meant for all participants regardless of their experience in the communications field.

Learning Objectives:

• Interpret the risks of unsupervised social media management
• Determine the benefits of utilizing social media as a channel for business growth and reputation management
• Formulate a preliminary budget for social media expenses including labor, advertising and creative

Organizations are relying on CFOs in new and challenging ways – beyond core financial functions and now as strategic leaders central to corporate planning and decision-making. Our session will address these changes including flexibility and enhanced benefits and investment in DE&I while containing costs and growing your organization and answer questions such as:

• What must CFOs and their C-suite partners know to deliver flexible and inclusive benefits to attract and retain critical talent?
• Why must CFOs lead the charge in promoting a vision for sustainable growth in a hybrid/remote working environment?
• How can CFOs accomplish cost containment and revenue growth in a difficult talent market?

We will share the latest trend and benchmark data, and provide specific strategies CFOs can consider to drive meaningful value in their organizations.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine what it means to have inclusive benefits, why it matters to your workforce, and why it should matter to CFOs and their C-suite partners
• Recognize the latest employee benefits trends and what the workforce is demanding
• Analyze specific strategies to help mitigate costs and support revenue growth goals while managing the demands and needs of employees

Is doing good, good for business? CFOs play a transformative role in their organizations, and the pressures of being a data-driven finance leader, a catalyst for human-centric digital transformation, and a strategic partner to the C-suite may seem to leave little room for tackling environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges. Yet a recent Accenture survey of senior finance leaders found that 68% of respondents say that Finance is responsible for their organization's ESG efforts. In this session we'll explore how Finance leaders can start thinking about the relationship between technology and ESG.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine how back office systems can help organizations track metrics
• Recognize how freeing up time so that organizations can focus more on charitable and socially conscious activities will help society into the future
• Assess powering good stewardship with the help of analytics

The needs of organizations have changed significantly through the pandemic, requiring CFOs to power up business guidance to thrive in the “next normal”. Finance must not only embrace extreme automation to deliver this guidance effectively, but also take ownership of the finance data model and automate insight generation to become true value partners to the business. Join Workday finance executives and customers as they share the strategies and solutions they have used to prepare for the next evolution in finance.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the capabilities of next-generation Cloud ERP
• Assess use cases for finance automation
• Analyze the application of AI and machine learning in automating insight generation
• Determine how technology forms the platform for value creation

By integrating the Risk and Finance information, a firm can understand and derive its current and future financial health more comprehensively.

The risks to a firm are many - financial, operational, reputational, regulatory, and business. Some are easier to quantify than others. The ones that are difficult to quantify are typically addressed with qualitative analysis, adjustments, and overlays.

Financial entities are heavily and increasingly invested in this integrated approach, especially since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Among other things, the GFC exposed the absence of this integration. Since many of these entities were considered globally & systemically risky, many regulations such as BCBS-239, IFRS 17-11, CCAR, ICAAP, etc. were enacted to avert this in the future. Ultimately the goal of these regulations, which continue to evolve, is to force financial institutions to take a more integrated view of risk. Although there were many skeptics, today there is general consensus that these regulations have made financial institutions significantly more sound.

Non-financial firms will benefit from the same approach as well, albeit fine-tuned and adjusted for their individual business environment and operating model.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the importance and criticality of having a comprehensive and consistent view of risk and finance and why it matters
• Determine the key considerations in developing such a framework, the technological considerations (cloud, big data, open source, ML/ AL, etc.), and how you should approach it.
• Assess lessons learned from some organizations that have been at the forefront of this digital transformation

Why are your best people the ones most likely to leave?  What can you do to "future proof" your organization from the great resignation?  How can we build a cohesive culture when we are scattered and jumbled?  As there are multiple causes, in this fast-paced presentation our speaker will share multiple tactics based on live data from Operations and Human Resources. First, we cover new methods for changing your sourcing and screening to match the modern workforce. Then, we look at keeping the good ones - avoiding turnover and improving engagement in a distributed workforce.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the new definitions of the workforce
• Identify two key actions that you can take to retain high performers
• Use virtual tools differently to maintain your culture at a distance
• Determine how to raise your standards during a talent shortage

Enjoy exciting, meaningful conversations while building connections with other conference attendees. During this 30-minute speed networking activity, you'll be able engage in roundtable discussions, where each table will have a different topic. At your roundtable you'll be connected with a few peers, where you'll have a few minutes to share your thoughts on a topic. Once time is up, you will be automatically shuffled to a new table to discuss a different topic with a new group of attendees.

Join in on the fun here.

Please note this virtual networking event will be hosted on the Remo platform. Your data will be stored by Remo and will not be transferred to any Association systems. Please ensure you review Remo’s Privacy Policy to understand how your data will be treated. Participation in the networking portion of this event is voluntary and use of the Remo platform should be performed at your own risk.

With increased urgency about climate impacts and the widespread embrace of major social issues, there is also increased demand for disclosures on these concerns being made by investors, and other stakeholders, including regulators.

Recent major developments include the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) by the IFRS Foundation, the creation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the EU, and in the US, what the SEC has referred to as an “all agency response” to these concerns.

This session will provide an overview of the evolving reporting and regulatory landscape, along with an approach for building an ESG program and managing sustainability performance in your company.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the key components of the sustainability reporting landscape and the potential impact on your business
• Identify the critical concepts of the two ISSB prototype standards for Sustainability-related Financial Information and Climate-related Disclosures
• Formulate a plan for designing, implementing, and monitoring an ESG accounting and reporting program that is suitable for your organization

As new cybersecurity threats continue to emerge, the ongoing challenges around proper risk mitigation and incident response remain a dynamic obstacle for both organizational leadership and individual users. Understanding and anticipating both technical and non-technical threats are key to managing the risks associated with a breach of confidential data and how best to respond.

This session will cover the latest cybersecurity threat landscape and the risks and challenges that professionals face in collecting, storing, processing and safeguarding sensitive information along with best practices used when responding to a breach. Topics will include InfoSec governance, current cybersecurity threats/ risks/mitigation, third-party and supply-chain risk, incident response and cyber liability insurance. The session will also include strategies for personally protecting your digital information.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the latest threats to their digital assets, how to best mitigate cyber risk and respond to cyber incidents.
• Analyze cyber incident case studies and applicable lessons learned
• Evaluate cyber risk, governance, prevention, detection and response for organizations, in addition to their third-party and supply-chain relationships

Over the next several years the tax code will continue to change through expiring provisions, provisions with delayed start dates, and Congressional initiatives.  This session will discuss planning implications over the next few years for a dynamic tax law environment. This session includes topics such as section 174 (required capitalization), international considerations, sections 451 enforcement, inventory, and pass-through entity taxes, and other similar topics. 

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize and plan for the upcoming tax law changes over the next couple of years
• Assess the legislative outlook for tax law changes in the next few years

With vessels lining up off the Coast of several US Ports, inflation, chip shortages, and hard-to-get commodities, the supply chain has become a commonplace conversation. As Port Director and CEO for the Port of Hueneme, Kristin has a close-up view of the nation’s supply chain crisis. She will share her insights on supply chain disruption, discuss the root causes, the economic consequences, and what experts are saying about the future. She will explain how her port and other niche ports present a case for success and offer uncongested solutions for the transport of US consumer goods.

Other topics she will touch on include the Port’s strategies around economic development, infrastructure, innovation, environment, and community.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the dynamics of how supply chain and ports work
• Determine what’s in store for the future around goods movement and the US consumer

In 2021, AICPA & CIMA formed a Future of Finance Group. They were charged with how to transform the profession in its broadest context and re-imagine the finance function of the future. In this candid panel discussion with members of the CFO Conference Planning Committee we will discuss the key findings from the Future of Finance Group, how these issues are keeping our panel awake at night and what they are doing to take advantage of these issues and opportunities.

The fast changing business landscape has shifted the focus of finance from a rearview mirror role to a windshield view helping the business navigate in a VUCA world. The shift is from cost and historical information to value and forecasting the future. Are we the chief value officers’ of the future? This session will cover the key take aways from the Future of Finance initiative and key items of the panel’s strategic agenda.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the top post pandemic issues, including accelerating digital transformation, talent and value creation
• Recognize what this means to the changing role and mandate of finance & accounting
• Determine how we together need to re-invent the role of the CFO

The Finance function is at a tipping point as businesses look to evolve their approach to decision-making. As more CFOs aspire to take on an advisory role in their companies, there’s an ongoing push to automate manual processes, consolidate data, and increase agility. It’s a shift that will enable Finance to focus on the future of the business rather than just reporting on the past.

Our latest Prophix and CFO Dive survey found that an overwhelming majority have plans to automate and upgrade their technology — but there’s also a great deal of work to be done. Join Wayne Slater, Director of Product Marketing at Prophix, as he delves into the survey results and how you can apply them to your business to succeed in this time of transformation.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize cloud-based FP&A solutions that empower the Office of Finance to act as a strategic advisor to the organization
• Identify rising inflation, supply-chain disruptions, cybersecurity concerns, and the shortage of skilled data analytics talent
• Analyze data accessibility and accuracy and show they can speed up your digital transformation and improve productivity – positioning Finance as a partner in corporate decision-making

CFOs today play a critical role in their organization as strategic advisors in addition to overseeing the numbers — these leaders need to be data-driven and embrace strategies and technology that allow for greater visibility across the organization and produce faster data for better decision making. To keep up with these new expectations to provide relevant data and insights in a timely manner, CFOs need to keep on top of relevant trends and prioritize digital transformation projects.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize current challenges facing the Office of the CFO
• Identify the top 5 opportunities for CFOs to accelerate digitalization across the finance function
• Determine next steps your organization should take

Stuck checking boxes on an endless to-do list? Never have enough time to do what excites you? When you're overwhelmed and burned out - getting more tasks done is never the answer. Life can be about more than checking boxes if you know how to get the right tasks done at the right time. The secret to making that happen? Knowing that it's never just the system - but also the behavior - that can free your time.

End the busyness and power up your productivity! This program is perfect for people who:

• Feel overwhelmed, unorganized, or burned out
• Have multiple professional or personal projects or roles
• Need innovative ways to outsource or automate at work and home

Learning Objectives:

• Assess time and tech boundaries to prioritize what matters
• Apply the Batch, Theme, and Focus method to better organize your days
• Determine how to creatively delegate to live and work in alignment with your strengths and interests

Companies rely on trade secrets for competitive advantage. Theft of those assets by an increasingly mobile workforce hurts companies by unfairly empowering competitors who have not invested the financial and intellectual capital, and the time, needed to create them. Protection programs can deter and limit trade secret misappropriation, and ready a company to go to court for injunctive relief to stop a competitor’s use and seek damages.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify trade secrets and maintain secrecy through limiting access to those who need to know, contracts and policies, and vigilance techniques
• Determine how to guard against new hires bringing trade secrets that belong to their prior employer into your company and creating liability risk
• Evaluate employee exit procedures that protect company trade secrets
• Recognize what to do to if theft of trade secrets is suspected or known

If you had told a Labor and Employment lawyer on January 1, 2020 that, over the course of the next two years, the majority of the American workforce would be working from home, required to have proof that they were essential workers to return (or risk prosecution), subjected to mandatory mask and vaccine requirements, and have much of their health information become an open book, the attorney would have thought you were, well, crazy. Yet, that’s precisely what COVID-19 has wrought in our nation. As a result, the executive and legislative branches have had to scramble to keep up with the almost unimaginable workplace consequences of a global pandemic.

This presentation explores recent federal workplace legislation and agency pronouncements, including their effects on managing a remote workforce. In addition, there will be discussion of union issues post-COVID as well as what traction, if any, President Biden’s July 2021 Executive Order on non-competes has gained in light of the pandemic.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify changes in American employment law since the dawn of COVID-19
• Recognize issues employers simply have to be aware of as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down, including returning to work and managing a remote workforce
• Analyze trends in traditional labor law since 2020
• Determine whether President Biden’s Executive Order and state legislative activity mean non-competes are kaput or are very much alive and well

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then how many spreadsheets can you replace with a more meaningful chart or graph?

By attending this session, you will come away with examples and resources for how data visualization can cause positive change in the accounting and finance world. This tool-neutral session will introduce a common vocabulary for data visualization and provide examples of how to enhance communication and help your team reveal actionable insights in your data.  

Learning Objectives:

• Compare state-of-the-art techniques for visualizing data, regardless of software tool
• Identify and bookmark resources to allow continued learning when you return to your office
• Analyze examples of how effective data visualization can reveal actionable insights in your data

This lively program, based on recent national headlines of cyber system takeovers will review the losses created by cyber criminals. The presentation team will review the insurance coverage available and the necessary steps a CFO needs to take with their I/T department and vendors to mitigate cyber risk exposures and properly qualify to procure Cyber insurance coverage.

Learning Objectives:

• Recall cyber risks based on recent case studies of criminal theft and denial of service
• Evaluate Cyber Insurance Coverage and the internal risk assessment required to procure cyber coverage
• Assess the rapidly changing cyber insurance marketplace

Simple embezzlement is one thing, and we have processes to detect it and defend against it, but what happens when an executive pressures you to "make the numbers look better"? What should your next step be? Perhaps more importantly, how can you proactively prepare yourself to resist the temptation to either "help" the company or reap some benefits personally from financial statement misrepresentation? You've heard from major perpetrators of frauds. Now, hear from a fellow CPA and CFO who blew the whistle on a $20 million dollar fraud.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine what to do when asked to engage in inappropriate financial statement behavior as CFO
• Identify how to prepare yourself now to respond to the temptation to commit fraud in the future