Topic Descriptions 2024

This document includes the following: 

• Ethics course descriptions
• Computer lab descriptions
• Workshop descriptions.

As of August 2, 2024, some in-person sessions are full. They are marked as FULL in registration. Please do not sign up for sessions that say FULL. If you sign up for a session that says FULL, you will be moved to another session at the discretion of event management. There is no limit on sign ups for the virtual conference. Also, all sessions will be recorded and will be available after the conference. We appreciate your cooperation!

Ethics Courses:

You can choose from these options (choice of two for in-person; one is the virtual choice only - space is limited in all so register early):

Ethics Workshop 1a: NOW FULL In-Person - Ethical Leadership in an Age of AI - with Laura Friedrich, MSc, CIA, FCPA, FCGA

LAURA FRIEDRICH, MSc, CIA, FCPA, FCGA, is an executive director of a professional research, standards, and education consultancy firm with over 25 years of experience conducting projects worldwide. The firm helps build institutional capacity and develops strategic, policy, program, governance, and ethics guidance for established and emerging professional and regulatory organizations. Laura frequently authors and presents on topics such as the impact of disruptive technology on professional ethics; governance; sustainability and capacity development, with a focus on the future of professions. Laura is a Technical Advisor to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and chairs CPABC’s Bylaws Committee.

Overview:

CPAs have a leadership role to play in this era of disruptive technology. Advancements in artificial intelligence create strategic opportunities for organizations and raise unique ethics challenges for business leaders. In this session, we’ll highlight recent advancements in AI and explore how it can be expected to change our CPA roles. In particular, we’ll evaluate the ethical implications when facing challenging AI-related decisions, by framing these decisions in the context of the requirements of the CPA Code of Professional Conduct.

Course Description:

This interactive session will illustrate some of the recent advancements in AI and some of the expectations for the future. We’ll review key elements of frameworks being developed by organizations to design trust into the AI environment, and see how the principles in these frameworks relate to our CPA Code of Professional Conduct. Participants will evaluate a variety of scenarios and explore the implications of AI technologies on our role as ethical leaders.

Applicable for CPAs in any role and in all levels of organizational decision-making who have an interest in the ethics elements of technology-related decisions.

Learning Objectives:

• identify the ethics-based issues and challenges related to AI technologies
• analyze how AI provides opportunities to support ethical decision-making in organizations
• evaluate the ethics dimensions of AI decisions and determine appropriate actions using a systematic approach

Content:

• the current state of AI and where it is expected to go
• key ethics concerns and challenges for business leaders
• established principles and frameworks in ethical AI development
• decision-making in alignment with the CPA Code
• relevant resources within and outside of the CPA profession.

Ethics Workshop 1b - Business Ethics: It Starts With You - with Shawn Ireland

Shawn Ireland, PhD is a founding partner and managing director of HRCgroup, Inc. He works extensively with Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments and international aid agencies. His expertise includes fostering critical thinking, strategic change, virtual teamwork, and managing human behaviour. He’s a Core Faculty member of the Industrial and Organizational Psychology graduate programs at Adler University in Vancouver.

Overview:

This course offers an introduction to understanding and managing ethical issues in a business setting. Through case work and open dialogue, it explores the intersection amongst prominent theoretical approaches to ethics, personal values, business values and how they shape business decisions. We consider the rightness and wrongness of human conduct in a business setting based on these approaches. The course will offer a brief historical review and investigate various ethical theories. The goal is to build a foundation for participants to investigate the ethical dimensions of controversial business issues.

Applicable for individuals and leaders wishing to understand, reflect, and manage ethical issues in a business setting.

Content:

• foster an ethical mindset - explore and assess the contextual issues in business ethics and the ability to think critically and ethically within them
• identify your “ethical standard” and how to communicate this standard in support of business decisions - how you manage a series of ethical dilemmas including how you structure ethical issues, use data and develop conclusions
• develop communication strategies in support of ethical actions - examine formal and informal communication tools to effectively communicate ethical ideas
• examine your understanding of key concepts and terms in business ethics - develop an awareness of the impact on ethics and business decision making at all levels of an organization
• reflect on ethical issues in a business context - collectively explore a problem in impact of business ethics in a global context to develop a perspective that matches their perceptions and evidence.

Ethics Workshop 1e: NOW FULL - Virtual - Personal and Corporate Reputation in the Era of “Shares” and “Likes” with Morgan Hamel, MA 

MORGAN HAMEL, MA, is the President of MH Partners Inc., a boutique consulting firm adept at helping leaders appreciate and communicate moral nuance to build stakeholder trust and long-term value. With experience in corporate ethics (11 years in the ethics office of a large organization), academia (Master’s Degree in Applied Ethics from Utrecht University in the Netherlands) and ethical entrepreneurship (founded an ESG-centric ethical fashion marketing company that generated $1M in responsible sales in its first corporate year), Morgan offers clients a business-focused, ethics-rooted perspective on reputation management that doesn’t exist elsewhere.

Overview:

In 2012, “shares” and “likes” began to be widely used on social media – a change which created a new era of reputation risk for both individuals and organizations. This seminar will use behavioural ethics research and real-life case studies to show participants that we don’t always behave as ethically as we think we will and offers proven strategies for personal and corporate reputation protection.

Course Description:

All it takes is one look at our morning news feed to see how personal and corporate reputations can be lost in an instant. While it’s easy to judge people and organizations who experience this fate, the reality is that in this new era of iPhones and social media, well-meaning people (who see themselves as ethical) can fall quickly in ways that leave personal and professional scars for years to come. In this edge-cutting course, participants will learn how key concepts from behavioural ethics can help us strengthen and protect both our personal reputations and those of our organizations.

Applicable for those who want to learn how key concepts from behavioural ethics can help strengthen and protect both their personal reputations and those of their organizations.

Learning Objectives:

• understand the new era of (business) ethics and appreciate how having a more nuanced understanding of ethics can help us behave more ethically and strengthen our reputation in work and in life
• understand what behavioural ethics means for the practical implication of business ethics and reputation management, including an understanding of bounded ethicality, ethical fading and motivated blindness
• learn The Self-Interest Snap - a strategy to help you get closer to being as ethical as you think you are (and make it more likely

Content:

• business ethics
• behavioural ethics
• reputation management
• social media
• cancel culture.

Ethics Workshop 1f: Virtual - Professional and Applied Ethics for Canadian CPAs with Ken Lewchuk 

KEN LEWCHUK, CPA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant (British Columbia) and a Certified Public Accountant (Texas). He graduated with a MBA from the Edinburgh Business School and with an MA in Applied and Professional Ethics from the University of Leeds (Distinction). His career has spanned technical accounting, risk management, internal audit, and corporate compliance, working in public accounting (PwC) and for corporations in United States and Canada. He has taught technical accounting and finance classes to corporate employees in several countries, been a conference speaker, and a guest lecturer at Texas A&M University on the topic of business ethics.

Overview:

The course will explore some of the key moral questions in professional accounting and applied business ethics at an introductory level, including what does it mean to be a “professional accountant, what are the ethical issues involved in “whistleblowing”, how do we make ethical decisions and how does corporate culture influence our decisions, and what are some of the ethical issues involved with corporate social responsibility and environment, social and governance (ESG) reporting? One of the iconic accounting ethics case studies will be presented: the rise and fall of the accounting firm, Arthur Anderson.

Applicable for general interest but specifically applicable finance and accounting professionals who work in large organizations.

Course Description:

This course focuses on developing awareness of the ethical dimensions and questions embedded in the situations faced by accountants in the current business context. Exploration of these ethical dimensions will include insights from moral philosophy, moral / behavioral psychology, and analysis of a relevant case study: the fall of accounting firm Arthur Anderson.

Applicable for:

This course will benefit individuals seeking an understanding of ethical behavior within large corporations/firms, or those who wish to enhance their personal ethical awareness as a CPA.

Learning Objectives:

• define what characterizes a professional
• analyze issues to consider in “whistleblowing”
• describe basic approaches to moral philosophy, theories of business purpose, and the responsibilities of business management
• describe the ethical dimensions of “corporate social responsibility”
• describe the psychological process for individual moral decision making and some of the cultural factors which influence individual moral decisions.
• reflect on how psychological and cultural factors influence ethical behavior

Content:

- obligations of a professional and employee

• what is a professional?
• whistleblowing

- business ethics

• moral philosophy and theories
• ethical decision-making process
• corporate culture
• reflective questions

- the purpose of business

• the history of the corporation
• shareholder capitalism
• stakeholder capitalism
• corporate social responsibility and ESG reporting
• reflective questions

- case study: The Rise and Fall of Arthur Anderson

• androids
• the evolution of the audit firm
• Enron.

Ethics Workshop 1g: Virtual: Professional Ethics for Career & Life Success - Good for Business and the Right Thing to Do with Joel Shapiro

JOEL SHAPIRO, Ph.D., has trained 1,000s of leaders on three continents and held leadership roles in operating businesses and start-ups. Joel’s consulting work focuses on building talent, teamwork, organizational learning, and culture-shift. Prior to founding Advanture Consulting in 2001, Joel helped save his third-generation family business in an extreme turnaround situation, earned a Ph.D. with Distinction in Philosophy, and was a member of the Canadian National Freestyle Ski Team. Joel is always seeking the perfect blend of humanity and business performance.

Overview:

The reasons to work ethically are obvious: your professional designation depends on it; it is crucial to your reputation and long-term career success; cleaning up from ethical lapses is incredibly harsh and expensive; and it is good to be good, by definition. Ethical behaviour also makes your organization, industry, and country better places to work and live.

Course Description:

This hands-on, participatory workshop will guide you through several classic ethical frameworks and supply you with practical tools and techniques you can use to maintain high standards of ethics in your work and on your team. We will provide you with a framework you can use to ensure you are working ethically even when you are charting new territory, pushing the boundaries, and where the law is unclear or not yet developed.

Applicable for all professionals at all levels who are working in our complex and fast paced world.

Content:

• use our framework for auditing decisions and actions for ethicality
• improve their rigor in resolving ethical challenges
• better understand the ethical principles supporting the CPA Code and the law
• understand systems thinking as it applies to ethical challenges
• have a better understanding of the relationship between ethics and law
• use a major leadership practice to anchor ethical attitudes and behaviour on their teams.

Computer Lab Topics:

In-Person and Virtual attendees can attend these labs.

FRANK BYL has been a career educator and a Microsoft Master Instructor for over 20 years. He has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies to be able to better utilize the Microsoft tools that they are using every day. He has a passion for learning and exploring new ideas and new tools and finding ways to make work more rewarding.

You’ll find his presentations engaging and practical. Come prepared to practice and experiment along with Frank to discover new and better ways to accomplish your goals.

Frank loves to explore nature and technology and prefers to do those at the same time while sailing.

New this year: BYOD – Bring your own device!

NOTE ABOUT BRINGING YOUR OWN LAPTOP: The presentation will be made using the Windows version of Office 365 version of the applications. To ensure that participants can have the best experience possible they should be running Office 2019 or Office 365 and should make sure that they have recently completed an office update. In most cases Office 2016 will still work but there will be some lack of functionality, though participants will still be able to participate in most of the exercises. Macs are entirely not supported or recommended.

NOTE ABOUT CONNECTING REMOTELY: Participants connecting remotely should have two monitors or two devices, so that they can watch on one screen and practice on the second screen. The second device must be a tablet or another computer, a phone will not be sufficient. A link to download any required files will be provided prior to the workshop and at the start of the workshop. RECORDING OF WORKSHOP Again, we will record the presentation and allow the video to be accessed via the conference website for six weeks after the conference for those who wish to review or the presentation for members that were not able to attend the workshop.

Computer Lab 1d: NOW FULL Excel Core - Time Saving Key Skills for Everyday Work in Excel - Two Hours

Everyone can benefit from working through key skills that they will use every day to do things faster and better. A host of keyboard shortcuts and surprising “hidden” secrets in Excel that will make anyone more efficient. Limited to thirty-five people on-site and no limit for remote participants.

Prerequisite: No specific requirements other than a basic familiarity and use of Excel. Take the Excel Self Assessment, please. If you get less than 50, you are a candidate for Excel Core. If you get more than 50, you are a candidate for Excel Expert, below.  The Self Assessment has 20 multiple choice questions covering content from the Excel Core course. The process should take no more than about 12 minutes to complete and results are displayed immediately upon completion.

Computer Lab 2d: Excel Expert - Working with Data and Pivot Tables - Two Hours

Learn to work with sets of data to first sort and filter data to show a subset of data in meaningful ways. Secondly, the complete data set will be summarized into pivot tables. The five key settings that need to be implemented in each Pivot Table and how to create multiple reports from the same data set. Finally, learn to apply filters to the newly summarized data and share the reports without having to share the entire file and underlying data. Limited to thirty-five people on-site and no limit for remote participants.

Prerequisite: You should have a score of 50 or better in the Excel Self Assessment. The Self Assessment has 20 multiple choice questions covering content from the Excel Core course. Participants who score less than 50 should consider taking the Excel Core course. Participants that get more than 50 will be ready for the advanced Excel courses. The process should take no more than about 12 minutes to complete and results are displayed immediately upon completion.

Computer Lab 3d: Using Sharepoint and Microsoft Teams - One Hour

A third session would be a one-hour interactive demonstration of the collaborative opportunities presented by SharePoint and MS Teams. The presentation will include two separate screens and Frank will interact with another instructor to work through various typical workday scenarios and how Teams and SharePoint can dramatically improve functionality and efficiency. The two presenters will do some role play and take questions and ideas from the audience to show how these tools can change the way work is done. (This is not a lab).

Workshops

Workshop 1c: Indigenous Allyship and Anti-racism Training - Noelle Saemerow

NOELLE SAEMEROW (she/her) is an Indigenous Cultural Safety Consultant with Len Pierre Consulting. Noelle is a proud Métis woman. She was raised in Kamloops, and now lives on the ancestral, unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as Vancouver. She holds a BSc in Health Science from Simon Fraser University. Noelle works in Indigenous Health, supporting systems change and strategic initiatives. She feels incredibly grateful to learn from Knowledge Keepers, Elders, Community, friends and colleagues.

Being an ally is not a static identity, it is not a badge of honor, it is a sign of privilege. Allyship is also not declared but based on the context in which you ACT. This course unpacks the similarities and differences for being an ally to Indigenous peoples in relationship to other ally contexts.

Main learning ideas:

● define allyship, solidarity, and anti-racism

● explore examples of allyship in the Indigenous context

● identify strategies for talking about racism and cultural safety with teams.

Workshop 2c: NOW FULL ChatGPT and Generative AI for CPA’s with Garrett Wasny

GARRETT WASNY, MA, CMC, CITP/FIBP, is an artificial intelligence skills advisor to accountants worldwide and a former Price Waterhouse management consultant. He's authored 60+ ebooks, delivered thousands of seminars and webinars to elite accounting institutes and enterprises around the globe, and developed dozens of AI apps on accounting technology, tax and ethics topics. Full disclosure: Garrett is an independent practitioner who provides objective information and is not affiliated with any vendor. He is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Overview:

This session provides a concise overview of the latest multimodal "see, hear, speak" capabilities of ChatGPT and other Generative AI platforms. Discover how this new wave of superhuman technologies—including vision analyzers, synthetic voice generators, image and video creators, cognitive transformers, digital personas, virtual assistants, app builders, and more—can be immediately and practically applied in an accounting context in simple natural written or spoken language. Absolutely no coding or special programming skills are required!.

You'll walk away with an AI game plan for both your professional and personal life, equipping you to navigate and thrive in a new "machine society" where everyone worldwide now has access to genius synthetic masterminds with hyper-accelerating cognitive prowess and intelligent robots whose physical agility defy imagination.

This presentation will cut through this AI mystery, hype, and techno-panic to reveal advanced generative AI strategies and tips. These insights can be immediately applied to elevate the efficiency and effectiveness of your accounting projects and tasks, delivering instant results in our new and dynamic "abracadabra" world -- create as you speak.

Concurrent Workshop 1a: Benefits Realization in Large Transformation Projects  - PWC

<details coming>

Concurrent Workshop 1b: NOW FULL Powerful Presentations - with Tammy Towill, MBA, FCPA, FCMA

TAMMY TOWILL, MBA, FCPA, FCMA is a partner in the Cordura Group and Chair of the School of Business with Capilano University, providing business advisory services and related education and training programs to organizations and communities seeking growth or change. For over 25 years, Tammy has worked with private and public sector companies throughout North America and Europe, providing education, training and facilitating in the areas of leadership, strategy, business planning and curriculum development and implementation. She has served on and worked with several boards in Canada and the US.

Overview:

Fear of public speaking still ranks among the top fears for North Americans and yet the power and impact of an effective presenter is indisputable. Great presenters are made not born. Through greater understanding of the science behind our fears and the simple tools and techniques to enhance our skills any one can develop and deliver powerful presentations. In this session we will:

• consider and challenge the drivers behind anxiety caused from presentations and look at specific strategies, tips and tools to expand confidence and enhance effective communication.
• break down the linkages between formal and informal communication to increase overall effectiveness in all methods of communication.
• create opportunities to enhance your knowledge and skills in both developing and delivering powerful presentations.

Concurrent Workshop 1c: NOW FULL Update on the Housing Landscape in BC - RBC

<details coming>

Concurrent Workshop 2a: NOW FULL Transforming Finance Function in Healthcare
PwC 

<details coming>

Concurrent Workshop 2b: NOW FULL Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback - with Tammy Towill, MBA, FCPA, FCMA

TAMMY TOWILL, MBA, FCPA, FCMA is a partner in the Cordura Group and Chair of the School of Business with Capilano University, providing business advisory services and related education and training programs to organizations and communities seeking growth or change. For over 25 years, Tammy has worked with private and public sector companies throughout North America and Europe, providing education, training and facilitating in the areas of leadership, strategy, business planning and curriculum development and implementation. She has served on and worked with several boards in Canada and the US.

Overview:

This session will create an opportunity for participants to better understand and develop additional skills around giving and receiving effective feedback to create dynamic organizational teams that produce the results we need to not just succeed but to thrive. In this session we will:

• explore the significant impact effective feedback plays on organizational results and how it can best be used within an organization
• consider how our behaviour, views and responses to feedback can impact others within the organization.
• better understand their reactions to giving and receiving feedback.
• work with specific strategies to best manage the role of technology for effective and efficient communication and feedback.
• investigate specific tools and techniques for giving and receiving feedback that drives individual and organizational results.

Concurrent Workshop 2c: Improving Your "Cyber Hygiene" - RBC

More info coming! 

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