Education Session 1A: Experiential simulations of ethical dilemmas in accounting: Overcoming challenges to stimulate ethical thinking

Time: 9:45am - 11:15am CST

Session Presenters:
Cynthia Courtois (Université du Laval)
Claire-France Picard (Université Laval)

Session Description:
Given the current business environment, accountants are more likely to encounter situations with ethical implications. Hence, accounting education should prioritize ethical skills such as critical thinking. However, significant pedagogical challenges await those who wish to venture down this path. Despite new educational tools in accounting ethics, we believe that new activities are needed to improve the acquisition of skills in professional ethics among accounting students. Thus, we developed experiential simulations of ethical dilemmas inspired from what accountants typically encounter in their practice. More specifically, we created online simulations in the form of videos and interactive content that spread over a period of several weeks. The purpose of these simulations is to help students experience the emotions that can be felt when faced with an ethical dilemma. They also provide a means of understanding the emotions of other characters and of thinking about how their actions affect others.

Education Session 1B: The factors leading to educator burnout: A perspective from Canadian teachers

Time: 9:45am - 10:30am CST

Session Presenter:
Richard Fontaine (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Session Description:
Educator burnout is a serious problem in Canadian schools. Burnout leads to psychological problems for educators leading to lower productivity, absenteeism, and high turnover. Despite extensive research on this problem, the burnout of educators continues to persist in the Canadian educational system.

Education Session 1C: A Structured Review of Research-informed Instructional Strategies to Support CPA enabling Competencies in Future Accountants

Time: 10:30am - 11:15am CST

Session Presenter:
Sanobar Siddiqui (University of Regina)

Session Description:

CPA enabling competencies underpin the human skills and professional values that all future accountants should possess. This study conducted a structured literature review (SLR) of the research-informed instructional strategies to teach the seven CPA enabling competencies to future accountants and outlines future research opportunities. Findings indicate that “acting ethically and demonstrating professional values” can be ingrained in future accountants using business cases and targeted courses/lessons in accounting classrooms. “Adding value” can be achieved by assigning experiential learning tools. “Collaboration” can be gained through team-based learning and software. “Communication” is facilitated with writing tasks and software. “Leading” is best taught through targeted courses/lessons. “Managing self” can be ingrained through innovative course setup. “Solving problems” can be facilitated through in-class activities that specifically target critical thinking skills. The top five research-informed teaching tools are collegial tools (i.e. group work, peer review & writing prompts), software, business cases, experiential tools and targeted courses/lessons. Future direction would be to complete an in-depth SLR on each of the five research-informed teaching tools and see how to adopt them within accounting classrooms.

Education Session 1D: Accounting for Impact: Social Media Basics and Beyond

Time: 9:45am - 11:15am CST

Session Presenters:
Erica Pimentel (Queen's University)
Leanne Keddie (Carleton University)

Session Description:
In this workshop, participants will learn the fundamentals of using the social platforms most used in business and academia: Twitter and Linkedin. Discover how to connect with your audience and create engagement on topics that matter to you through social media.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Create a basic Linkedin and Twitter profile
• Learn when and how to use hashtags, retweets and create posts that will gain traction
• Understand how to use Twitter engagement data to measure impact

Session: Audit Matters-Archival

Session Moderator: Regan Schmidt (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Financial Reporting Capital Markets 1

Session Moderator: Han-Up Park (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Corporate Governance

Session Moderator: Rebecca Villmann (FRAS Canada)

Session: CSR, Ethics, Accountability 1-Archival

Session Moderator: Kenneth Fox (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Accounting and IT

Session Moderator: Samuel Sponem (HEC Montreal)

Session: Audit & Fraud

Session Moderator: Ganesh Vaidyanathan (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Governance, Board & Auditor Choice

Session Moderator: Yan-Yi Chiou (National Defense University)

Session: CSR, Ethics, Accountability 1

Session Moderator: Amna Chalwati (Saint Mary's University)

Session: Financial Reporting Capital Markets 1

Session Moderator: Jason Moschella (HEC Montreal)

Session: Financial Reporting & The Profession

Session Moderator: Suresh Kalagnanam (University of Saskatchewan)

Education Session 2A: Case Approach Workshop

Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm CST

Session Presenter:
Amie Lear, CPA, CA, is President of Densmore Consulting Services Inc. She manages Densmore’s operations and oversees the creation of our CFE Prep courses and CFE practice exams. As a lecturer in our CFE Prep courses, Amie has taught thousands of students since joining the Densmore team in 2005.

Session Description:
Using cases in your courses will help students develop the key skills of critical reading, adaptability and effective communication.  During this workshop, we will explore common weaknesses candidates exhibit related to those key skills.  We will work through the Densmore basic case approach that we teach students to sharpen and refine their case writing skills.  We will then explore ways for you to integrate cases into undergraduate and graduate courses.

Education Session 2B: The Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Faculty and Graduate Students at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions

Time: 1:00pm - 1:45pm CST

Session Presenter:
Sara Wick (University of Guelph)

Session Description:
This session discusses the impact of the pandemic on both accounting faculty and graduate students. Concerning accounting faculty, we focus on caregivers of children as the shifts toward remote teaching and homeschooling may indicate significant changes in the work-family interface. We develop four testable hypotheses that explore why the productivity of accounting faculty who are caregivers might be affected differently during the pandemic than accounting faculty who are non-caregivers. Our path analysis results suggest that accounting faculty who identify as caregivers are more likely to have experienced negative effects on their productivity (i.e., research, teaching, and service), which arose from increased family-work conflict, which led to increased depletion. Concerning accounting graduate students, we find that many students are experiencing some stress and burnout due to exhaustion. Most students are coping using healthy strategies; however, we highlight correlations between stress and burnout for those who aren’t. We propose a series of possible interventions that faculty and administrators can adopt to support retention and future recruitment efforts.

Education Session 2C: Impacts of COVID-19 on Women and Caregivers in Academia at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions and Suggestions Moving Forward

Time: 1:45pm - 2:30pm CST

Session Presenter:
Lindsay McLachlan (Brandon University)

Session Description:
Equity-seeking groups have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.  Join Brandon University’s Lindsay McLachlan as she discusses how the pandemic has impacted research, teaching, and other areas of work and life for women and caregivers.  Her findings are based upon 23 personal reflections from accounting academics across Canada collected in 2021.  Some findings include research stopped or slowed, lower productivity was experienced, academic integrity issues increased, interactions with students decreased, academics left the professional, mental health was adversely impacted, and academics lost dedicated work time.  Additionally, this same demographic provided suggestions to address these issues moving forward to help equity-seeking groups.  Suggestions include support from post-secondary institutions at all levels, additional funding, adjustments to tenure and promotion criteria, and the option for a reduced workload.

Session: Financial Reporting Debt Contracting

Session Moderator: Xijiang Su (University of Toronto)

Session: Audit Learning & Competencies

Session Moderator: Suresh Kalagnanam (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Accounting - Reporting and Forecasting

Session Moderator: Jennifer Yin (University of Toronto)

Session: Taxation 1

Session Moderator: Nathalie Johnstone (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Management Accounting Experiments

Session Moderator: Alan Webb (University of Waterloo)

Session: Financial Reporting Disclosure

Session Moderator: Jing Hee (University of Delaware)

Session: CSR, Ethics, Accountability & Education

Session Moderator: Barbara Sainty (Brock University)

Session: Financial Reporting Capital Markets 2

Session Moderator: Jason Moschella (McGill University)

Session: Financial Reporting Standards

Session Moderator: Dongyoung Lee (McGill University)

Education Session 3A: Assurance beyond the Financial Statement Audit

Session Sponsor

Session Moderators:
Joanne Jones (York University)
Sandra Scott (University of Guelph)
Sandra Iacobelli (York University)

Session Panelists:
Tara Clemett, CPA, CA, CISA, was appointed the Provincial Auditor for the Province of Saskatchewan in November 2021.

Tara has worked at the Office of the Provincial Auditor for more than 20 years, including as Acting Provincial Auditor. Previously, as Deputy Provincial Auditor responsible for the Health Division, her portfolio encompassed the Ministries of Health and Social Services, as well as integral healthcare organizations, such as the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. She directly led the annual integrated audit of the Saskatchewan Health Authority since its inception.

Tara is a Chartered Professional Accountant, a Certified Information Systems Auditor and holds a Bachelor of Administration from the University of Regina. She actively works with advisory groups under the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors. Tara’s experience includes financial and performance audits, as well as those focused on information technology, healthcare, child welfare and advocacy, and the environment.

Marsha Janvier, CPA is a newly designated professional accountant who provides audit, assurance, and consulting services to Indigenous communities across Saskatchewan as a part of MNP's Indigenous Services Team. The team is knowledgeable in the specific needs of Indigenous organizations, the history and culture of Indigenous peoples, and the roles that Indigenous values play in future planning, daily operations, and decision making.

Originally from La Loche, Saskatchewan, Marsha is Dene Métis. Although she did not set out to become a CPA, her goal was always to work with Indigenous communities on improving financial literacy. After earning her Business Administration Diploma from the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT), Marsha transferred into the Bachelor of Commerce program at the Edwards School of Business. While job searching, she learned of MNP's Indigenous Service Niche and felt it was the perfect fit for her career goals. She landed a summer internship before being offered a full-time position upon graduation. Marsha became a CPA this year, and she is well on her way to improving financial literacy and making a difference in Indigenous communities.

Sarah Marsh, CPA, CA is a partner in PWC Vancouver’s Risk Assurance Services practice. She leads PwC Canada’s ESG Reporting and Assurance Practice. She is qualified  
as a Chartered Accountant in both Canada and the UK and has over 22 years of experience with PwC. Sarah has extensive experience in sustainability practice, helping clients meet their non-financial assurance needs. Sarah is recognized for her ability to understand a client's reporting requirements, and to then develop a strategy and approach to meeting those needs. She has provided assurance against a wide range of criteria and KPI’s using criteria such as: TCFD Carbon Footprinting metrics, GRI, SASB, and several others.

Sarah is also on Canada’s IASB working group reviewing assurance of extended external reporting, CPA Canada’s Sustainability Reporting Committee and is part of PwC’s Global ESG Reporting and Assurance Working Group, meeting regularly to determine global sustainability assurance methodologies.  

Shelley Spence, CPA, CA
Director, Audit & assurance, Public Sector at Deloitte Canada

Amy Yacyshyn, CPA, is the principal of Sustainability Reporting and Assurance within the Research, Guidance and Support group. In this role, she develops guidance and thought leadership for CPAs related to current and emerging areas of focus in the sustainability landscape and the impact these have on the profession.

Amy works with external stakeholders and subject matter experts to monitor sustainability standard setting and regulatory developments, guide research activities, and respond to relevant proposals on sustainability.

Prior to joining CPA Canada, Amy worked in the audit and assurance practice at EY with public and private clients in the natural resources sector. Amy is a member of CPA Canada and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta. She also holds a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).

Session Description:
Do you feel out of your comfort zone when teaching the types of engagements covered in Canadian Standards for Assurance Engagement Standards (CSAE)? Canadian Standards on Related Services (CSRS)?

Have you kept up with the broadening Scope of different types of assurance engagements? 
Have you kept up with the various changes in Canadian Assurance Engagement Standards (CSAE) and/or the Canadian Standards on Related Services (CSRS)? 

Have you considered how to incorporate sustainability, indigenous knowledge, and ESG, into your curriculum?

The session will provide a brief update on CSAE and CSRS, discuss best practices for educators in this area and provide a summary of how assurance of non-financial information has been tested on recent CFE’s.

The majority of the session will consist of a panel discussion in which auditors from both public practice and government can share their experiences with these types of engagements and provide insights into the changing landscape of these assurance services.  Panelists will share their perspectives on non-traditional assurance engagements, including how the demand for them, is changing, how the concept of materiality is applied, and some of the challenges they have faced in planning and performing these engagements.  Attendees will also be given the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.

Education Session 3B: Competency Map 2.0 (CM2.0): Looking at CM2.0 through different lenses including sustainability, systems thinking and value creation

Session Presenters:
Lara Greguric, Chair of the CPA Profession’s Certification 2.0 Steering Committee

Based in Vancouver, Lara has worked for the accounting profession for 15 years in various education leadership positions. In her current role as the Executive Vice President, Learning at the CPA Western School of Business, she is responsible for enabling student competency development, overseeing educational contractor relations, and creating valued partnerships with key external parties, including post-secondary institutions and employers.

Lara is the Chair of the profession’s Certification 2.0 Steering Committee and is excited to be leading the charge to translate the visionary new Competency Map 2.0 into a modernized certification program that is agile, competitive, and innovative and prepares learners for rewarding careers as future-ready CPAs. Lara is also the past Chair of the CPA Precertification Education Directors Committee, the group that provides operational oversight of the CPA certification model.

Prior to joining the School, Lara held senior roles in the pharmaceutical, financial services, and advisory services sectors.

Lara holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and obtained her CPA designation in February 1998 while working at Coopers & Lybrand in Toronto.

Lara enjoys giving back to her community and has served as a Board member of the North Vancouver District Public Library since January 2017. She has been the Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee since joining the Board and is currently in her second term as Board Chair. Lara also sits on accounting program advisory boards for several post-secondary institutions in Western Canada.

Irene M. Wiecek, FCPA, FCA, is a Professor, Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto, Institute for Management & Innovation with a cross appointment to the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. She is the Director of the CPA-accredited Master of Management & Professional Accounting Program. In 2018, she founded and currently directs the BIGDataAIHUB at the Institute for Management & Innovation. In the area of standard setting, she was a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board IFRS Discussion Group up until 2020.

Irene has co-authored numerous books and publications including eight editions of the text Intermediate Accounting (by Kieso et al) for which she is one of two Canadian co-authors on the Canadian edition. Irene’s interests lie in the area of International Financial Reporting Standards, integration in accounting education and, more recently, sustainability, big data/data analytics and emerging technologies including blockchain and artificial intelligence. Irene was a member of the CPA profession’s Foresight Working Group on Reimaging the Accounting Profession and is currently a member of the related Data Governance Committee. In 2019, she was appointed to the CPA Canada Competency Map Task Force, which took a blank sheet approach to redefining the competencies for the accounting profession. The new Competency Map (CM2.0) was released March 1, 2022.

Andy Thomas, MBA, CPA, CGMA, CPA (Illinois), is the Director of the Professional Program Examinations at CPA Canada. He is also involved with the Certification 2.0 project at CPA Canada which involves the implementation of the Competency Map 2.0 as well as the redesign and redevelopment of the Professional Education programs at CPA Canada.

Andy has been with CPA Canada and one of its legacy bodies for over 13 years and has been involved with the professional examinations for over 30 years. Currently Andy oversees the module end examinations in both the Prep and PEP areas which encompasses 20 different modules and 94 unique examinations assessing the competencies of 45,000 students annually. Andy also oversees a variety of innovative projects at CPA Canada including remote proctoring, automated essay scoring and acting as the staff support for the Certification 2.0 project.

Session Description:
CM2.0 is a visionary map which lays out the skills and competencies of pre-certification CPAs at a high level. It sets out a broad Foundational Common Core for all entry-level CPAs and includes topic areas such as sustainability, systems thinking and value creation. How and where do these topics fit into accounting education?  In this session, we will walk through the map, focusing on these specific areas, illustrating how the competencies are intertwined and build upon each other.

Watch this video for an overview of CM2.0 – Leading the Way.
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2WiLzx5xbg
French: https://youtu.be/IjyZHKLqk0I

Session: CSR, Ethics, Accountability 2

Session Moderator: Bruce McConomy (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Session: Performance Management (French)

Session Moderator: Richard Fontaine (Univesité du Québec à Montréal)

Session: Networking / Exhibitors

Session: Financial Reporting - Fresh Insights

Session Moderator: Regan Schmidt (University of Saskatchewan)

3.1.1 Session: Competency Map 2.0 (CM2.0)

Session Presenters: TBD

Session Description: 
CM2.0 is a visionary map which lays out the skills and competencies of pre-certification CPAs at a high level. It sets out a broad Foundational Common Core for all entry-level CPAs and includes topic areas such as sustainability, systems thinking and value creation. How and where do these topics fit into accounting education?  In this session, we will walk through the map, focusing on these specific areas, illustrating how the competencies are intertwined and build upon each other.

Session: Audit Quality

Session Moderator: Ping Zhang (University of Toronto)

Session: Financial Reporting Capital Markets 3

Session Moderator: Tianshu Ma (University of Manchester)

Session: External Pressures-Managerial & Financial Accounting

Session Moderator: Tisha King (Dalhousie University)

Session: Financial Reporting Earnings & Forecasts 1

Session Moderator: Benjamin Segal (Fordham University)

Session: Experimental Insights

Session Moderator: Lan Guo (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Session: Quizzes

Time: 3:00pm - 3:20pm

Session Chair: Lindsay McLachlan (Brandon University)

Session Description:
I started having weekly quizzes in my Fall 2021 classes.  This forced students to read the material and practice questions to solidify their understanding.  Online quizzes were made available at the start of the week and were due at the end of the week.  These open-book quizzes had an extended time period allowing students to research answers and discuss with classmates.  The low marks assigned to each quiz reduced the incentive to cheat.

Session: Learning Your Purpose and Finding Your Purpose in Learning

• They will individualize strategic terms by applying them personally.
• Students will articulate their present mission, and work through strategy selection to achieve their academic vision.
• Students will be shown from Day 1 that they are responsible for their own learning outcomes.
• In the process, they will contemplate their existing learning methods while being exposed to new and better learning methods.

Session: CPA without Borders

Time: 3:40pm - 4:00pm

Session Presenter: Nicholas Blais

Session Description:

Session: Tutorials on Demand

Time: 4:00pm - 4:20pm

Session Presenter: Catherine Barrette (University of Toronto)

Session Description:
Every year, we would observe the attendance to in-person tutorial dropping significantly as the term goes on. By the time of the mid-term, attendance would be 10% or lower. However, during the pandemic and moving the tutorial online, we noted an increase in attendance.

This prompted us to review the tutorial format and move the bulk of our tutorial content to asynchronous mode (Khan Academy style).    We worked to develop over 20 asynchronous videos that would be available on demand. We also worked to balance the asynchronous content with synchronous TA drop in hours and discussion board to ensure that students still felt they could get personalized help if needed.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we managed to reach an average of 60% of the class. The main benefits that were noted were

• Immediate feedback on performance
• Greater flexibility for students
• Reduced commute due to accessibility of tutorials material online
• Ability to watch content multiple times
• Smaller attendance at in person drop-in hours made students more comfortable to ask questions
• Long-term cost reduction in TA budget

CM2.0: Learn what Entry-level CPAs actually Do, Given the Increasing Automation trend

There has been much discussion about automation and its impact on traditional entry-level accounting jobs. Do you know how the job landscape has changed for your students? Join us for this informative panel discussion in which employers will discuss how technology and other changes are impacting the job landscape for entry-level CPAs.

Moderator: Sonia Dhaiwal (University of Guelph)

Panelists:

Carrie Carson, CPA, CA, is a Partner in Deloitte’s Assurance & Advisory practice located in Regina; is the Chair, Chartered Professional Accountants of Saskatchewan; and has been a facilitator for the CA Western School of Business. 

Carrie spent two years (2013-2014) in industry with SaskCentral as the Manager of Accounting & Reporting. In addition over the last 15 years, Carrie has provided both audit and advisory services to a variety of organizations including the financial services sector, with a focus on the credit union system. In addition, Carrie brings a broad range of other industry experience in areas of pension, real estate, crown corporations and agriculture.

Anita Chang, CPA, CA, is a Senior Manager in EY’s Strategy and Transactions practice focused on working with companies to build out their value creation agenda, with deep experience in driving capital efficiencies and design and execution of post-merger integration or divestiture strategies.

Prior to this, Anita spent 6 years in EY’s Assurance Practice, specializing in US GAAP and SOX, working with clients, coordinating global teams, around complex transactions including IPOs, transformative acquisitions, debt offerings, first-year SOX internal controls design, Chapter 11 bankruptcy declaration, restructuring and emergence. In 2016, Anita participated in an exclusive 50-person global exchange program with EY and spent 3 months working in São Paulo, Brazil.

Anita serves as the co-chair of the EY Vancouver Professional Women’s Network and often supports teams in client discussions around integrating DEI into their business strategy. She is also the incoming Co-Director of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Program in the Pacific Region.

Adynea Russell, FCPA, FCA, is an Assurance Partner in MNP’s Regina office as well as Vice-President Assurance for MNP.  Delivering strong business advice on a broad range of issues, Adynea works with private and public companies and government organizations of all sizes, conducting audits, reviews and compilations, providing tax services and helping them stay compliant.  With more than 20 years of experience in public practice, Adynea is adept at listening to what clients need and customizing solutions and services so that they meet those needs. She works closely with clients, thoroughly reviewing financial statements and records and conducting in-depth analyses to identify and solve problems. 

Adynea has helped lead the evolution of how assurance and related engagements are being performed, from highly manual with very limited technology all the way to using AI, robotic process automation and other technologies to automate and provide efficiencies and greater insights. These have reduced or removed mundane assurance tasks and allowed all team members to focus on higher risk areas, using professional skepticism and analytical mindsets to provide greater value through the assurance process.

Brittany Walter is an Audit Partner with KPMG Saskatoon with over 15 years of experience leading audit engagements including experience working with large multinational companies listed in both Canada and the United States. She has experience with Canadian and US securities exchange engagements helping her clients with various transactions including acquisitions, IPOs, Reverse Takeovers and debt and equity financing. Brittany has also assisted clients with accounting implications of complex transactions, IFRS conversion, and adoption of accounting policies and standards as well as reporting under ESMA and emerging areas such as ESG. As a firm KPMG has developed platforms and tools such as data and analytics that are being utilized in the performance of audit and advisory engagements, where in her role as audit partner Brittany is responsible for the execution of the analysis that is performed over the findings from these tools, the corresponding impact on financial statements and providing guidance to clients.

Technology is being utilized to provide more insight into our clients systems and information where we can provide valuable observations in our role.

Moderator:

Cédric Lesage is the Lawrence S. Bloomberg professor at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He is currently Director of the doctoral program at the John Molson School of Business. He was President of the Association Francophone de Comptabilité (AFC), and Vice President at large of the International Association for Accounting Education & Research (IAAER), and director of the CEFAG Doctoral Program of Excellence in France. After a professional experience in an audit firm (Ernst & Young Paris), he obtained his PhD from the University of Rennes 1. Assistant, then Associate Professor at IAE Rennes, he became Professor, first at the IAE of Rennes, then at the IAE of Paris, University Paris La Sorbonne. He then joined HEC Paris for 10 years as Associate Professor. He has been a guest speaker at various European and North American universities, and has been visiting professor at Concordia University, Canada (2012) and at New York University-Shanghai, China (2014). He has co-authored two books (Introduction à la Comptabilité, with B. Colasse, and Connectionnist Approaches in Management, with M. Cottrell) and has published research articles in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability, Comptabilité-Contrôle-Audit, Contemporary Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, Journal of Business Ethics, etc. His main research theme focuses on governance issues, mainly from the auditor's point of view, as well as the study of fraudulent behavior in companies. He is a member of scientific committees of various international scientific associations, associate editor and member of several editorial boards of international scientific journals.

Panelists:

Leslie Berger serves as the Editor in Chief of Accounting Perspectives, a journal of the CAAA that publishes applied research, literature reviews, commentary, educational articles, and instructional cases that speak from or to the accounting community in Canada. Leslie is an associate professor and a KPMG Foundation Fellow in Accounting at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research, covering topics including performance measurement, whistleblowing, and other behavioural topics can be found in various journals including Accounting, Organization and Society, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of Management Accounting Research. At Laurier, Leslie teaches Integrated Cases in Accounting to Graduate Diploma students and supervises PhD students interested in behavioural research.

W. Robert Knechel, PhD is Distinguished Professor and the Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar in Accounting at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. He is currently the Director of the International Accounting and Auditing Center (IAAC) located within the Fisher School of Accounting. Robert holds appointments at the University of Auckland as a Professor of Accounting Research and the University of New South Wales as a Professor of Auditing. He is on the Board of the Foundation for Audit Research in the Netherlands and is a past member of the Standing Advisory Group (SAG) to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). He is currently the Senior Editor for The Accounting Review. He has previously served as the Senior Editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory from 2011 through 2014. Robert’s prior research has been regularly published in several leading journals including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Organizations and Society, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. He was honored with the 2015 Outstanding Educator in Auditing Award given by the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association and has received Honorary Doctorates from BI Oslo (Norway) and Nyenrode University (Netherlands).

Alan Webb is the Deloitte Professor in the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo. He obtained his PhD from the University of Alberta in 2001. His primary research interests are in the areas of incentives, goal setting, and performance measurement. Professor Webb has presented his work throughout North America and is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Contemporary Accounting Research. His research publications appear in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society, and Accounting Perspectives. He is currently serving as Past-President of the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. Professor Webb is the founding Director of the CPA Ontario Centre for Performance Management Research and Education. In 2011 he was awarded the L. S. Rosen Outstanding Educator Award by the Canadian Academic Accounting Association.

Session 4A: Cert2.0: Help Design the Next Generation, Entry-level CPA Learning Experience (Education, Work and Assessment)

Session Presenters:
Lara Greguric, Chair of the CPA Profession’s Certification 2.0 Steering Committee  

Based in Vancouver, Lara has worked for the accounting profession for 15 years in various education leadership positions. In her current role as the Executive Vice President, Learning at the CPA Western School of Business, she is responsible for enabling student competency development, overseeing educational contractor relations, and creating valued partnerships with key external parties, including post-secondary institutions and employers.

Lara is the Chair of the profession’s Certification 2.0 Steering Committee and is excited to be leading the charge to translate the visionary new Competency Map 2.0 into a modernized certification program that is agile, competitive, and innovative and prepares learners for rewarding careers as future-ready CPAs. Lara is also the past Chair of the CPA Precertification Education Directors Committee, the group that provides operational oversight of the CPA certification model.

Prior to joining the School, Lara held senior roles in the pharmaceutical, financial services, and advisory services sectors.

Lara holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and obtained her CPA designation in February 1998 while working at Coopers & Lybrand in Toronto.

Lara enjoys giving back to her community and has served as a Board member of the North Vancouver District Public Library since January 2017. She has been the Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee since joining the Board and is currently in her second term as Board Chair. Lara also sits on accounting program advisory boards for several post-secondary institutions in Western Canada.

Irene M. Wiecek, FCPA, FCA, is a Professor, Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto, Institute for Management & Innovation with a cross appointment to the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. She is the Director of the CPA-accredited Master of Management & Professional Accounting Program. In 2018, she founded and currently directs the BIGDataAIHUB at the Institute for Management & Innovation. In the area of standard setting, she was a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board IFRS Discussion Group up until 2020.

Irene has co-authored numerous books and publications including eight editions of the text Intermediate Accounting (by Kieso et al) for which she is one of two Canadian co-authors on the Canadian edition. Irene’s interests lie in the area of International Financial Reporting Standards, integration in accounting education and, more recently, sustainability, big data/data analytics and emerging technologies including blockchain and artificial intelligence. Irene was a member of the CPA profession’s Foresight Working Group on Reimaging the Accounting Profession and is currently a member of the related Data Governance Committee. In 2019, she was appointed to the CPA Canada Competency Map Task Force, which took a blank sheet approach to redefining the competencies for the accounting profession. The new Competency Map (CM2.0) was released March 1, 2022.

Andy Thomas, MBA, CPA, CGMA, CPA (Illinois), is the Director of the Professional Program Examinations at CPA Canada. He is also involved with the Certification 2.0 project at CPA Canada which involves the implementation of the Competency Map 2.0 as well as the redesign and redevelopment of the Professional Education programs at CPA Canada.

Andy has been with CPA Canada and one of its legacy bodies for over 13 years and has been involved with the professional examinations for over 30 years. Currently Andy oversees the module end examinations in both the Prep and PEP areas which encompasses 20 different modules and 94 unique examinations assessing the competencies of 45,000 students annually. Andy also oversees a variety of innovative projects at CPA Canada including remote proctoring, automated essay scoring and acting as the staff support for the Certification 2.0 project.

Session Description:
Everyone is talking about the next steps in the implementation of CM2.0. Just what does this mean exactly? What should change and why? The Cert2.0 Steering Committee is looking for your input. Help shape the future of CPA education as we move forward together.

Session 4B: Accounting for Impact

Session Moderator:
Blerita Korca (University of Trento)

Session Presenters:
Erica Pimentel (Queen’s University)
Charles Cho (York University)
Leanne Keddie (Carleton University)

Session Description:
The purpose of the panel will be to introduce participants to Accounting for Impact (AFI), a network of accounting academics who are interested in fostering engagement. We aim to inspire academics of all levels of experience and areas of expertise to reach outside the academic ivory tower to make a positive impact on society.

The session will feature a panel discussion that will introduce participants to AFI’s mission and describe the motivation for launching this initiative. The panelists will reflect on their successes and lessons learned in knowledge mobilization and will offer first-hand tips on how enriching this type of work can be, both personally and professionally. They will also discuss how performance evaluation systems often disincentivize impact-focused work. Erica and Leanne will reflect on their experience as public scholars despite being early career researchers.

Session: Financial Reporting COVID

Session Moderator: Amin Mawani (University of york)

Session: CSR and Planning (French)

Session Moderator: Vincent Gagné (Université de Sherbrooke)

Session: Taxation 2

Session Moderator: Pradeep Sapkota (University of North of Texas)

Session: Financial Reporting Intangibles

Session Moderator: Han-Up Park (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Unique Methods and Focus

Session Moderator: Ganesh Vaidyanathan (University of Saskatchewan)

Session: Tax

Session Moderator: Oliver Okafor (Toronto Metropolitan University)

Session: Financial Reporting Earnings & Forecasts 2

Session Moderator: Jay Junghun Lee (University of Massachusetts)

Session: CSR, Ethics, Accountability 2

Session Moderator: Samir Trabelsi (Brock University)