Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Description
Join us in person for our two-day Small & Medium Practitioners conference this Fall 2026. We’ve curated a powerful lineup of thought leaders, experts, and industry specialists covering a wide spectrum of relevant topics for CPAs like you. Experience this comprehensive learning and networking experience designed to keep you at the forefront of financial, tax, and risk management developments.
Early Bird Sale: Save $100 off this conference by registering before August 19, 2026. Promotion cannot be combined with other offers or Passport. Access the Early Bird Sale by logging into your account.
Agenda
Day 1 Conference Agenda
CPA Ontario's Welcome Remarks
Host Opening Remarks
Opening Keynote
Topic | ASPE Update: 3856 & 3840 Related Party Transaction
Some of the most challenging transactions to account for are related party transactions. Those challenges become even more complicated when they also involve financial instruments. This session will provide an overview of the current standards and the known challenges and our plans to address these challenges based on feedback we received on our Detailed Review of ASPE.
Key Takeaways:
- Gain an understanding of known challenges in accounting for related party transactions and financial instruments.
- The suggested solutions to some of these challenges proposed in our Detailed Review of ASPE Consultation Paper and the feedback we received on these proposals.
- How our research on Related Party Transactions will give us a path forward.
Topic | Compilation Engagement & Quality Management CSQM1 (Implementation Useful To Providers)
Topic | Operationalizing SoQM (CSQM 1) in an Evolving Technology & Cyber Risk Environment
Speaker: TBD
Topic | Building Future-Forward Tech Teams: Hiring & Retention, Client Relationship Management, Software for Small Firms (CaseWare, CRM, Tax Software)
Topic | Sales Tax Update
Topic | Succession Planning & Intergenerational Business Transfer
Succession planning is one of the most significant events in the lifecycle of a business—impacting valuation, tax strategy, risk exposure, and long-term continuity. While financial structuring is critical, many business transitions face challenges not captured on the balance sheet: Founder dependency, informal governance, and undefined leadership structures can reduce business value and increase transition risk.
In Succession Planning & Intergenerational Business Transfer, Barb Stuhlemmer, MBA, brings a complementary perspective to traditional advisory work by focusing on the operational, systems, and leadership factors that influence a successful transition. With over 20 years of experience working with small business owners, Barb introduces a structured framework to assess succession readiness beyond financial metrics.
Key Takeaways:
- How to assess succession readiness beyond financial and tax planning.
- The role of leadership, systems, and team structure in successful transitions.
- Strategies to support continuity, reduce risk, and maintain value through transition.
This session enables CPAs in supporting clients, and their own businesses, not only in structuring the transition, but in preparing the business to sustain value and continuity across generations.
Closing Keynote
Topic | Tariffs & Economic Uncertainty: What SMPs Need to Know
Join BDC Chief Economist Pierre Cléroux – as part of Small Business Week 2026 – for a focused discussion on what you need to know as economic uncertainty and structural change persist. This keynote will explore BDC’s economic outlook and the implications of U.S. trade policy and geopolitics, as Canada asserts its economic sovereignty. It will also focus on practical strategies and supports to help your clients – whether it is accessing capital, boosting productivity, navigating business transitions, or driving sustainable business growth.
Host Closing Remarks
Day 2 Conference Agenda
Opening Keynote
Topic | Leadership: Team Training, Systems & Effective Management (Leading Transformation with the Curiosity Compass)
Most organizations don’t fail because they lack ideas—they fail because they ignore the sparks of curiosity already inside their teams.
In this powerful, story-driven keynote, innovation executive and governance leader Fenton Jagdeo introduces the Curiosity Compass: a practical, battle-tested framework designed to unlock innovation at all levels of an organization. Built from over a decade of hands-on work with Fortune 500s, billion-dollar boards, and high-growth startups—and backed by $4 million worth of mistakes (and wins)—this isn’t just another innovation theory. It’s a proven tool that works.
Fenton takes the audience on a journey through some of the most iconic cautionary tales in business—Kodak, Blockbuster, Nokia—revealing what happens when organizations cling to the familiar while the world changes around them. He then shows how leaders and employees alike can use curiosity to challenge assumptions, borrow ideas from other industries, rethink broken systems, and broaden stakeholder impact.
If you’ve ever wondered how to go from “we should innovate” to “here’s how we do it,” this keynote gives you the map—and the compass.
Key Takeaways:
- A Repeatable Innovation Framework: Learn the Curiosity Compass—a four-direction model that helps individuals challenge assumptions, borrow ideas from other industries, fix broken systems, and consider the broader ecosystem.
- Micro-Innovation as a Strategic Advantage: Why big change often starts with small, everyday ideas—and how to surface them in your organization.
- Scenario Planning & the Burning Platform: Understand how to use curiosity to guide tough decisions in moments of risk or disruption.
- A Human-Centered Innovation Mindset: Empower your employees with tools that actually work—no jargon, no “innovation theater,” just action.
- The Courage to Leap: Leave with a clear sense of what’s at stake if we don’t innovate—and how curiosity helps leaders and teams take bold, informed action.
AI Workshop
Topic | AI Automation for Small Medium Practitioners (Practical Use Cases)
Speakers: Matt McGuire, FCPA, FCA, Co-Founder of the AML Shop & Adam Feldman, Risk Management and Technology Principal at the AML Shop
Topic | AML: Qualifying Activities and How it Applies to Specific SMP Firms
Since FINTRAC levied a monetary penalty against a medium-sized accounting firm last year, and the potential penalties have increased 40x since, FINTRAC compliance has been on the mind of participants across the accounting sector. But did you know that accountants are only required to comply with federal anti-money laundering regulations when conducting certain qualifying activities? Due to a lack of understanding of what constitutes a qualifying activity, many practitioners inadvertently fall into scope simply by performing routine tasks.
This interactive Q&A session is designed to help you "scope" your own practice. Bring your specific service offerings to the table for a live analysis of:
- Whether each offering is likely to result in qualifying activities.
- The regulatory obligations that result from the likely qualifying activities.
- How the service may potentially be offered without engaging in qualifying activities.
Topic | Risk Management & Internal Controls For SMPs
As small and medium practitioners navigate increasing regulatory complexity, digital transformation, and client expectations, effective risk management and internal controls are becoming critical to firm sustainability and growth.
This session will provide a practical, implementation-focused perspective on how SMPs can design and strengthen internal control frameworks without adding unnecessary complexity. We will explore common risk exposures across tax, client data, workflow processes, and technology environments, along with actionable strategies to mitigate them.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to build scalable, efficient controls that support both compliance and operational excellence.
Key Takeaways:
- How to identify and prioritize key risk areas within an SMP environment.
- Practical internal control strategies that can be implemented without large teams or infrastructure.
- How to leverage technology and workflow design to strengthen controls while improving efficiency.
Topic | Advanced Tax Strategies, CRA Updates and Case Studies
Closing Keynote
Topic | Revolutionizing Tax Research with AI
Host Closing Remarks
Speaker & Sponsor Forms
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Disclaimer
The views expressed in the course are non-authoritative and have not been formally endorsed by CPA Ontario and do not reflect the views of CPA Ontario. The information included in the course is for general information purposes only.
CPA Ontario, the presenters and the authors do not accept any responsibility or liability that might occur directly or indirectly as a consequence of the use or application of or reliance on this material.
How to Access the Conference
This is an in person conference. You must attend the full conference to receive verifiable CPD hours.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal and all other CPA Ontario Program policies can be found here.
Speaker(s)
| HOST | |
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Dishan Ratnajothi, CPA, MAcc, is Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Pricing at AutoTrader, where he leads enterprise pricing, revenue optimization, and commercial excellence. He partners closely with senior leadership to drive growth and enhance business performance, drawing on experience across M&A, FP&A, and finance operations. Dishan was recognized with the CPA Emerging Leader Award in 2021 for his leadership and professional impact. |
| OPENING KEYNOTES | |
| DAY 1 | |
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Armand Capisciolto, FCPA, FCA, has served on the Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) since 2015, including as a member, Vice-Chair, and now, Chair. His extensive experience as a standard setter also includes chairing the AcSB’s Private Enterprise Advisory Committee and membership on the IFRS® Accounting Standards Discussion Group. Armand’s breadth of standard-setting experience goes beyond the private sector, including past roles with the Public Sector Accounting Discussion Group and the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s Internal Control over Financial Reporting Task Force. On top of his standard-setting experience, Armand was the National Accounting Standards Partner with BDO Canada LLP, where he has spent much of his career. His role at BDO armed him with extensive knowledge and experience with all the Canadian financial reporting frameworks, servicing private and public companies, not-for-profit organizations, pension plans, and public sector entities. |
| DAY 2 | |
| Fenton Jagdeo Jr. transforms how organizations think about innovation by championing what he calls “radical curiosity” — the ability to challenge conventional thinking and turn uncertainty into competitive advantage. An Ivey HBA graduate who originally attended one of the roughest schools in Toronto, Fenton brings authenticity and lived experience to conversations about resilience, equity, and breakthrough thinking. His career spans venture-backed entrepreneurship, civic leadership, strategic consulting, and academia, giving him rare insights into how curiosity drives success across all sectors. | |
| CLOSING KEYNOTES | |
| DAY 1 | |
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Pierre Cléroux was appointed Vice President, Research and Chief Economist at BDC in 2012. Pierre leads a team of experts who analyze economic data to identify business and sector trends impacting Canadian entrepreneurs. A seasoned speaker, he helps business owners understand the risks and opportunities presented by the economic environment. Mr. Cléroux is also responsible for providing economic analysis and advice to the Bank’s senior management team and supervises all marketing and industry research activities. Over his 25-year career as an economist, he has held several influential positions that had a direct impact on entrepreneurs in Canada and abroad. |
| DAY 2 | |
| Benjamin Alarie, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, is at the forefront of the legal tech revolution, harnessing AI to transform the way tax professionals work. As a renowned tax expert and the visionary behind Blue J, he has pioneered the use of generative AI for tax research, making complex legal information accessible and actionable. Through Blue J's groundbreaking AI-powered research platform, he's empowering tax professionals across North America and the UK to streamline their research and enhance their decision-making. His impact extends beyond the tech world, with dozens of peer-reviewed academic publications to his name, including the award-winning book The Legal Singularity, which explores the transformative potential of AI in law. As the Osler Chair in Business Law at the University of Toronto, he's a respected voice in the legal community, contributing insights to top journals and shaping the next generation of legal minds. His academic journey includes degrees from the University of Toronto and Yale Law School, and his early career included clerking for Madam Justice Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada. | |
| FEATURED SPEAKERS | |
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Matt McGuire, BA(Hons), MAcc, FCPA, FCA, CFF, CCI, DIFA, CAMS, AMLP is a court recognized expert in anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions compliance, and co-founded one of the largest AML consultancies in Canada, The AML Shop. He has been assisting governments, financial services companies and accounting firms to assess and reduce financial crime and related regulatory risks for twenty years. Matt is a Fellow of CPA Ontario Chartered Professional, certified in Financial Forensics, as an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, and a Cryptocurrency Investigator. Matt has been qualified as an expert witness in forensic accounting, money laundering and anti-money laundering, and has provided testimony for domestic and foreign courts, Law Society Tribunals, Immigration Tribunals, Senate committees, Parliamentary Committees, and the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into money laundering. |
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Adam Feldman, CAMS, CAMS-RM, CSC is the AML Shop’s Risk Management and Technology Principal with a background in process engineering and compliance audits, Adam assists clients in taking their AML compliance program to the next level, by building and optimizing compliance programs, and advising clients on navigating the regulatory landscape. Working with accounting firms, real estate brokerages, mortgage lenders, and financial institutions, Adam has developed and implemented compliance programs and remedial action plans across a wide range of reporting entities. Adam’s background in engineering coupled with his advanced expertise in data analysis, risk analysis, mitigation, and process improvement makes him an asset to The AML Shop's clients. |
| Filomena Silveira, CPA, is the founder of FSPC (F. Silveira Professional Corporation), where she advises small and mid-sized businesses on tax, financial strategy, and practice optimization. She works closely with professional service firms, helping them build scalable systems, strengthen internal processes, and improve overall operational efficiency. Filomena is particularly focused on modernizing accounting practices through technology, workflow design, and strategic advisory. | |
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Barb Stuhlemmer, MBA, is a Canadian Small Business Strategist, Speaker, College Professor, Author, and Entrepreneur who helps small business founders prepare their businesses to Run Without Them. Barb's clients want to step back from the day-to-day work while ensuring their operations run successfully, and the business continues to thrive. Barb’s EXIT Readiness process, helps founder build leadership capacity, launch new income streams, and transition key responsibilities, resulting in increased revenue and a clear future plan that ultimately allows for the sale and successful transition of the owner out of the business. Barb’s mission is to help founders step away confidently, knowing their businesses will grow and create value now, for lasting legacy later. |
