Opening Keynote: Vince Brewerton, Country Director, Potential Project International​

Topic: Cultivating Awareness – The Superpower of Finance Professionals

As finance professionals, how do you make the judgements that are so important to your clients and colleagues? By being aware. Aware of risk, of possible bias, of others’ behaviours, of many factors. In today’s hectic, stressful, ever-changing business environment, this superpower is more important than ever. This practical, inspiring, and entertaining session will expand your understanding of the importance of awareness and introduce you to science-based, actionable tools and strategies you can use to strengthen it and enhance your professional practice.​​

Key Takeaways:

• Participate in an awareness assessment and see how you stack up against other CPAs and finance professionals​​
• An introductory training practice that will help you to strengthen awareness.
• Learn powerful, science-based, actionable tools and strategies to cultivate awareness that can be implemented immediately
• Gain a deeper understanding of how awareness is a crucial capacity of the mind and how you can enhance your professional practice and client relationships through developing this superpower

​​Session #1: Morgan Hamel, President MH Partners Inc.

Topic: Leveraging Moral Leadership to Increase ESG Integrity

In this session, TEDx speaker Morgan Hamel will assert that we have entered a new era of ESG​ activism (not only from investors but also from customers and employees) that many leaders and ​businesses find themselves ill-equipped to navigate. Key to navigating this challenge, she argues, is ​adopting a nuanced approach to ethics involving greater moral humility on the part of leaders and ​employees, and using “both/and” thinking to resolve what can sometimes feel like irreconcilable ​purpose/profit tensions. 

Key Takeaways:​

• An understanding the role behavioural ethics plays in (often inadvertent) ESG-washing​
• Practical suggestions for increasing the integrity of ESG reporting/communication ​
• An understanding of how to use “both/and thinking” to resolve ESG paradoxes​

Session #2: Mark Tassé, MBA, FCPA, FCA, CFF, Strategic Advisor to CEOs and Boards at Public Safety Canada​

Topic: Understanding Anxiety in the Professional Context

The session will allow professionals to understand how to handle the anxiety that comes with doing​ the right thing when it may affect business results or performance negatively.​

​Key Takeaways:

• Introduction to anxiety, stress, and their manifestations in a professional setting​
• Impact of professional decisions on emotional and mental well-being​
• The connection between ethics, business decisions, and stress levels

Session #3: Roni Jackson, Co-founder of Red Flag Mania

Topic: True Stories of Ethical​ Dilemmas in the Workplace

Ethical dilemmas in the workplace are normal and unavoidable. Yet, awareness of what is an ethical dilemma and how individuals morally reason their actions involves several factors, and some of them are personal. This workshop will explore what matters and how to do the right thing for stakeholders through true stories of fraud and abuse.​

Key Takeaways:

• Understand ethical decision-making factors, including personal values, organizational culture, and legal requirements
• Identify what matters to different stakeholders when making ethical decisions
• Apply strategies for doing the right thing for stakeholders, even in difficult situations.​

​Session #4: Julie Segal, Senior Manager, Climate Finance, Environmental Defence​

Topic: Business Ethics in the Time of Climate Change

Attend this session to hear pertinent information from Julie’s award-winning paper, the first prize winner in the Ethics & Trust in Finance Global Prize, an ethics competition sponsored by CPA global and the OECD.

Key Takeaways:

• The growing need for businesses to consider their social and environmental impacts
• How mitigating climate change is ethically important and is essential for business success and economic stability 
• The evolving rules related to social and environmental impacts that affect Ontario CPAs

Closing Keynote: Bob Woodward

Topic: A Conversation with Bob Woodward, American Investigative Journalist

In this discussion on ethics within the business world, expect to hear captivating stories that are sometimes surprising, at times shocking, and always fascinating. Woodward blends current affairs with stories from the past for historical context. He also assesses the role of the media and how well it is (or isn’t) doing its job.

Bob Woodward has won nearly every American journalism award there is including two Pulitzers, and is currently associate editor for The Washington Post where he’s worked since 1971.

Key Takeaways:

• Firsthand insights from the White House, the Supreme Court, the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Congress
• The successes and messes of the presidents he’s covered
• Lessons about governing; presidential leadership during economic, military, and national crises; the expanding powers of the presidency; and the role of the media