Dates and location
Hours
Dates and location
Hours
Description
Learn anywhere, anytime with audio learning from your trusted source for Professional Development.
Get up to speed in an hour on critical topics for CPAs such as AI, Ethics, Finance, Cybersecurity, Audit, Tax, Sustainability and more.
- Convenient 60-minute audio courses in our new app.
- Flexible format allows you to listen and learn on the go at your own pace.
- Relevant and trending topics affecting CPAs to help you stay at the forefront of the profession.
As automation and artificial intelligence continue to reshape the accounting profession, many CPAs are navigating uncertainty about their role, relevance, and long-term career impact. While technology is advancing rapidly, the greatest risks facing organizations today are not caused by automation itself but by weak, unclear, or poorly designed systems.
This session reframes the automation conversation through a systems-first lens. Rather than focusing on tools, it explores how process design, data integrity, and professional judgment determine whether automation becomes a strategic advantage or a source of risk. Participants will gain practical insight into how automation can reduce burnout, improve decision-making, and elevate the CPA’s role when implemented intentionally.
Lessons Covered:
- Why Automation Feels Threatening
- The Types of Automation Reshaping Accounting Today
- How Automation Elevates the CPA Role
- AI and Accounting
- Where to Go From there to Survive or Shape Automation
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Key Takeaways
Upon completion of this course, you will learn:
- Understand why automation itself is not the primary threat to the accounting profession and how weak systems create risk.
- Distinguish between task automation and decision-based work, clarifying where CPA judgment remains essential.
- Gain practical language to participate confidently in automation and AI discussions within their organizations or firms.
- Recognize how automation can reduce low-value work, improve clarity, and support more meaningful advisory contributions.
- Develop a framework for assessing personal and organizational readiness for automation without fear or hype.
Who Will Benefit
This course will benefit:
- CPAs in public practice navigating automation, margin pressure, and evolving client expectations.
- CPAs in industry responsible for systems, controls, reporting, and decision support.
- Finance leaders involved in technology, ERP, or AI-enabled transformation initiatives.
- CPAs at any career stage seeking clarity, confidence, and perspective as the profession evolves.
How to Access the Course
New mobile learning! Download Blackboard Learn from your app store (iOS or Android). Learn more.
To access the course on your computer please visit our BlackBoard site, and log-in using the same login and password used for the Registration Portal.
Please allow up to 15 minutes after registration for the course to appear on your BlackBoard page.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal and all other CPA Ontario PD policies can be found here.
Speaker(s)
Stefanie Ricchio, CPA, CGA, has worked for over two decades at the intersection of finance strategy, transformation and humanity, driving value across technology, 3PL, and SaaS industries, mid-tier professional firms and not-for-profits as both a senior leader and a consultant. Now, her focus is on empowering value for you in your work and life and for organizations to drive commercial efficiencies and create environments for people to thrive. Her work in financial systems implementations brings a systems-first lens from years of working with accounting firms and growing businesses implementing (and fixing) accounting technology. Stefanie's perspective bridges people, process, and technology - not just vendor hype.