Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Description
Participants will build the practical skills and toolset required to operate as an effective controller—focusing on the steward and operator roles—with emphasis on career management, team leadership, financial performance, data and analytics, risk, and relationship management. Participants will examine realistic scenarios to prioritize development areas, design action plans for new or evolving roles, and strengthen how controllership supports organizational value.
Topics include:
- Today’s controller: roles, responsibilities, and value creation.
- Managing your career: effectiveness, time/email management, technical breadth, balance, and change readiness.
- Working with your team: starting as a new controller; accounting/finance essentials; data analysis and AI skills; small vs. large organization nuances; NFP/public sector considerations.
- Supporting the business: HR policies and procedures, hiring/retaining talent, performance management, financial management, analytics, data integrity, cybersecurity, and use of AI.
- Interactions and influence: connector mindset, risk management, internal control, fraud awareness, and key relationship strategies.
- Mini‑cases and worksheets to apply concepts to practical decisions.
NOTE: This course description has been revised and reflects updates for 2026. If you have and questions, please contact pdevents@cpaontario.ca.
Schedule
- December 10, 2026, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
- December 11, 2026, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Key Takeaways
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Distinguish the controller’s four roles (steward, operator, catalyst, strategist) and prioritize personal development areas.
- Establish an onboarding and 90‑day action plan for a new controllership role, including quick wins and stakeholder mapping.
- Align finance operations with organizational needs by strengthening HR, hiring/retention, performance management, and policy frameworks.
- Build a performance‑measurement toolkit—linking financial and non‑financial indicators, data analytics, and dashboards to decision‑making.
- Use AI to support the work of the controller in daily operations.
- Implement core risk, internal control, and relationship‑management practices to support the business and safeguard integrity.
Who Will Benefit
This course is ideal for inance professionals transitioning to, or ne in, a controllership role as well as experienced controllers seeking updated tools, ideas, and a structured refresher on operational management.
Prerequisite(s)
A basic understanding of the controllership function and financial operations (recommended).
How to Access the Course
This course is delivered as a live webinar. To receive verifiable CPD hours, you must attend the session live. We recommend joining at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time. For the best interactive experience, please use a computer equipped with a camera and microphone.
A reminder email with the Zoom link and course details will be sent two business days before the session. If you do not receive it, please check your spam or junk folder.
The same information, including any available materials, will also be posted in advance on our Blackboard LMS.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal and all other CPA Ontario PD policies can be found here.
Speaker(s)
Joe Marchello, CPA, CA, CFP has over 20 years of accounting, tax and development experience. A highly motivated individual with impeccable judgement and an innate ability to solve financial and accounting problems. Joe obtained his designation specializing in accounting and tax. Accordingly, he then transitioned to project management and residential development with two major GTA developers involved in many major commercial and residential properties across the GTA. He’s an active member of the Chartered Accountants of Ontario and a Certified Financial Planner and has been quoted in various Ontario newspaper articles about Tax, Accounting, Real Estate Development, Fraud and Ethics. Other accomplishments in Joe’s career were equally impactful and included being a leader responsible for Accounting Operations of Tridel, a renowned vertically integrated multifamily residential developer in the GTA. Along with being an active seminar leader in tax, accounting and real estate for Horwath Orenstein (now know as MNP), CPA Ontario, CPA BC and CPA New Brunswick. Advancing through a series of promotions since then, Joe’s leadership has expanded beyond the boundaries of a traditional financial executive and he’s led many strategic initiatives that have had positive impact on multiple business areas, driving down costs, increasing revenue, and improving overall performance of various business units.