Professional Accounting Centre: 2016 Conference

• Len Brooks, Director, Professional Accounting Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga
• Carol Hansell, Founder and Senior Partner, Hansell LLP Toronto
• Rod Barr, Former CEO, CPA Ontario
• Jeremy Justin, Senior Director, CPAB
• George Serafeim, Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
• Susan Hwang, Partner, Deloitte Toronto
• Susan Allen, FCPA, CPA, Partner, PwC Global Assurance Quality Review Group (Ret.)
• Robert Eccles, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
• Ranjani Krishnan, Main Street Capital Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University
• Gordon Beal, Vice-President, Research, Guidance and Support, CPA Canada
• Ole-Kristian Hope, Deloitte Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Karim Jamal, Distinguished Professor & Department Chair of Accounting, Operations and Information Systems,
  University of Alberta

Inaugural Accounting Conference Focuses on Future of Profession

Toronto – Last month, the Professional Accounting Centre (PAC) hosted its first conference at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Innovation complex.

The conference was designed to bring the new Centre to the attention of key leaders in the accounting field and to explore topics that are important to the future of the accounting profession.

“It stimulated people’s thinking about potentials,” said Professor Len Brooks, Director of the Professional Accounting Centre, who was among several high-profile speakers and panelists at the conference.

“I think the conference was instrumental in crystallizing our Centre’s vision – to explore improving the relevance of professional accounting through conferences and sponsored research.”

Other speakers included professional accountants from CPA Canada, CPAB, CPAO, and professional firms, academics from ten universities including Harvard and Michigan State, a leading governance lawyer, and selected graduate accounting students from the MMPA Program.

The motivation behind the PAC conference centered around thought-provoking speakers and panels designed to keep researchers, professional accountants and regulators from around the world apprised of timely and important issues within the accounting industry.

Attendees consisting of leading accounting professionals, faculty and students from U of T had a chance to weigh in on current issues and connect with peers.

Panelists and internationally renowned speakers identified developments they foresaw in emerging issues in governance and in innovative financial and non-financial reporting, and the role that professional accountants might play in these matters.

“The thing that was brought home to me was that these topics provide significant risks and opportunities,” said Professor Brooks. “If we don’t get them right, then it weakens the relevance and reputation of the profession.”

PAC’s formal goal of exploring the future of professional accounting by stimulating discussion was certainly met by the conference, which also provided an excellent platform on which to stimulate further research on problems facing the profession.

For additional information about PAC and the conference, visit: http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/pac/pac-agenda