CPA Centre for Accounting Innovation Research Conference

Hosted By:

Benjamin Alarie, Professor, University of Toronto Law School; Co-Founder Blue J

Malik Datardina, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Strategist, Auvenir

Partha Mohanram, Professor, Rotman School of Management; John H. Watson Chair in Value Investing

Katie Lem, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Ohio State University

Leting Liu, PhD student, University of Toronto

Patrick Witz, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Wyoming

Baohua Xin, Associate Professor of Accounting; Accounting PhD Program Coordinator, Rotman School of Management

Wendy Rotenberg, Professor of Accounting/Finance, Rotman School of Management

Pranay Gupta, Senior Manager, TD Bank

Raj Krishnamoorthy, Partner, Cyber Technology & Transformation, Deloitte

Anthony Scilipoti, President & CEO, Veritas Investment Research Corporation

Elisa Zuliani, Associate Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

The 5th Annual Rotman CPA Ontario Centre for Accounting Innovation Research Conference will be held at the Rotman School of Management - University of Toronto on Friday November 15th, 2024.

The day long event will be held at the iconic Desautels Hall (2nd Floor, South Building) of the Rotman School. There will be four panels on the following four topics

• How Technology is Transforming Accounting and Business Services
• AI and Data Analytics – Insights from Academic Research
• Technology and Financial Services: Opportunities and Challenges for Accountants
• Building a career in Accounting: How to stay relevant in a changing world

The panelists will include leaders from industry and academia. The conference will start at 9 am and finish by 4 pm, with breaks for networking. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Participants will receive 7 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. The conference is generously funded by CPA Ontario, which allows us to provide registration at a nominal price of $25.

Benjamin Alarie, Professor, University of Toronto Law School; Co-Founder Blue J

Professor Benjamin Alarie is a tax expert, law professor, and leader in the legal technology space. Benjamin is the co-founder and CEO of Blue J, a pioneering legal technology company that utilizes Generative AI to revolutionize tax research. Ben holds the Osler Chair in Business Law at the University of Toronto. He earned law degrees from the University of Toronto and Yale Law School, and prior to his academic career, served as a law clerk to Madam Justice Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Malik Datardina, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Strategist, Auvenir

Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA is the GRC Strategist at Auvenir, where he manages risks and advises on adapting key innovations into the platform. He’s authored publications on the cloud and sits on the two tech committees for CPA Canada. He also lectures on innovation at University of Waterloo in the Master of Accounting program.

Katie Lem, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Ohio State University

Katie Lem is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at The Ohio State University, where she teaches introductory financial accounting in the undergraduate program. Her research broadly focuses on the determinants and consequences of financial reporting and disclosure choices. She is also particularly interested in the use of emerging technology in both accounting research and practice. Katie received her Ph.D. and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in Seattle. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young in the real estate group and a financial reporting analyst for Goldman Sachs & Co. in the investment management division.

Leting Liu, PhD student, University of Toronto

Leting Liu a PhD Candidate from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management on the 2024-25 accounting job market. Prior to her PhD, she obtained my CPA as an Experienced Senior Associate within PwC Toronto's Assurance practice, primarily in the Downtown Asset Management group. Her research interests lie at the intersection of voluntary disclosure and corporate governance, with a focus on climate change topics. She employ financial-archival and machine-learning textual analysis tools. Her thesis examines the public's capacity to influence corporate environmental disclosure decisions.

Patrick Witz, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Wyoming

Patrick Witz, CPA is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Wyoming. He has a strong interest in conducting psychology-based research in financial accounting and auditing, as well as investing. He obtained his PhD in Accounting from the Johnson school of business at Cornell University, and and his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Massachusetts. His experience includes time spent in the assurance practice of Ernst & Young in Boston.

Wendy Rotenberg, Professor of Accounting/Finance, Rotman School of Management

Wendy Rotenberg is a Professor of Finance and Accounting at Rotman. Her teaching and research interests include Financial Management, Corporate Restructuring, and International Accounting and Finance. She obtained her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining the faculty at Rotman, she served on the faculty of McMaster university.

Pranay Gupta, Senior Manager, TD Bank

Pranay Gupta is a senior manager of Business Architecture Enterprise Payments at TD Bank. He obtained his MBA from Rotman and engineering degree from IIT-Delhi. Pranay is a is a value adding, pragmatic and analytical consultant with global exposure and experience in banking, payments, retail, public sector, automotive and smart materials industries. Outside work, he is active in community and sports. He leads teams in fundraising for Cancer and United Way each year. He continuously contributes to both of his alma matters. He has worked, studied and traveled across various geographies of North America (Canada and USA), Europe, Middle East, South Asia.

Raj Krishnamoorthy, Partner, Cyber Technology & Transformation, Deloitte

Raj Krishnamoorthy is the director of operations for the national Cyber Risk practice and leads the Application Security practice in Canada. Raj is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA), a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA) in Canada, a Certified Information Systems Professional (CISSP), and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). He has more than 30 years of experience. He helps organizations to understand the risks associated with their ERP/cloud applications and to ensure they address those risks through good governance, risk management security, and controls. He’s led many projects involving risk assessments, risk management, governance, security, and controls specific to these implementations.

Anthony Scilipoti, President & CEO, Veritas Investment Research Corporation

Anthony is a founding partner of Veritas Investment Research. He is a fellow Chartered Accountant, a certified Public Accountant (Illinois) and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Anthony is the Chair of the CICA's Users Advisory Committee, a former member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board and the CICA’s Emerging Issues Committee. Anthony has been a part-time accounting instructor in the MBA and BBA Programs at York University's Schulich School of Business, where he was nominated for the Teaching Excellence Award in 1997 and 2003. He is a frequent media commentator and public speaker on issues related to financial accounting and disclosure and is considered an industry expert in special situations related to accounting.

This event is available to attend in-person.

Rotman Events is committed to accessibility for all people. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email [email protected] no later than 2 weeks in advance of the event and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

• The event will be hosted in Desautels Hall at the Rotman School of Management (105 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3E6).

Questions: Partha Mohanram [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rotman School of Management, 105 St. George Street, Toronto, Canada