The Digital Accountancy Forum & Awards 2018

Richard Anning, Head of IT Faculty, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW)

Richard Anning is Head of the IT Faculty of ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales).  An ICAEW Chartered Accountant, prior to ICAEW Richard spent nearly 25 years in the business software industry in the UK and abroad, in a number of pre and post sales positions, helping shape business and product strategies.  Passionate about IT and the business benefits it can bring, Richard now works with the IT Faculty to help accountants make best use of IT.

Matthew Baker, Senior Manager, Global Blockchain Assurance, EY

Matt is a Financial Accounting Advisory Services Senior Manager at EY and leads the Global Blockchain team for non-financial statement audit assurance. In his role, Matt contributes to the development of EY’s blockchain capabilities and solutions for the finance, controllership and risk management functions. He also supports enterprises manage their blockchain implementations and is involved in traditional assurance engagements where clients are implementing blockchain solutions or are involved with cryptocurrency. Matt is an ACA with 8 years’ experience, including audit delivery and accounting advisory to global enterprises implementing organization and reporting changes.

“Blockchain is beginning to disrupt a wide range of business models, and the risks to blockchain users are beginning to materialize. Questions are arising such as: who provides assurances to ICO investors over how their funds are being used? Or who is best placed to support enterprises manage unique risks when participating in blockchain networks; from monitoring & reviewing the smart contracts deployed, to attesting connections between the blockchain (‘on-chain’) & ‘off-chain’ environments.”

Martin Bissett, Founder, The Upward Spiral Partnership Ltd

Martin Bissett is the founder of the Upward Spiral Partnership (USP), the international consulting firm that specializes in enabling the accounting profession to win higher end clients, create leaders from their ranks. His purpose is to alert the accounting profession to the profound outcomes that their advisory expertise can create in the lives of their clients. At the same time, he also alerts the accounting profession to the profound difficulties that can arise in the lives of their clients when they choose not to educate their clients about the impact that their advisory expertise can have.
In the first 5 years of USP, Martin has been engaged/retained by 4 of the world’s top 10 Accounting associations and 6 of the top 10 in the UK; authored 11 books, been retained by Accountingweb as a judge of their prestigious practice excellence awards for three years in a row, has also been highlighted as ‘one to watch’ in AccountingToday’s Top 100 Most Influential countdown for 2 years running. Martin has created several trademarked items of intellectual property including the ACCOUNTS™ system and ‘Martin’s Relationship Pricing™’ Model.

Jeanne Boillet, Global Assurance Innovation Leader, EY

As Global Assurance Innovation Leader, Jeanne is responsible for managing disruption and fostering innovation across the Assurance practice. She brings EY vision for the audit of the future to life by exploring emerging trends and technologies that impact clients redesigning internal processes, embedding an innovation culture within audit teams and implementing effective solutions for clients.
With 25 years of experience serving global accounts, she leads the way in implementing robotic process automation, blockchain, data analytics and machine learning to deliver high-quality digital audits and a new client experience.
She has been with EY for 30 years, serving global priority audit accounts with a special focus on retail and consumer products for the past 20 years. In addition to her functional responsibilities, she has been involved in a variety of management roles at the regional and area level.

Simon Bulleyment, Chief Information Officer, haysmacintyre

Simon joined haysmacintyre in 1999 and has over twenty years of experience in enterprise infrastructure systems, IT service management, project management, C-level management and security.  The first eight years of his career were at one of the world’s leading electronics conglomerates. In addition to heading up haysmacintyre IT Consultants Limited (HMITC), the IT consulting arm of haysmacintyre, Simon is Chief Information Officer at haysmacintyre. As Director of HMITC, Simon services a varied client base across the corporate sector, including financial services and pension schemes, and not for profit clients, such as those within our Charities, Schools and Professional Institutes and Membership Bodies sectors.

As a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) since 2005, Simon’s main area of expertise is security and he regularly delivers security and IT system reviews and offers advice to clients on the Data Protection Act, Payment Card Industry Data Security standard (PCI DSS), Cyber Essentials, penetration testing and post cyber-attack investigations.

Matthew Campbell , Audit Technology Director, KPMG

Matt is an Audit Technology Director at KPMG, leading KPMG’s Clara Analytics Team who deliver data analytics on audits across the UK and develop and deploy technology used on audit engagements today and in the future. He is also the audit director on a large FTSE audit. Matt has extensive experience innovating, developing and deploying new technologies into KPMG’s UK and Global Audit practice. His role as an audit director provides experience of using technology in practice as well as working with large clients on developing technologies.

Katie Canell, UK Audit Innovation Lead, Deloitte

As the Deloitte UK Audit Innovation lead, Katie is responsible for shaping and delivering the audit innovation strategy. Katie leads an innovation team with a focus on developing solutions which aid quality, drive efficiency, improve talent experience and bring insight to clients. Her innovation portfolio balances a need for shorter term benefits alongside the longer term digital horizon and addresses the critical need to develop an innovation culture. Katie represents UK Audit Innovation across the global Deloitte network and is involved in a number of profession-wide initiatives to drive forward the debate around the technology-enabled audit of the future.

Alex Davis, Business Development Manager, Intuit QuickBooks

Alex works within the Business Development Team at Intuit, partnering with the Top 100 accountancy firms in the UK. He is focused on helping large accountancy firms put in place the required change programs needed to make the most of the opportunities presented by digital tools. He also specialises in helping firms have the right systems, processes and staffing structure in place to ensure they are prepared for the transformation that lies ahead.

Mark Edmondson, CEO & President, Inflo

Mark uses his background delivering assurance engagements and experience leading significant change projects to provide a complete solution to accounting firms and their clients. He regularly works with Managing Partners to quickly deliver the potential of Inflo. Mark also provides conference key note speeches, sharing insights on technological change across the profession.

Philip Fitz-Gerald, Director, Financial Reporting Lab, Financial Reporting Council

Phil became Director of the Financial Reporting Lab in 2017. He is a Chartered Accountant in the UK with over 20 years of experience in accounting and audit, focusing on improving the quality of company reporting. He has worked for the Financial Reporting Council since 2009 and was previously the Head of Case Examination and Enquiries and before that an inspector in the Audit Quality Review team. Phil started his career in the audit practice of KPMG where he spent ten years, the latter half of which he worked as a senior manager in the firm’s professional practice department. After leaving practice, he spent five years as a training consultant helping companies with their corporate reporting requirements (including IFRS and Sarbanes-Oxley) before joining the FRC. Phil is also a board member of xBRL International and Chairs the Governing Body of Canon Barnett Primary School in London.

Danny Gal, Chief Revenue Officer, Validis

Danny joined Validis as Chief Revenue Officer in May 2017, following 7 successful years at Thomson Reuters in commercial management roles across their Risk and Tax & Accounting businesses. His last leadership position was managing the team responsible for supporting clients with tax technology enablement. Prior to that, Danny worked at Complinet, a global compliance software provider, where he was responsible for client on-boarding, corporate governance and financial crime projects.

Peggy Gondo, Assurance Transformation partner, PwC

Peggy is a partner with experience in large scale technology development and the provision of audit and assurance services. She has spent the last 7 years leading PwC technology investment programmes, with a focus on how new technology capabilities can be embedded in assurance delivery and change future working practices.

Andrew Harding, Chief Executive, Management Accounting, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Andrew Harding FCMA, CGMA, is the Chief Executive of the Management Accounting PU at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. Andrew leads all management accounting activities for the Association, develops plans and strategies, manages relationships and delivers results for members. He is also focused on driving value for members, firstly by globalizing Continuing Professional Development (CPD).Andrew is a Deloitte alumnus, having started his career in the mid-1980s as a trainee auditor. He progressed into training and development from there, and then began professional body work in 1991. He joined CIMA in 2009, originally as Executive Director for Global Markets, and became Managing Director in 2011&mdasha position he held until 2016. Andrew served as Non-Executive Chairman of GTS Chemicals PLC, a Chinese company listed in London, from 2014 to 2016.Andrew was born in London. He holds an MBA from Henley Business School at the University of Reading, and a BSc (Economics) from the University of Bristol.

Markus Kammüller, Global Head of Transformation, BDO International Ltd

Markus Kammüller is the Global Head of Transformation at BDO International Limited and a member of the Global Leadership Team since November 2016. Markus joined BDO from another professional services network where he was the global change management leader for their global transformation programme and the COO and transformation leader of their European region during 2006 and 2016. Prior to that he held positions in IBM as insurance industry leader for Switzerland and senior client service partner. From 1996 to 2002 he was leading the Treasury and Risk unit of a large consulting firm in Switzerland prior to the acquisition of the latter by IBM. Before his career in the professional services industry he spent 11 years with The Dow Chemical Company and 7 years in a Swiss Bank.

Markus is supporting the discovery and deployment of new technology solutions for the BDO global organisation and how those will impact the future business model. Artificial intelligence, Data Analytics, Blockchain and client portal solutions form part of that portfolio.

Paul B. Kazarian, Chairman and CEO, Japonica Partners

Paul B. Kazarian is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Japonica Partners and the Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation. Japonica, founded in 1988, is a private investment firm that focuses on underperforming global special situations where they discover large value gaps that can be closed with transformational turnaround plans. Mr. Kazarian established and personally funded the Kazarian Foundation, a philanthropic foundation whose technical expertise includes strengthening government financial transparency, accountability, and performance. The Kazarian Foundation recently established the Kazarian Center for Public Financial Management (KCPFM) in Lisbon, Portugal to support research into and implementation of public financial management systems to improve government financial management, performance, and reporting. Prior to founding Japonica, Mr. Kazarian was an executive at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Kazarian is an adjunct professor in the sector of public financial management at Columbia Business School and a visiting professor of government financial management at the ISCTE Business School in Lisbon. He serves as the Special Advisor to the CEPS Task Force on improving fiscal performance assessment and transparency. Mr. Kazarian received the 2016 William Pitt the Younger Award for extraordinary leadership in strengthening democracy through government financial management.

Jamie Lyon, Interim Director – Professional Insights, ACCA

Jamie Lyon leads ACCA’s cutting-edge insights programme that explores the implications and opportunities presented by advancing digital technologies in the CFO function, as well as having oversight of ACCA’s global research programme on corporate governance, enterprise risk management, business transformation and talent management in the profession. By working in collaboration with employers, governments and regulators across the world, he and his team of experts produce thought-provoking, practical and accessible advice and insight on the most pressing issues impacting the business environment. His extensive experience of financial management, corporate transformation, risk management and talent development was gained during his career in industry with a number of leading FTSE 100 businesses including Royal and Sun Alliance and Marks and Spencer. Jamie is a chartered certified accountant with a degree in Economics from Sheffield University. Jamie is a passionate champion for opportunity and diversity in the profession and works with the UK Social Mobility Foundation to mentor and support disadvantaged students to enter the accountancy profession.

Sinead McHale, CEO, Satago

Sinead McHale is the CEO of Satago, one of the UK’s most exciting financial solution providers for small and medium businesses. Sinead aims to make the workings of SMEs more efficient, by freeing up working capital so that they can concentrate on growth and development. Her experience has allowed Sinead to fully recognise and understand the financial challenges faced by most small and medium businesses in both the British and Global start-up landscape. Passionate about small business growth and FinTech, Sinead applies her expertise to ensure that SMEs have access to finance solutions and tools that help satisfy their cashflow needs.

Sheila Pancholi, Partner – Technology Risk Assurance, RSM UK

Sheila has 20 years of substantial IT advisory and assurance experience working with clients across a number of industry sectors ranging from fast growing small to medium enterprises through to FTSE 350-100 listed clients. She is an IT risk, security and controls specialist and has significant experience in IT project assurance, IT security and controls and IT internal audit support. She has previously undertaken both head of internal audit and head of IT audit roles.

Tony Margaritelli, Chairman, The Institute of Certified Practising Accountants (ICPA)

Still practising as an Accountant in Essex Tony is the driving force behind the ICPA and is responsible for the ethos of the ICPA. Tony works tirelessly on behalf of the membership representing them at meetings with HMRC and HM Treasury and constantly extols the work done by small practice accountants to anyone who will listen and many that try not to.
Tony writes and presents seminars on behalf of the membership and contributes extensively to the ICPA magazine “Accounting Practice” on issues that effect accountants and champions the small practice in his extensive output. Tony is always happy to talk over member’s problems and concerns and makes himself available whenever possible. No question is left unanswered and was once even asked to give help with office water dispensers.
Being in practice gives him an accurate insight to the problems faced by all Accountants and by using that insight he has always sought to add benefits that are uniquely small practice specific. Tony’s motto is that the ICPA are here to help solve problems and not to create them.

Chris Potter, Assurance Transformation partner, PwC

Chris has over 30 years of experience advising clients on technology risks and auditing systems and controls. For over a decade, he co-authored the UK government survey of information security breaches in UK industry. In 2012, Chris joined PwC’s Assurance Transformation team, where he takes responsibility for the core auditing systems and offshoring activities.

Sylvia Wei Yen Tsen, Executive Director, Knowledge, Operations & Technology, International Federation of Accountants

Sylvia Wei Yen Tsen has been with IFAC for more than ten years in a variety of roles. She has built deep knowledge and broad experience. In her current role, Ms. Tsen oversees several key IFAC activity areas and stakeholder groups. These include overseeing the Quality operating line&mdashincluding Transnational Auditors Committee and Forum of Firms; the IFAC Member Body Compliance Program, Compliance Advisory Panel, and member body engagement program; and operations and IT. Ms. Tsen’s portfolio of projects and activities ultimately contribute to advancing IFAC’s mission to support the development of strong PAOs and to high-quality practices by professional accountants around the world.
In overseeing the IFAC Member Body Compliance Program, Ms. Tsen directs the application of the IFAC Statements of Membership Obligations (SMO), which require IFAC members to adopt and implement international standards as well as establish quality assurance and investigation and disciplinary systems and IFAC’s membership process. She also engages with the donor community to establish sustainable support mechanisms that will ensure the growth and development of professional accountancy organizations. Ms. Tsen also works with the Translational Auditors Committee to engage with international standard setters and other organizations whose work is seeks to enhance broader audit quality.
Having worked previously for KPMG in their Audit and Assurance Practice and International Head Offices, and practicing as an accountant in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada, Ms. Tsen brought a diverse range of public practice experience when she joined IFAC in 2003 as a technical manager for the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. She went on to oversee the then newly established Member Body Compliance Program and SMO implementation as senior technical manager before advancing to her current role.