The implications of tax reform are just getting started and will have lasting impact on most businesses. Implementation challenges are ongoing with new issues arising daily, and with ongoing disagreements between the political parties, change will continue to be the only certainty. More importantly, strategic considerations ranging from capital structure and investment considerations to talent, trade and brand, abound. Attend this session to get what you need to know to develop a tax strategy that will adapt to the present and anticipate the future for the success of your company.

• Understand the broad implications of tax reform legislation, past, present and future.
• Identify the strategic issues with potential impact and opportunity for your business.
• Develop an understanding of how your tax function will need to adapt to keep pace with the wider business in today’s rapid paced environment.

What is a Digital Transformation Initiative – and – how and why does it apply to you?

In finance and accounting departments, digital tools of the trade are in a perpetual state of being deployed, upgraded, integrated, and adopted. As a CFO, whether you are upgrading your ERP, FPA or other mission-critical software, or in some way are responsible for other departments’ system projects, you and your C-Suite colleagues are responsible for the success (or failure) of these Digital Transformation initiatives.  These initiatives can bring great value to a business (success), or, more frequently, their disruptive nature can result in great cost and losses (failure).  

This session is designed to give members of the C-Suite, in particular the CFO, an understanding of how businesses should undertake and govern Digital Transformation initiatives from the beginning, with an eye on strategy, mitigating inherent risks, assessing and measuring successes, and ensuring that the people most impacted are well equipped for a successful outcome.  Our presenters bring unique and deep experience in the management of these initiatives from finance, technology and organizational development backgrounds.

• Confirming what is Digital Transformation.
• Become familiar with the success factors, phases and activities of Digital Transformation initiatives.
• Learn the common technological, organizational and human challenges faced when undergoing Digital Transformation – and – how to manage towards a successful outcome.
• Explore the concept of Change Management – and how it enhances the likelihood of success with Digital Transformation.

What I learned from in my journey from CFO to CEO in a challenging retail environment and how it impacted my thoughts on the importance of culture and core values.

• Learn how to make the jump from CFO to CEO.
• Understand how to create and lead a culture change within an organization.

A panel discussion, from a company insider’s view, of the tools of transition that are available for businesses to consider when determining how to capture and monetize the value that has been built over time.

Learning Objectives: 

• Discuss exit strategies that work best to extract value.
• Discuss legacy transfer strategies that work best to preserve value.
• Discuss management buy-out or ESOP strategies that work well to transition ownership.

This session will focus on recent US GAAP standard setting activity. Topics covered will include lessons learned from the implementation of newly adopted accounting standards related to revenue recognition and leases, the expected impacts of CECL (ASU 2016-13), and updates to consolidation accounting (ASU 2018-17). Discussion will also highlight current topics of discussion at the FASB and potential accounting standards on the horizon.

• Describe best practices observed by companies in addressing issues related to the new revenue recognition and lease accounting standards.
• Provide attendees with an overview of the current expected credit loss model upon adoption of ASU 2016-13.
• Discuss the impacts to private company consolidation accounting introduced by ASU 2018-17.
• Outline recent standard setting activity at the FASB.

From big data and network effects to the subscription economy and cloud computing, modern finance is undergoing its most fundamental transformation ever. Today, it takes a data-driven finance leader – someone who understands and embraces the promise and power of technology – to navigate this exciting, uncertain future. Attend this session and hear how companies like yourself became data-driven finance leaders that proactively drove strategy and improved operations.

• The technologies and skills you need to move to a digital, data-driven world.
• How to move from Finance 1.0 to Finance 2.0 and beyond.
• How to “Twitterize” your reporting and analytics.
• When you should automate and when you shouldn’t.

Gizmos and gadgets have become an indispensable part of our digital lives – ever transforming the way we work, play and live.  From cloud computing, mobile and hybrid devices to entertainment, home automation and the Internet-of-Things – every aspect of our days are impacted by the latest technology offerings.  Join Inspector Gadget as he shares cutting edge tech trends and the hottest gear that every user will want to consider in the months ahead.

• Understand the latest technology trends and the impact these trends will have on next generation devices.
• Identify where to wisely invest in new technology, and what to avoid.

With big changes at the Fed, with our tax laws and increasing global tensions, understanding the prospects for both the UW and world economy has never been more important. Join us as Jim Glassman, Chief Economist for JP Morgan Chase gives us insight into what to expect from the coming year. The discussion will include thoughts on the market, interest rates and factors that impact all of us in both our business and personal lives.

• Understand economic insights impacting the US and Global Economies.
• Identify key factors that will impact both business and personal finances.

Everyone talks about wanting to create a culture, but the truth is that every organization already has a culture. The only question is whether it’s a culture by design or a culture by default. Too often, team members are looking up (to leadership) to define the firm’s values and culture, but every team member has the opportunity to design, develop, nurture and sustain the culture (or to kill it). Jeff Nischwitz shares his unique perspectives on theme of building a culture by design, along with his innovative ideas on designing and nurturing culture where every team member is empowered for impact. Join us and get implementable tools for guiding and impacting the culture in your firm.

• Help leaders and team members differently understand the foundations of building sustainable cultures.
• Identifying and demystifying culture myths and killers.
• Arming leaders and team members with actionable culture shifts to improve team and firm effectiveness, influence and impact.

All companies hire great employees, but what happens when those same employees rationalize bad decisions in hopes of helping their organizations? In this engaging session, hear Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope discuss real-life examples from several recent fraud cases where employees actually thought they were doing the right thing.

• Use the fraud triangle.
• Identify the importance of professional skepticism.
• Analyze internal control weaknesses.