The Better Finance Podcast EY

This episode of the Better Finance podcast features Maria Montenegro, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Wolters Kluwer, and James Paterson, Vice President and General Manager, CCH Tagetik, North America.
As organizations continue to drive change management and adopt behaviors that embed sustainability into their processes, the integration of ESG performance management with financial and operational reporting is quickly becoming the norm in driving improved business outcomes.
However, it’s a complex task to harmonize financial, strategic, operational and sustainability goals. Finance executives may find themselves taking the lead to standardize and validate the accuracy of integrated financial and nonfinancial data.
In this episode, podcast host Myles Corson discusses with Maria and James how leveraging their corporate performance and ESG technology platforms from Enablon and CCH Tagetik can help provide a centralized source of accessible and reliable data. They explore how this increases collaboration and integrates risk management and performance improvement with reporting.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited

This special ESG episode of the Better Finance podcast features Brian Tomlinson from Ernst & Young LLP, and Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School.
The environmental, social and governance (ESG) space is at a remarkable phase of its development, having gone from being a niche part of corporate and capital markets discourse to being part of the mainstream. The trends that have been driving that include market participants making commitments around ESG, large corporations embracing aspects of ESG disclosure, and in recent years, the ESG disclosure ecosystem being adopted by regulators in key markets across the world.
We appear to be at a high watermark for ESG, and Alex Edmans discusses how his paper, “The End of ESG,” highlights how ESG should be mainstream for executives and investors. There are many risk factors and opportunities with ESG that can affect the long-term valuation of a company.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited

In this episode of the EY Better Finance podcast, host Myles Corson is joined by Tom Hood, Executive Vice President of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
 
An early adopter of social media, Tom reveals how it has helped him engage with a new generation of finance professionals. Also, he provides advice for CFOs considering venturing into the world of social media.    
 
The episode also explores Tom’s work with the AICPA and the future of the Finance Leadership Group — a community of senior finance leaders who meet to discuss major issues and the future of the industry.
 
Tom discusses how new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are beginning to have a significant impact on the finance profession. And how these new technologies could help finance teams to focus more time on adding value across complex finance matters. This is achieved by reducing the amount of resources needed to complete simple and repetitive activities.
 
The episode explores how mastering these new technologies could lead to the reverse mentorship, in which seasoned financial professionals could benefit from the capabilities and experiences of their younger counterparts. This collaboration with other departments and age groups could help financial professionals widen their perspectives and skill sets at all levels. 
 
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited
 

In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, host Myles Corson, Victor Casalino, Americas VP and CFO at Microsoft and Dave Helmer, EY Global Tax and Finance Operate Leader, discuss changes potentially impacting tax and finance today.
Results from the EY 2022 Tax and Finance Operations Survey indicate that, of the 1,700 companies across 45 countries that responded, 85% are scrutinizing their existing finance and tax operating models for issues that can potentially weaken their future impact. Many are finding it necessary to make dramatic adjustments in some key operational areas to keep pace with our evolving post-pandemic workplace.
Talent: Businesses are experiencing a short supply of finance and tax talent internally, particularly those with transformational skills in technology — e.g., AI, machine learning, data modeling — all of which can help drive speed and quality. 
Legislative and regulatory changes: Dramatic changes globally sent companies scurrying to find skilled resources to identify and interpret myriad changes and make required adjustments within their company.
Sustainable plans for data and technology: 50% of survey respondents cited the absence of formal, viable data and technology plans as the number one reason they could fail to achieve their mission and vision.
Budget pressures and cost reduction: 74% of respondents said they had to institute cost reduction strategies due to the pandemic and economic downturn.
To help address these and other functional and operational challenges, many large companies are exploring co-sourcing more strategic and value-add activities in their finance and tax functions and partnering with teams outside their organization with deep knowledge and commitment to certain areas of the business. Successful co-sourcing enables companies to streamline and develop consistent processes, automate when possible, and optimize technology to drive value and speed.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited
 

In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, Myles Corson talks to Prat Bhatt, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at Cisco, and Ciara Lee, Cisco’s first ESG Controller, about the importance of financial rigor in ESG.
Cisco’s stated purpose is to make the world a better place. So how does the company’s first environmental, social and governance (ESG) Controller make sure that happens?
In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, they cover what the rigor of finance can bring to ESG, and the importance of finance’s unique ability to bring accountability, governance, control systems and formal processes to the ESG table. Together, they unpack the challenges of getting to net zero across scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2040, and the particular challenges of scope 3. 
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited

In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, Myles Corson welcomes Brian Tomlinson, ESG Reporting Managing Director at Ernst & Young LLP and Ariel Babcock, Head of Investment Stewardship at Fidelity Investments and formerly Head of Research for FCLT Global, a not-for-profit organization that develops research and tools to drive long-term value creation.
FCLT’s research of short- and long-term business strategies has found that the pressure for quick projects and fast payoffs may trigger poor outcomes and investment value erosion. In fact, short-termism is experiencing some market pushback due to the constraints it places on decision-making relative to longer-term investments.
It seems clear that short-termism does constrain companies’ appetite for investing in environmental, social and governance (ESG), primarily due to ESG’s inherent medium- to long-term (often times decades long) payoff.  ESG investments may be minimized or cut entirely to hit short-term earnings goals, possibly undermining shareholder rights as a result. Particularly in turbulent economic environments where companies tend to hoard capital, long-term goals may be weakened or overthrown.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.
© 2023 Ernst & Young Global Limited