The Pre-Read

Every department now has access to AI tools. Your colleagues are running their own accounting research and arrive at your desk with generated answers. The problem is that those answers often miss the specific regulatory context at hand and you are left spending valuable time explaining why an AI output does not apply to the current business reality.
 At Workiva Amplify 2026, leaders from Franklin...

If you assume AI was the biggest shock to finance teams this past year, you’d be in good company. But there’s more to that story. When we caught up with leaders at Amplify, almost nobody pointed to AI by itself. The real surprise is the constant, steady drip of volatility. For part one of our Workiva Amplify series, The Pre-Read brings together four executives to talk about how they lead when the...

Chief sustainability officer headcount fell about 10% in the 2026 Chief Sustainability Officer Report, the first decline in 16 years. At the same time, sustainability headcount inside business units grew 42%. The work is spreading across the business, and CSOs are moving closer to the CFO. Mandi McReynolds, Chief Sustainability Officer at Workiva, sits down with Ellen Weinreb, author of the Weinre...

There is a version of the "AI in audit" conversations that claims AI is replacing practitioners and the profession is being disrupted overnight. Former AICPA Auditing Standards Board member Jeff Rapaglia reframes the AI hype: stop worrying about falling behind, and start worrying about over-relying on automated tools. Jeff joins Steve Soter and Alyssa Zucker to reframe the real threat of automatio...

Most leaders wait for certainty before they make decisions. Tracy Nolan, SVP at Humana, says that is the biggest mistake a leader can make in a crisis. Tracy has led through some of the highest-stakes moments in corporate crisis management, including one of the largest mergers in telecom history during the COVID-19 pandemic. She joins The Pre-Read to talk about what leadership actually requires wh...

74% of S&P 500 companies revised their GHG emissions data at least once over a decade of voluntary reporting. That's the assurance gap in practice. Deloitte's Sarah Digirolamo and Kristen Sullivan join The Pre-Read to break down what it takes to get assurance-ready before regulators require it, and why having the data isn’t enough if it isn’t in scattered silos. In this episode: • Why assuranc...

Finance leaders build judgment and gain experience by doing the work throughout their career. But what happens when agents do the work instead? Workiva CFO Barbara Larson joins The Pre-Read to talk about her first six months in the role and the talent pipeline risk she thinks is flying under the radar: a generation of finance leaders who are skilled at directing AI but may not have the experience...

AI transformation is a problem of governance, not technology. Anthony Habayeb, CEO of Monitaur, argues that organizations don’t need to spin up a new AI governance framework, but they need better use of the controls CFOs and auditors already own. In this episode: -Why AI pilots stall and what it reveals about governance gaps -How to build an AI governance framework from structures you already have...

Most climate risk assessments are missing hazards, scoping too narrowly, and leaving physical climate risk under-analyzed. Linda Romanovska helped write the rules, and she’s here to explain what better reporting looks like.
 As co-author of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and a member of the EU Sustainability Reporting Board, Linda has spent 20 years working on climate risk assessm...

The M&A market is heating up, and AI is compressing deal timelines from weeks to days. In this episode of The Pre-Read, guest host Josh Gertsch and Troy Hooper of Mergermarket provide a capital markets update that touches on the SpaceX IPO, the quiet M&A surge, and why quality assets with resilient cash flows are winning. Then, guest host Esther Toth talks with Latitude Financial Services...

Sustainability reporting and financial reporting are converging fast. But the controller who treats them as the same thing could get burned. In this episode, Dr. Lee Hui Mien of Singtel and Jonathan Gregory of The Hershey Company offer their views on one urgent question: what does it actually mean to bring sustainability reporting under the finance umbrella, and where does that process break down?...

Boards are under pressure to govern AI responsibly, but most directors still lack the knowledge to ask the right questions, let alone hold management accountable. Two leaders explain what it actually takes. Dr. Chong Yoke Sin chairs Singapore’s SCS AI Ethics and Governance Council and sits on financial services, property, and healthcare boards. Heather Holding is Chief Risk Officer at Best Egg and...

Climate mandates, GRC strategy, and a bike metaphor that'll change how you think about controls.
 In this episode, Alyssa Zucker speaks with sustainability expert Mark Mellen on California's SB 253 soft launch—and why companies treating this year as a free pass will be blindsided in 2027. Then 25-year GRC veteran Graeme Fleming explains why governance-first programs help organizations move faster....

"I think risk factors have become more of an area where companies are trying to reduce their exposure to litigation, and it's not really viewed as being a meaningful section to most readers of financial statements." — Chelsea Hall  In this episode, we tackle SEC updates and the high-stakes world of IPO readiness. Market dynamics are shifting from rigid quantitative thresholds to a new era of profe...

A visit to Blockbuster Video used to be the ultimate Friday night trip, but today, that blue and yellow ticket is a legal battleground for intangible assets. In this episode of The Pre-Read, we unearth the true drivers of company valuation, from nostalgic trademarks to proprietary AI.  "The question isn't whether Blockbuster was famous. It's whether it's famous enough now for trademark law to care...

Don't let the political noise fool you: Green hushing is real, but green quitting is a myth. In this episode, we sit down with Grant Harrison, VP at Trellis Group, to bridge the narrative reality gap. We explore how the office of the CFO is taking the lead, shifting sustainability from a values-driven initiative to a finance-led sustainability strategy anchored in financial materiality. Learn how...

Is your reporting strategy ready for a six-month silence? #podcast The traditional quarterly cycle is under the microscope. We explore the potential shift to semi-annual reporting and why "less" disclosure often results in more work for finance, legal, and IR. What we cover: » The Capital Gap: Will investors penalize companies that choose to say less? » The 8-K Surge: Why voluntary filings might b...

Workforce reimagination is here. In 2026, the office of the CFO is moving from AI as a tool to a coworker. Recorded in Davos, this episode digs into the human side of transformation. We sit down with global leaders to unpack why the human in the loop is being rewritten and why change management has become a core executive capability. Mandi McReynolds talks with Costi Perricos, Global GenAI Busines...

Traditional finance models are hitting a wall. This episode highlights a panel at Davos that gets straight to the engine room of the enterprise.  Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant; Mike Rost, Chief Strategy Officer, Workiva; Jonathan Zanger, Chief Technology Officer, Check Point; and Jennifer Steinmann, Global Sustainability Business Leader, Deloitte gathered to talk about:  The ROI...

Misinformation, amplified by AI, has climbed to the top of the global risk landscape. What does that mean for the office of the CFO? We kick off a Davos miniseries with Workiva CSO Mandi McReynolds, bringing perspectives straight from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Mandi sits down with Ami Badani, CMO of Arm, Rob Fisher, Global Head of Advisory at KPMG, and Robin Hodess, CEO of Global Reportin...

Is your organization ready for the SOX journey of sustainability data? In this episode of The Pre-Read, we sit down with Lori Defnet, ESG Controller at The Hershey Company, to define the core remit of this emerging role. While traditional controllers guard the known, ESG controllers manage ambiguity. Lori shares how she navigates moving targets in the regulatory landscape and why curiosity and ada...

How do leaders turn messy data into something they can trust? Global C-suite executive Amina Razvi joins us to explain why decision-grade data is the foundation of modern CFO risk management. She breaks down how integrating financial and non-financial data changes how companies manage volatility, price risk, and build long-term resilience. In this conversation, we cover: Why waiting for perfect da...

Is your team ready for foreign private issuer (FPI) Section 16 reporting? Congress recently passed the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act, which fundamentally changes how international insiders must disclose their trades. Alan Wilson and Chelsea Hall join the conversation to break down these new FPI director and officer reporting obligations and why the SEC has a tight deadline of March 18 t...

https://www.workiva.com/What does leadership look like when volatility becomes the norm? Workiva CEO Julie Iskow joins Steve Soder and Alyssa Zucker to unpack what 2025 taught executives and how to prepare for 2026. This conversation goes beyond headlines to explore how leaders can stay grounded while moving faster, make data a strategic asset, and meet rising board expectations with confidence. I...

Steve and Alyssa are taking a well-earned break, but the challenges facing the office of the CFO are not slowing down. In this short episode, producer Mike Gravagno looks back on a year where AI moved from pilot programs to expectation and sustainability became more than a side conversation. Looking ahead to 2026,  The Pre-Read will return with sharper conversations on data trust, AI governance, r...