The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the assurance profession is creating a fundamental challenge to human-centric professional ethics and the very notion of public trust. As Agentic AI systems take on substantive tasks, they operate outside the traditional frameworks of professional responsibility, liability, and accountability.
When autonomous systems err, you cannot "fine an algorithm, imprison a neural network, or shame a dataset."(Ramamoorti et al., 2025; “The Intelligence May be Artificial But the Liability is Real,” an article forthcoming in The Value Examiner)
This looming accountability gap is one of the most pressing issues for the profession. Current codes of professional conduct—globally and in Canada—were simply not written for autonomous AI systems. If we cannot hold AI liable in traditional ways, how do we uphold the integrity of reporting and assurance outcomes?
This 2-hour virtual roundtable is designed for professional audiences concerned with the integrity and governance of AI in assurance environments and underlying subject matter.
Registration Information
Date: Friday December 12th from 1 pm to 3 pm
The registration fee is $200 (+HST) and includes all materials. This roundtable workshop qualifies for 2 hours of CPD credit.
To register, please click on the REGISTER HERE button below or email Elaine Bauer.
Discounts available:
- 25% discount to Professional Association Members (CPA, ISACA Toronto Chapter, IIA Canada) with submission of Association Name and Membership Number.
- 50% discount to Academics with submission of the name of Institution and role.
- 100% discount to students - subject to availability, discount code required - request discount code fromElaine Bauer.
What is it all about?
This roundtable will contemplate redefining professional accountabilityand overhauling professional codes of ethics to:
- Reflect how responsibility will be shared between assurance professionals, AI agents, and Agentic AI in collaborative work settings.
- Ensure meaningful human oversight and clarify liability in AI-driven assurance.
- Redefine professional judgment and anchor it to the Human-in-the-Loop principle, ensuring humans remain responsible for reporting and assurance outcomes.
Who Should Attend:
Assurance and advisory practitioners focused on responsible AI deployment, as well as similarly-focused i) accounting professionals leading financial or non-financial reporting functions, ii) regulators and standard setters, iii) educators, and iv) students.
The Symposium will earn attendees 2 hours of CPD credit.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be equipped to explain the implications of AI (Agentic or otherwise) for risk, ethics, and accountability; describe where responsibility lies when AI makes decisions; and identify necessary legal and professional code changes. Both assurance and advisory as well as preparer perspectives will be discussed.
Advance Preparation
None; please contact Tim Bauer if you need any assistance.
ROUNDTABLE PANELISTS
The roundtable panellists will be Mr. Abhishek Chowdhury, Mr. Mark A. DeLong, Dr. Jesse Hoey, Mr. Jeremy Justin, and Mr. Chris Girard.
Abhishek Chowdhury
Mr. Abhishek Chowdhury (CA, CIA, CISA) is a Senior Manager and the Canadian Responsible AI Market Lead at EY. He primarily assists clients in establishing Responsible AI (RAI) governance frameworks to ensure adequate guardrails around AI deployment. Additionally, he helps clients comply with various AI regulations, including the EU AI Act, which has extraterritorial implications. Abhishek has co-authored thought leadership pieces on topics such as AI governance and insights.
Mark A. DeLong
Mr. Mark A. DeLong has over 30 years of leadership in enterprise risk management, internal audit, and financial services. His career includes senior roles at Huntington Banks—where he served as Chief Audit Executive, Chief Operational Risk Officer, and EVP of Loan & Deposit Operations—and eight years at Freddie Mac as Chief Operational Risk Officer and interim Chief Risk Officer. He later spent seven years as an independent ERM consultant working with Grant Thornton and Forvis Mazars before joining CohnReznick. Mark is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
Jesse Hoey
Dr. Jesse Hoey is a professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, where he leads the Computational Health Informatics Laboratory (CHIL). He is a Faculty Affiliate at the Vector Institute in Toronto. Dr. Hoey holds a Ph.D. (2004) in computer science from the University of British Columbia. He has published over one hundred peer reviewed scientific papers. He is Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing and an Area Chair for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) International Conference (2026).
Jeremy Justin
Mr. Jeremy Justinis the Vice President, External Outreach with the Canadian Public Accountability Board. He leads CPAB’s thought leadership and stakeholder engagement activities. Jeremy is focused on working with key stakeholders (including corporate directors, CFOs, investors, regulators and audit firms) in raising awareness, stimulating conversations, and encouraging the sharing of views on audit quality issues, including technology in the audit, the role of the audit committee, external auditor and management in enhancing audit quality, and the current and future direction of audit in Canada and internationally. At the international level, Jeremy leads the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulator’s Technology Task Force.
Chris Girard
Mr. Chris Girard (CPA, CA) is a Director at PwC, where he specializes in providing assurance services to clients across the Energy sector. His work primarily involves guiding energy companies through the intricacies of financial reporting, ensuring compliance with both Canadian and SEC regulations, and navigating the unique operational challenges prevalent in the industry. As PwC's Energy sector subject matter expert for the firm's Next Gen Audit program, Mr. Girard is deeply involved in integrating advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, and automation into the audit process, continually evolving assurance practices within the energy domain.
ROUNDTABLE LEADERS
The roundtable leaders will be Dr. Sridhar Ramamoorti and Professor Tim Bauer.
Sridhar Ramamoorti
Dr. Sridhar Ramamoorti (ABD, Accounting & MIS, 1992; Ph.D., Quantitative Psychology, 1995, The Ohio State University) has a blended academic practitioner background of almost 40 years, and holds the ACA, CPA, CIA, CFE, CFF, CGMA, CRMA, CVA, FCPA, MAFF designations. Currently on the University of Dayton accounting faculty, he was previously on the University of Illinois and Kennesaw State University faculty. His professional practice career in Chicago, Illinois, includes being a principal with Andersen Worldwide, EY National SOX Advisor, corporate governance partner with Grant Thornton, and Infogix, Inc.’s consulting practice leader. An authority on corporate governance and behavioral forensics, he has published widely in academic and professional journals and chairs the Editorial Advisory Board of The CPA Journal. Active in the profession, he is President of the AAA Forensic Accounting Section and serves on the NACVA Litigation Forensics Board. Previously a member of the Standing Advisory Group of the U.S. PCAOB, from 2021-2023, he was on the FEI National Board of Directors.
Tim Bauer
Professor Tim Bauer (PhD, CPA, CA) is the J. Page R. Wadsworth Junior Chair in Accounting and Finance and associate professor of assurance in the School of Accounting & Finance at the University of Waterloo, and the Executive Director of UWCISA. His research is behavioral and largely focuses on external auditors, IT and other specialists, internal controls, and emerging assurance areas and technologies. He is an editorial board member and ad-hoc editor at several accounting journals and has served on advisory groups for both CPA Canada and the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.