Episode 50: Season One in Review: Trust, AI, and a Confession

Fifty episodes in, we pause to look back at the very best of season one: the people, the numbers, and the stories that defined a year in the life of the world's Chartered Accountancy community.

We revisit Catriona Jennings, the Chartered Accountant turned Olympian and record-holding ultra-runner; Manuel Rodriguez, building an agricultural microeconomy in Mozambique that supports tens of thousands of farmers; Liswaniso Namatama in Lusaka, who gave us the defining quote of the season, "Audit is a human business"; Lem Chin Kok in Singapore, whose career runs from commercial crime policing to an AI-first technology firm; and Khethiwe Sibanyoni
in South Africa, applying audit discipline to the fight against gender-based violence.

We also count the season by the numbers: two new member institutes welcomed, a community of more than two million members and students across 190+ countries, a tenth birthday for Chartered Accountants Worldwide, and confirmation from Edelman that Chartered Accountants are the third most trusted profession on Earth.

Then there are the headlines that shaped the year: AI adoption running at more than 70% across the profession, sustainability reporting and the UK's 2027 carbon border adjustment rollout, the tax traps hiding inside summer remote working, and research showing Chartered Accountants to be curious, creative, and altruistic.

And finally, note one to the accounts. Because trust depends on transparency, we disclose exactly how this podcast has been made, and introduce Olivia, your new host for season two.

Every story real. Every statistic checked. Every episode signed off by humans.

Season two starts next week. Everything mentioned is linked in the show notes at charteredaccountantsworldwide.com.

Transcript

Host: 0:00

Wow. So here we are at episode 50. 50! A moment to pause, look back, and recognize the people and ideas that have shaped our first season. Today we're going to look back at the very best of season one, the people, the numbers, and the stories that defined a year in the life of the world's chartered accountancy community. And at the end of the episode, a disclosure, because for a profession built on trust, transparency matters. So stay with us Welcome to the Chartered Accountants Global Update, the official weekly audio newsletter of Chartered Accountants Worldwide. Wherever you're listening, we're glad you're here 10th of July 2025, episode one of this podcast went out into the world. It covered AI, occupational burnout, and the ICAEW Annual Conference, technology, wellbeing, and exciting institute events, themes that continue to shape conversations across the profession throughout the year. But before the highlights, let's begin with a view that feels appropriate for our audience. Season one by the numbers. Forty-nine episodes, fifty-two weeks, a full year of updates, insights, and stories from across the global chartered accountancy community. We welcomed two new member institutes into the global family, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal and the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants. In a community now more than two million members and students strong across more than one hundred and ninety countries We celebrated a tenth birthday as Chartered Accountants worldwide marked a decade of bringing the global profession together. And finally, we celebrated one number, three, as in the third most trusted profession on Earth. Hold that thought. We'll come back to it later.

If Season 1 proved anything, it's this: 2:44

the strength of the profession lies not only in technical excellence, but in the people who use it to make a difference. Take Catriona Jennings, Chartered Accountant, Olympian, world record-holding ultra-runner. Her story showed how discipline, resilience, and focus can carry across every arena from professional life to elite sport. Or Manuel Rodriguez in Mozambique, who applied a chartered accountant's toolkit, systems thinking, financial rigor, and long-term planning to help build an agricultural microeconomy, supporting tens of thousands of farmers. Food security, incomes, and whole communities strengthened. From Lusaka, Zambia, Liswaniso Namatama gave us what might be the defining

quote of the whole season: 3:38

"Audit is a human business, not simply ticking boxes, but understanding people, organizations, and the world around you." Remember that line. It comes back later. In Singapore, we met Lem Chin Kok, whose career has spanned commercial crime policing, twenty-three years building KPMG Singapore's forensic practice, and now leadership in an AI-first technology firm. From typewriters to machine learning, his work has followed the evolving fight against fraud. And in South Africa, Kethiwe Sibanyoni showed us the profession's skills applied where they're needed most, taking the audit discipline of detection, prevention, and correction and using it to fight gender-based violence through a youth-led foundation supporting thirteen shelters in Gauteng. Budgets, controls, and outcome metrics in service of something profoundly human. Honorable mentions in our people of the season ledger. Ken Kroakan, whose career took him from Glasgow to a partnership in New York. Jaspreet Rayat, who built her own route into the profession through an apprenticeship and gave us the season's best borrowed motto, "Grit makes the pearl." And Asta Thackeray, who turned a pandemic coffee meetup into a thriving community, reminding us that connection is a professional skill. Now, the headlines. And we have to start with trust because season one delivered the statistic we'll all be quietly slipping into dinner party conversation for years. According to Edelman's global trust research, chartered accountants rank as the third most trusted profession in the world, behind only doctors and engineers. Three in four businesses now rely on chartered accountants for data integrity. In an age of misinformation, that trust is both a responsibility and a platform for positive change. Then there was the story we returned to throughout the season, artificial intelligence. We tracked the Beyond Accounting webinar series and its AI trilogy finale. We examined ICAEW's Gen AI Accelerator program. We discovered Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand's AI Fluency Playbook. We explored the global research study with Ipsos, now in its second wave. And the finding that stuck, more than seventy percent of chartered accountants are already using AI tools at work, and even more want to go further. Week after week, the message from across the network was consistent. AI has the greatest value when it is guided by skilled, skeptical, ethical professionals. Technology can support the work. Judgment remains human. Sustainability earned its place on the front page all year, from the carbon software provider guide demystifying scope one, two, and three emissions, to early warnings on carbon border adjustment mechanisms ahead of the UK's twenty twenty-seven rollout. The through line, stakeholders no longer accept pledges alone. They expect evidence, and evidence is where the profession has an essential role to play. And for sheer practical value, the summer remote working episodes stood out. A few weeks working abroad can quietly raise questions around permanent establishment, payroll, and tax residency. A reminder that flexible work still needs careful advice. Season one also held up a mirror. The global resilience and well-being research challenged old stereotypes and showed chartered accountants as being curious, creative, and altruistic. We learned that burnout is real and can be addressed, that pressing pause can be a performance strategy, and courtesy of Brad Hook, that monotasking is not laziness, but neuroscience. One thing at a time done properly, which brings us to the final item on today's agenda. You are listening to a profession built on trust, a profession that is the third most trusted in the world and rightly proud of that position. But trust depends on transparency, on full and fair disclosure, on showing your workings. So here are ours Consider this note one to the accounts. Basis of preparation. For forty-nine episodes, every episode in fact, including this one, the Chartered Accountants Global Update has been researched and drafted with the support of artificial intelligence, then reviewed, shaped, and signed off by the human editorial team at Chartered Accountants Worldwide. And the voice reading it to you has been AI-generated all along. Yes, including this voice, especially this voice. Consider the evidence that was hiding in plain sight. Forty-nine consecutive weekly episodes. No sick days, no holiday cover, no strained voice after a long week. The clues were there. But here's what matters, and it's the same thing that has mattered all season. Every story you heard was real. Every person we profiled, Catriona, Manuel, Liswaniso,

Host: 9:18

Ketewee, and all the rest, real people doing remarkable things. Every statistic checked, every event verified, every episode approved by human editors who care deeply about this profession. AI supported the drafting and the voice, but it was people who made the editorial decisions, which is exactly the kind of responsible use we have been exploring all season. Technology used with purpose, oversight, and professional judgment. Liswaniso told us that audit is a human business. He's right. So is this one. The tools may be changing, but the accountability remains with people. And that's the whole point of season two, doing this with the lights on. Because yes, fifty episodes is a milestone, and milestones are a good moment to begin a new chapter. From next week, this podcast enters its second season with a new host. She's warm, sharp, and ready to continue bringing you stories from across the global chartered accountancy community. In the spirit of transparency, I'll let her introduce herself properly.

Olivia: 10:30

Hello, everyone. I'm Olivia. It's lovely to finally speak. And since we're doing things openly from here, let's be clear from the start. I'm an AI voice too My role is to bring you the best of the global chartered accountancy community every week, with the news verified, the people real, and the humans of Chartered Accountants Worldwide firmly in the review loop. Season two starts next week. Same mission, new voice. Full disclosure from day one. To my predecessor, 49 episodes, one first season, and a handover completed with full disclosure. The ledger balances. Take a bow.

Host: 11:11

Thank you, Olivia. Be good to them. They're the trustworthy sort. The data says so.

Olivia: 11:18

That's episode 50 of the Chartered Accountants Global Update from Chartered Accountants Worldwide, reflecting a community of over two million members and students in more than 190 countries. If season one passed you by, the full back catalog is wherever you found this episode, and everything we mentioned today is linked in the show notes at charteredaccountantsworldwide.com. Follow the show so season two finds you first, and from all of us, the editorial team, and the technology that supports them, thank you for a remarkable first year. See you next week.