3. The technology trailblazers
Image: from left, Lindsay Ellis CPA, Greg Unsworth FCPA and Shahan Pieris FCPA.
Lindsay Ellis CPA
Co-founder, Accounting support, Sumday
Burnie, Australia
In 2021, Lindsay Ellis CPA needed a tool to help his clients account for their carbon emissions. He was working at ER Advisory at the time, a Tasmanian-based practice he co-founded with Jessica Richmond, and says that conventional spreadsheets were not up to the task. So, he hired a software developer to build a new carbon-accounting platform.
The platform showed potential beyond ER Advisory, so Ellis and Richmond sold their practice, secured A$2 million in pre-seed funding and launched Sumday — a cloud-based platform for accounting and reporting on carbon emissions.
“I’m an accountant, not a coder,” Ellis says. “But what I learned as a CPA was helpful in understanding the fundamentals of building a software company, pitching to investors and demonstrating that we had a plan for growing the business.”
Ellis began his accounting career at PwC and completed a master’s in sustainability and social innovation at HEC Paris Business School. After returning to Australia, he worked for a mining company on a large decarbonisation project before co-founding his practice.
Sumday recently formed a partnership with accounting platform Xero to offer its 4.2 million customers free access to Sumday for 12 months.
“There’s been a narrative around carbon accounting that it’s somehow inaccessible for small businesses, but with Scope 3 becoming a focus, larger corporates are asking small suppliers about their emissions and wanting that data to be granular and auditable,” Ellis says.
While Sumday’s focus remains on carbon accounting, Ellis says the company is exploring other areas of financial and non-financial disclosure.
“Accounting standards are emerging that support businesses to be consistent and comparable in their reporting, so natural capital and social impact reporting are on our road map,” he says. “Businesses have always needed robust reporting, but they’re now making those decisions through a different lens.”
Greg Unsworth FCPA
Digital Business and Risk Services leader, PwC Singapore
Singapore
Greg Unsworth FCPA has spent much of his career helping businesses drive human-led and technology-enabled changes. He believes technology can support businesses to achieve their goals more effectively.
“With any digital transformation program, there will be specific technology risks to consider at the outset,” says Unsworth, who is also president of the Singapore Divisional Council of CPA Australia.
“As businesses look to capitalise on the business benefits of AI, they need to manage increased cyber-exposure and data-protection considerations, and ensure AI solutions are producing outcomes that are free of bias and unintended consequences.
The key is building in ‘controls by design’, then regularly and rigorously monitoring to ensure the necessary controls are operating as intended and managing digital risks effectively.”
Unsworth began his career in an audit role at PwC more than 35 years ago. Through serving technology, media and telecommunications clients, he became fascinated with the impact of technology in reshaping businesses and industries. This led to a range of technology-focused leadership roles.
An important lesson Unsworth has learned about digital transformation is to “not chase every bright, shiny object”.
“It is important to be agile and move fast. It is also important to properly evaluate technology options to ensure investment decisions fit with the business vision and mission, and that those decisions are supported by a clear business case and align with the organisation’s culture and workforce,” he says.
While technologies like AI will have an impact on the finance profession, Unsworth says there is no replacing the human qualities of leadership, creativity and empathy.
“It will be important for finance professionals to stay nimble and take part in regular and continuous upskilling to futureproof their careers and contribute for the longer term.”
Shahan Pieris FCPA
Vice President, Credit Risk Management Services, Citi
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Technology is advancing rapidly, but Shahan Pieris FCPA has always aimed to keep a step ahead of it. “In my opinion, many companies adopt technology for the sake of it, but I believe we first need to ask ourselves some questions,” he says.
“Does it deliver economic value? Does it improve our control and risk mitigation? Are we creating more work by implementing a technological platform just because we think we should?
“I strongly emphasise to my team that we need to know how technology can be used,” he adds.
“We need to be a step ahead whenever we implement something, because technology becomes outdated. You need people in your team who can mix technology and finance skills and see beyond the current status, and I think that has been my strength.”
Pieris has worked in the multinational banking sector for more than 25 years and has a background in management accounting. He says he has always been curious about the transformative potential of technology.
He has led the development of many interactive digital solutions to automate manual processes while improving efficiency and accuracy.
“Following a global mandate, a significant amount of manual touch points have been automated,” he says. “There have been instances where a manual report would take us one and a half hours to prepare, and now we can get it done in three minutes.
We have automated the system, but it is interactive, allowing the user to override certain things with proper controls in place. Humans are always in the loop.”
As technology evolves, Pieris sees the role of accountants expanding rather than contracting.
“At a strategic level, businesses are creating more jobs,” he says. “Yes, technology has taken over the mundane and repetitive tasks, but it will not take away our careers. It will only enhance them.”
