The Pre-Read

"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 professional judgment. Financial reporting expert Chelsea Hall unpacks recent SEC signals on materiality and the potential for significant tariff refunds. Then, Josh Gertsch joins to discuss the massive backlog of unicorn companies and a capital markets explosion sitting on the sidelines. 

Key Discussion Points: 
Materiality Overhaul: Why the SEC is moving away from the 5% or 10% rules and toward a crisp, digestible MD&A. 
Tariff Refund Opportunity: Evaluating accounting models for potential recoveries following a Supreme Court ruling. 
The Deal Accelerator: How AI is cutting weeks and months off due diligence and registration drafting. 
The Rule of 40: Why investors are prioritizing companies where combined revenue growth and profit margin exceed 40%. 

Timestamp Highlights:
0:00 - Intro 
01:50 – Moving away from quantitative materiality thresholds 
02:20 – The Supreme Court and tariff refund opportunities 
03:55 – Why risk factors have become a "CYA" exercise 
17:00 – The IPO quality bar and the return of the rule of 40 
19:30 – Leveraging technology and AI in the deal cycle 
24:40 – The shift in readiness strategy for private companies 

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 in the same way." —Ivan Moreno 

Guest spotlight:
Ivan Moreno, senior reporter at Law360®, breaks down the Blockbuster trademark case against a Mississippi animal feed company. He discusses why heritage brands must fight to stay legally relevant even when they no longer lead the market. 

Then Alana Chartier, Sustainability Analyst at Workiva, explains the $81 trillion blind spot in global company valuation. She argues that a 21st-century economy cannot run on 20th-century reporting systems that classify human capital and AI as costs instead of assets. 

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction 
03:30 The Blockbuster trademark case vs. Southern Seed and Feed 
05:40 Dilution by blurring: Can you protect a legacy name? 
08:30 Accounting for brand value: Acquisition vs. internal builds 
11:00 Reputation as a corporate credit score 
18:40 The orchard analogy: Why we only count the fruit 
21:30 Integrated reporting: Connecting financial and non-financial data 

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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 to build a data backbone that delivers assurance-ready sustainability data for global mandates like CSRD and ISSB.

Key moments:
00:00 Introduction
02:15 Identifying the narrative reality gap in today's market 
05:40 Green hushing vs. green quitting: What the data says 
09:10 Why the controller's office is the new home for sustainability
12:50 Moving beyond a check-the-box compliance mindset 
17:45 Using assurance-ready sustainability data to optimize the cost of capital 

"Companies getting it right treat the disclosure as a byproduct of good decision-making, not an output of something that was ... machine built to produce PDF outcome." —Grant Harrison, VP of Sustainable Finance and ESG at Trellis Group 

Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read
#Sustainability #CFO #ESG #FinanceStrategy #Workiva

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 become the new 10-Q.

» The Governance Risk: Navigating longer "dark periods" and insider trading exposure.

» Decision-Grade Data: Why you can't afford to lose the discipline of a quarterly close.

The Insight:

"Never has an investor asked for less information." — Mike Rost,SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Workiva

Timestamps: 
00:00 Intro
02:21 Highlights and Key Risks
04:23 IR Transparency Tradeoffs
07:39 Eight-K Takes Center Stage
10:43 Finance Governance and Data
13:54 Reg FD and Guidance Pressure
14:50 Insider Trading and Litigation
22:15 Final Takeaways and Readiness
26:06 Europe and UK Real-World Model

#SEC #CFO #InvestorRelations #Governance #ThePreRead #Workiva

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 Business Leader at Deloitte, Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, and Dr. Márcia Balisciano, Board Member Foundation for the UN Global Compact and CSO of RELX, about what they're seeing on the ground as roles evolve from task execution to AI orchestration.

In this episode:

04:00 Costi Pericos on agentic collaboration and why HR and AI are converging
13:10 Dennis Woodside on the execution gap and changing daily work habits
15:30 Marcia Balisciano on CFO leadership and becoming "chief environmental champions"
19:00 Conclusion: Why CFOs must architect the agentic future

"I often say you'll learn without AI first so that one day you can be the human in the loop, coordinating and governing AI."
— Costi Pericos, Deloitte

Enjoy this episode? Find more at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read

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 heresy: Why waiting for a fixed ROI is like using an obsolete map for a moving target 
The 3x productivity jump: Why a 300% increase is the new starting point for AI 
Security risks: Understanding white font attacks and AI doppelgangers in HR systems 
Strategic insights: How predictive analytics and earth observation are changing risk valuation 

Timestamps:
00:00—Multiplying traditional productivity by three 
02:15—The Davos panel: AI promise and peril 
04:10—Why ROI is an irrelevant measure for AI 
05:40—Security alerts: The white font attack 
07:15—The $3.8 trillion insight at stake 
08:20—The Monday morning mandate 

"Whatever you thought about traditional productivity multiplied by three at minimum, and that should be a starting point, not the end point." —Jatin Dalal, CFO of Cognizant 

Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read 

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 Reporting Initiative, to break down brand risk, workforce pressure, and why transparent, trusted data is now a leadership mandate.

In this episode:

04:00 Defending information certainty and proactive brand protection
09:30 The "dollar for dollar" rule: Investing equally in tech and people
18:00 Why reporting is becoming a frontline risk tool
21:00 Preview: The rise of cybersecurity doppelgangers

"For every dollar on the tech, you should be spending a dollar on the workforce transformation."
—Rob Fisher, Global Head of Advisory, KPMG

Enjoy this episode? Find more at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read

#Davos2026 #GlobalRisk #CFO #AIStrategy #WorkforceTransformation

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 adaptability are the most critical skills for the next generation of finance leaders.

Key moments:
02:45—Defining the core remit of an ESG controller 
05:30—The data challenge: ERP systems vs. supplier surveys 
08:15—A "crawl, walk, run" approach to limited and reasonable assurance 
11:40—Stakeholder management: Education and empathy 
13:50—Will the ESG controller role eventually merge with finance?
17:15—Curiosity and adaptability in succession planning 

"I think the role of that ESG controller is that translator to help teach the business and teach the finance organization how to get there." —Lori Defnet 

Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read

#ESG #Accounting #Sustainability #FinanceTransformation #Workiva

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 data is a risk in itself
How sustainability data quality drives innovation, not just compliance
What CFOs gain by connecting financial, operational, and supply chain data
Why working pre-competitively can reduce risk across entire industries

Enjoying the show? Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read
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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 to implement the rules. We discuss the sudden loss of exemptions, the need for individual EDGAR® codes, and the risks of missing the two-day filing window.

Chapters:
00:00–Introduction: A Regulatory Ground Shift The hosts introduce the end of long-standing exemptions for FPIs and the era of regulatory accommodation.
05:15–Breaking Down FPI Section 16 Reporting Alan Wilson explains the nuances of Form 3, 4, and 5 requirements, noting that while reporting is mandatory, short-swing liability (Section 16b) currently does not apply.
06:45–The Surprise of Congressional Speed Analysis of why Congress moved faster than the SEC and what this bipartisan unity signals for future securities rulemaking.
09:30–Future Outlook: Beyond Section 16 Insights into potential further changes, including updates to the FPI definition and the convergence of IFRS and US GAAP.
13:15–Infrastructure for Resilience Why investing in stability and agility is the only way to meet rapidly approaching deadlines like the March 18 cutoff.
17:30–Closing Thoughts: The Complexity of Compliance Final debate on whether this is a "big lift" for FPIs and how the market might react to potential moves toward quarterly reporting.

Enjoy this episode? Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read

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