The Pre-Read

Hosted by Workiva

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183

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Just like the slides you get before a big meeting, The Pre-Read prepares CFOs and senior leaders for the decisions ahead. This is the global podcast for the modern office of the CFO, focused on how finance leaders drive performance, resilience, and long-term value in a constantly shifting environment. Designed for executives operating at scale, the show features candid conversations with CFOs, board advisors, regulators, and business leaders shaping how companies compete, comply, and grow. Hosts Alyssa Zucker and Steve Soter connect financial performance, data integrity, regulation, and technology to the real questions CFOs are being asked by boards, investors, and stakeholders. From AI adoption and enterprise data trust to evolving disclosure expectations and global regulatory pressure, The Pre-Read focuses on what matters now and what's coming next. Each episode cuts through noise to surface practical insight, strategic perspective, and the signals CFOs need to lead with clarity. If you're responsible for stewarding capital, managing risk, and creating value over time, you're in the right place.

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60 recent

October 12, 202618 min

Sustainability's Quiet Move Into the CFO's Office

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 Weinreb Group's 2026 Chief Sustainability Officer Report, and Sophie Beckham, Chief Sustainability Officer at International Paper, to discuss where the headcount went and why more CSOs now report through finance. In this episode: Why a leaner corporate sustainability team can carry the same scope How headcount reporting lines shifted Why CSOs are reporting to finance What research says CSOs need beyond budget and headcount Which skill CSOs should build heading into 2027 Subscribe to The Pre-Read on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

September 28, 202621 min

The Real Risk Isn't Falling Behind on AI

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 automation bias, and blindly trusting automated tools while failing to challenge the results. He breaks down why automated platforms taking over routine processing actually elevates human skepticism, making auditor judgment the most vital asset in the room. In this episode: Why automated platforms doing 80% of routine workflows makes the remaining 20% of human critical thinking essential Why regulators like the PCAOB will always demand auditors explain the "why" behind their testing, whether using Excel or an AI model Why you should stop worrying about being left behind and start worrying about accepting unchecked AI outputs Why young auditors starting out in an AI-native environment have a structural edge over legacy habits Subscribe to The Pre-Read on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!

September 14, 202618 min

Real Leadership Starts When Certainty Ends

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 when the answers aren’t ready yet. In this episode: • Why clarity matters more than certainty in a crisis • What Tracy learned about the personal cost of leading through crisis • Why she interviews for curiosity and adaptability over experience • What CFOs and their teams need most when volatility becomes constant • How to protect yourself from burnout when crisis is the baseline, instead of the exception

August 31, 202620 min

Sustainability Assurance Has to Be a Precondition, Not a Compliance Checkbox

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 assurance readiness is a precondition for any assurance engagement, not a step within it • Why companies consistently believe their data is sufficient when it is scattered across systems, geographies, and methodologies with no central governance • How the cultural difference between sustainability teams and audit teams creates friction, and how successful organizations work through it • Why the linkage between sustainability and financial reporting is where investors are paying close attention

August 17, 202620 min

Who’s Building the Next CFO?

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 to recognize when something breaks. In this episode: • Why the path to CFO is about doing work and growing financial skills alongside AI • How to build a finance culture where people are ready to lead • What the CFO of 2035 will need to prove to compete against AI numbers • Why finance leaders should focus less on pursuing the CFO title, and more time learning the skills necessary to identify and respond to risk Subscribe for episodes on the issues shaping finance, audit, risk, and sustainability at the C-suite level.

August 3, 202627 min

Who Owns What Your AI Does?

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 -Why the agent isn’t the risk, but the use case is -Who owns accountability when an autonomous system takes action? -How CFOs and audit teams are becoming the forcing function for AI quality Subscribe for episodes on the issues shaping finance, audit, risk, and sustainability at the C-suite level.

July 20, 202623 min

What Your Climate Risk Assessment Is Missing

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 assessment across sectors and jurisdictions. She joined The Pre-Read to break down what mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requires. In this episode: Why most climate risk assessments assess too few hazards The key differences between physical climate risk and transition risk How to scope scenarios and time horizons without cutting corners What climate-related financial disclosure users want to see Where AI is making climate risk assessment faster and more audit-ready

July 6, 202622 min

Markets Are Moving: Is Your Finance Team?

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 CFO Guillaume Leger about leading finance teams through change, AI, and why sustainability reporting is a frontier CFOs can’t ignore. 0:00 What’s in this episode 1:56 Capital markets & M&A update with Josh and Troy 3:32 The IPO boom and M&A recovery 4:39 Trends driving M&A 13:18 Esther asks Guillaume about guiding finance teams through change 16:55 Upsides and downsides to AI in finance 19:48 The new frontier of financial reporting Subscribe to The Pre-Read for weekly conversations at the intersection of finance, sustainability, audit, and risk.

June 22, 202629 min

Restatement Is a Dirty Word, Except When It Isn't

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? Chapters: 0:00 — Intro 2:30 — Dr. Lee Hui Mien on why sustainability data is fundamentally different 8:45 — Why restatement in sustainability is a feature, not a failure 13:20 — Scope 3 and why supply chain visibility can break down at tier two 19:10 — Jonathan Gregory, Global Controller at The Hershey Company 24:00 — AI governance and segregation of duties 29:45 — What the next five years demand from controllers Guests: Dr. Lee Hui Mien, Sustainability Leader, Singtel Jonathan Gregory, Global Controller, The Hershey Company Subscribe to The Pre-Read for more conversations at the intersection of finance, sustainability, audit, and risk.

June 8, 202633 min

Are You Taking Enough Risk? Probably Not.

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 hosts an AI adoption series called “AI With Heather.” They’ve approached AI governance from opposite ends of the org chart—and landed on the same answer. In this episode: Why fiduciary responsibility now extends to AI (and what that means for directors who lack technical backgrounds) How continuous AI monitoring is disrupting the traditional three-lines-of-defense model The “organize my closet” onboarding method that got an entire risk team using AI regularly Why curiosity is the most important governance capability of the next 12 months What “clean data in” means for getting AI outputs you can trust Subscribe to The Pre-Read for bi-weekly insight for finance, risk, audit, and sustainability leaders.