Mark Koziel

I think that we are making progress in the profession ready.

Well, I should, the profession ready initiative, but even prior to that, Horizons 2025 was done in 2025, right? Which was pronosticated into the, you know, what was the future of the profession? And so before our terms began, my co-chair and I met with Mark and John Graham was my co-chair from London.

And we, we, what evolved into Rise 2040, and that's being released in final form at Engage.

So in 13 months, it was, you know, 6,000 participants, 25 countries, you know, it was the first global holistic view of our profession.

to update, you know, standards around independence because business models have changed.

So those need to be updated.

And the other thing is that Mark Koziel has been meeting with the CEOs or not CEOs, the the main people of the private equity firms, you know, that are the owners and having a conversation about the concern about quality, you know, and the independence things and, you know, what they've said, which makes complete sense.

And this is probably not across the board, but the concept is right that these firms have made a large investment with private equity firms have made a large investment in organizations and whatever organization they invest in, they want a rate of return.

[laughs] But, but I think holistically our license stands for trust.

Um, you know, w- I hear Mark Koziel, a dear friend and leader of AICPA, say that every day.

And the more that AI accelerates, um, I think that value of that trust will become even more apparent.

Because at the end of the day, you gotta have a human that's interpreting what the particular tool or automation has done and making the right strategic choices.