Date and Time
Date: February 11, 2026
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM EST
Location: Via Zoom
Description
Join a senior management consultant and business educator for a timely and relevant presentation about the authoritative sources, measurement processes, and reporting practices of the ESG metrics that serve as inputs for capital investment models. The public data reports and legal assurance functions of two global companies will be addressed during the session.
Objectives
- To identify the accounting sources of sustainability metrics and standards
- To recognize the impact of legal assurance practices on the input metrics of capital profiles
- To evaluate the adequacy of publicly reported ESG data on major investment decisions
Topics
- The growth of voluntary sustainability disclosures in deregulated legal environments
- Assurance reporting activities by regulated and unregulated firms
- Integrated financial data models that codify the input metrics of investment profiles
CPE Information
Advanced Preparation – None
Who Should Attend – All professionals with responsibilities regarding regulatory and legal sustainability issues.
Field of Study – Accounting
Prerequisites – No prerequisites or advanced planning required
CPE Credit Hours – 1.5*
Level – Basic
Presenters
Michael Kraten, PhD, CPA
Founder and President of the management consultancy Save The Blue Frog
LinkedIn
Michael is an executive management consultant and business educator. He maintains specialties in entrepreneurship, business modeling, decision analysis, sustainability and resilience, educational gaming, strategic planning, valuation, risk management, and forensic analysis.
Dr. Kraten has more than forty years of management consulting experience and twenty five years of higher education experience. He is currently serving as Technical Expert for Sustainability and Resilience at PKF O’Connor Davies and Director of Intellectual Content for the Sustainability Investment Leadership Council (SILC).
In academia, he most recently completed a two year term as Director of Accounting Program Initiatives at the University of Houston, where he focused on developing innovative approaches to sustainability, entrepreneurship, Artificial Intelligence, and the “pipeline” challenge of attracting students to the accounting profession. He is the winner of the TXCPA’s state-wide Outstanding Accounting Educator Award for large colleges in 2024.
He began his career in the assurance and consulting practices of Deloitte. After serving as a Consulting Partner at BDO, then the seventh largest global accounting firm, he co-founded a series of boutique consulting practices. His consulting work has taken him to Bolivia, Canada, Great Britain, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, the Middle East, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Vietnam, including corporate training activities with the national energy companies of Bolivia, Iraq, and Vietnam.
Earlier in his academic career, he taught for the Universities of Connecticut and Massachusetts in the U.S., Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and elsewhere. He has also presented his work at Dartmouth College, Deloitte University, Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University.
He has authored or co-authored more than thirty peer reviewed articles in academic and practitioner journals. In addition, he has authored numerous book chapters, newsletters, and podcasts for Wiley, Routledge, Henry Stewart, Kaplan, and others. He also authored a book on Business Planning and Entrepreneurship for Business Expert Press.
From 2014 to 2023, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) ranked him in the All-Time Top 10% of global researchers. His top-ranked article, entitled “Libor Manipulation,” was published in the Journal of Banking and Finance several months before the global banking scandal exploded in the public business press.
He earned a PhD in Behavioral Accounting from the University of Connecticut and a MPPM in Public and Private Management from Yale University. He also earned a BBA in Public Accounting from Baruch College, CUNY.
Credits
Michael Kraten, PhD, CPA, Founder and President, Save The Blue Frog See LinkedIn Profile
PKF O’Connor Davies, CPE Sponsor See web site at https://www.pkfod.com/.
For information about ESG services, contact Marc Rinaldi at https://www.pkfod.com/people/marc-rinaldi/.
*CPE credits are sponsored by PKF O’Connor Davies, which is registered with NASBA.
Credits: 1.5 CPE credit in Accounting
No prerequisites or advanced planning required
Program Level: Basic Delivery Method: Group internet based
PKF O’Connor Davies is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State Boards of Accountancy have the final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE Credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: http://www.nasbaregistry.org/. For information regarding complaint and/or program cancellation policies, please contact l&dsupport@pkfod.com.