The latest episode of the podcast provides an overview of content in the October digital edition of FM. Editor-in-chief Oliver Rowe summarises articles on topics that include AI and cybersecurity, including one with advice on writing AI prompts.
The episode closes with an explanation of how members can access the October digital edition as well as the issue library.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
- Focus areas of the October digital edition.
- The topic connection in the edition’s leadership columns.
- More about the advice to managers to “keep their antenna up”.
- The topic of the Excel article by Liam Bastick, FCMA, CGMA.
Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:
— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.
Transcript
Amato: Welcome back to the FM podcast. This is Neil Amato. Joining me for this discussion of the October digital edition of the magazine is FM editor-in-chief Oliver Rowe. We’ll discuss the themes of the edition and other article highlights. Oliver, welcome back to the podcast.
Rowe: Thanks, Neil. Great to be back on the podcast.
Amato: Key focuses of this digital edition are AI, technology, and cybersecurity. Tell me a little bit more about what this edition holds in store for readers.
Rowe: It’s absolutely right, Neil. This edition, the October edition, is focused on AI, tech, and cybersecurity. We’ve got several articles written by CGMA designation holders, so we have articles on how BI, business intelligence, and analytics enhance management accountants’ partnering role, and that’s by Elize Kirsten and is the cover story for this edition of FM. It’s based on her CIMA-sponsored study that identifies how BI&A is being used. The article highlights key barriers to adoption, and it also offers very practical recommendations for finance professionals and business leaders seeking to unlock greater value from these types of tools.
There’s also finance and cyber resilience. That’s the column from Andrew Harding, chief executive–Management Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. Business resilience is also the topic of CIMA President John Graham’s column. He highlights the Business Resilience Toolkit from AICPA and CIMA. Just to carry on through the lineup of articles for the October edition, on AI, an article from Liam Bastick, which is five elements of an effective AI prompt.
Amato: You mentioned AI prompting. It’s definitely a key skill. What’s a summary of the advice from that article?
Rowe: Absolutely, Neil. Prompt engineering Liam Bastick talks about is he describes it as the new coding, and it’s for the AI environment, and it’s a critical skill for all accountants. Liam describes five elements, and these include, just to give a quick summary, he talks about the task — what exactly do you need when prompting; you need to explain why you use unambiguous plain language.
He talks about the persona. Allow AI to understand the contexts such as assigning a specific role, and what he means there is, for example, you might write, “I am CFO of a large multinational company and I need to understand the following.” He also talks about format, so you need to make it clear how you want the results or response to be displayed, whether that’s a table, bullet points, or a dashboard.
He talks about examples and then goes into a bit of detail about zero-shop prompting, providing no examples, one-shot prompting, and then few-shop prompting, what’s described as few-shop prompting, where you provide two or more examples, and that gives greater control and direction of AI responses. The fifth one, finally, he talks about constraints. You might set restrictions or rules. You might say, “Please provide the top three factors or focus on the commercial aspects only as examples.”
Amato: That’s a good summary. Thank you for that. The headline of this next article speaks for itself, “How AI Is Changing the Way Companies Watch Workers”. What can readers expect to learn from that one?
Rowe: Yes. This article looks at the pros and cons of employee monitoring and how AI, including agentic AI, is part of this. The trend to use technology is not only because it’s increasingly affordable, but it’s also companies are looking to track workforces in remote and global environments. The article covers how regulations are a part of this and the ethical issues which are important.
Amato: On a leadership topic, moving away from the technology and AI topic, the October edition has an article on how managers can lead by example when it comes to their team’s stress. As a people manager with some stress, I’m interested in that. Tell me more about it.
Rowe: Absolutely. The article is “Ways Managers Can Deal With Their Team’s Stress”, as you say. Interestingly, it quotes the Harvard Business Review, which recently described employee stress as a business risk, not an HR problem. Author Rhymer Rigby describes the difference between the types of pressure that drive people to work hard and keep them engaged at work. Then, on the other hand, the destructive stress that affects people’s mental health.
He makes a very clear point that pressure can lead to this type of destructive stress where people feel overwhelmed and unable to cope at work. And as you say, Neil, the article is about managers’ roles in supporting their teams, and there’s good advice there that includes keep your antenna up. That means you shouldn’t always wait for staff to come to you. Managers need to be proactive in this area. He talks about resolving conflicts, how they can be a big source of disruption and anxiety for staff. He also talks about encouraging staff where you can to be fit, healthy, and well rested. It doesn’t in itself make staff immune to stress, as he says, but it will help them cope with the many rigors of the modern workplace.
Amato: Great. Thank you for that summary. That article is sure to be popular among our members, I’d say. What other topics from the October digital edition would you like to highlight?
Rowe: Thanks, Neil. We also have an article on better alternatives to Excel’s VLOOKUP function. This just explains how VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP, they’re sometimes accompanied by easy-to-make mistakes. These can be avoided, the article explains, using different functions. That’s again by Liam Bastick. We also in this edition, as with other editions, there’s Institute News, which is updates on the profession and your membership, and that’s both for CIMA members and for AICPA members.
Amato: As a closing thought, I guess, a reminder for members. How can they access the October digital edition and the library of past editions?
Rowe: Absolutely, Neil. Several ways to access the FM digital editions, which are for CGMA designation holders. You can go direct to the AICPA and CIMA website, and that’s at aicpa-cima.com. From the main menu, go to resources and then publications, and you’ll see Financial Management magazine. There’s also a link on the homepage of the FM website at fm-magazine.com. Finally, thirdly, for each new digital edition, there’s the FM email alerting members to the new edition.
Amato: Oliver Rowe, that’s our summation of the October digital edition. Thanks for being on.
Rowe: Thanks, Neil.
