The Pre-Read

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.
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https://www.workiva.com/What does leadership look like when volatility becomes the norm?
Workiva CEO Julie Iskow joins Steve Soder and Alyssa Zucker to unpack what 2025 taught executives and how to prepare for 2026. This conversation goes beyond headlines to explore how leaders can stay grounded while moving faster, make data a strategic asset, and meet rising board expectations with confidence.
In this episode:
Redefining resilience: Why stability and agility must coexist
Data integrity as strategy: Turning trusted data into a competitive advantage
AI readiness: Why governed, audit-ready data is the foundation for safe AI adoption
The evolving boardroom: How expectations are shifting toward deeper, more frequent engagement
Chapters
0:00 Defining resilience for 2026
3:15 Stability vs. agility in volatile markets
7:40 Data integrity: From compliance to strategy
11:20 When bad data becomes AI risk
15:00 The new expectations of the boardroom
18:30 Julie's word for 2026: Clarity
Enjoy this episode? Explore more conversations at the intersection of finance, risk, and sustainability at workiva.com/pre-read-podcast.

Steve and Alyssa are taking a well-earned break, but the challenges facing the office of the CFO are not slowing down. In this short episode, producer Mike Gravagno looks back on a year where AI moved from pilot programs to expectation and sustainability became more than a side conversation. Looking ahead to 2026, The Pre-Read will return with sharper conversations on data trust, AI governance, reporting rigor, and how leading teams turn systems into true productivity multipliers. Subscribe now and be ready for what's next.

Semiannual Reporting: Will doing "less" actually create more work?

Finance and accounting leaders are split on whether moving from quarterly to semiannual SEC reporting will simplify processes or compound risk. In this episode, industry expert Tom Schneiders joins to unpack what a reduced cadence would really mean for teams, investors, and market stability.
We cover:
The hidden risk of doubling the data window—from three months to six
Why most finance teams aren't asking to report less frequently
How quarterly reporting strengthens risk management and operational discipline
What's fueling the new momentum in the IPO pipeline
Why generative AI is moving from experiment to essential for the C-suite
If you want to understand how reporting cadence shapes trust, transparency, and executive decision-making, this conversation is for you.

Jacob Andra, CEO of Talbot West, joins to discuss the urgent imperative for companies to move beyond siloed, ad hoc growth and embrace an integrated, tech-forward future.
What you will learn in this episode:
Why "total organizational intelligence" is a survival imperative for the modern enterprise
How orchestrating your data across the organization is a huge unlock for immediate revenue opportunities
The most common and foundational AI use case: standardized knowledge management powered by large language models
How to build a clear, defensible AI roadmap to avoid "AI washing" and drive real, long-term impact
Beyond large language models: Using advanced machine learning for complex optimization 
Find past conversations at workiva.com/podcast/the-pre-read. Subscribe to catch all our upcoming episodes.

#Leadership #FinancePodcast #AITransformation #OrganizationalIntelligence