Special Forum Conference: The Digital Transformation of ESG Reporting

8:30 am - 8:45 am

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Lawrence G. Singleton, Ph.D. Dean, Professor of Accounting, Lubin School of Business, Pace University

8:45 am - 10:00 am

Keynote Session, The Hijacking of Sustainability Accounting by 'ESG'
Speakers:
Charles Cho, Professor of Sustainability Accounting
Erivan K. Haub Chair in Business & Sustainability Schulich School of Business, York University

10:00 am - 10:30 am

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Session 1

Do Companies Make the World Better? Effect of Blockchain Adoption on a Firm's Environmental and Social Performance
Anna Y. Jeong, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
Henry Kim, York University, Canada*
Jee-Hae Lim, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
Discussant: David Wang, DePaul University

Information Extraction from ESG Reports Using NLP: A ChatGPT Comparison
Yu Gu, Rutgers Business School, USA
Lanxin Jiang, Rutgers Business School, USA
Steven Katz, Rutgers Business School, USA*
Discussant: Ivana Zilic, DePaul University

ESG Committees and IT Outcomes
Jacob Haislip, Texas Tech University, USA*
Discussant: Zhifeng Yang, Stony Brook University, USA

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Session 2 (Panel) The Digital Transformation of ESG Reporting: Perspectives from Practice on ESG Data, Enabling-Technology and Trust

Moderator: Dale Goldstein, CISA, Distinguished Associate Professor of Accounting, Pace University, Former Director, Technology Assurance – Audit Practice, KPMG

Panelists:

• Santhosh Kumar Lalgudi, Americas Tax Tech & Transformation Blockchain and Cloud Solutions Leader, EY
• Steven Mezzio, PhD, CPA, CISA, CISSP, Professor of Accounting & Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Business, Pace University, Former Partner, PwC
• Dan Meers, Managing Director, Data & Analytics Leader, CohnReznick

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Session 3

Information Technology Expertise and ESG Performance
Stephanie Walton, Louisiana State University, USA*
Yiyang (Ian) Zhang, Youngstown State University, USA
Discussant: Joy Gray, Bentley University

Towards Transparent ESG Reporting: A Blockchain-based Conceptual Framework and its Implications on Carbon Accounting
Eid Alotaibi, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Mauricio Codesso, Northeastern University, USA*
Ashraf Khallaf, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Discussant: Ting Sung, The College of New Jersey

A Greenhouse Gas Emission Tracking System (GETS) for Climate-Related Disclosures
Lanxin Jiang, Rutgers Business School, USA*
Yu Gu, Rutgers Business School, USA
Wenjun Yu, PwC, China Jun Dai, Michigan Technological University, USA
Discussant: Davide Calandra, University of Turin, Italy

4:45 pm - 6:15 pm

9:00 am - 10:30 am

Session 4 and Closing Remarks

Exploring ChatGPT’s Capability to Automate the Analysis of Corporate Diversity Disclosure
Irina Jie Bao, Rutgers Business School, USA*
Benita M. Gullkvist, University of Vaasa, Finland
Discussant: Marco Trombetta, IE Business School, Spain

Navigating ESG Reporting in a Tech-Driven World: Insights from Academics and Practitioners
Davide Calandra, University of Turin, Italy*
Silvana Secinaro, University of Turin, Italy
Michele Oppioli, University of Turin, Italy
Tawei Wang, DePaul University, USA
Discussant: TBA

SMART REA: Modernizing REA Framework with Smart Contract for ESG Performance Monitoring
Yu Gu, Rutgers Business School, USA*
Kyoungseo Hong, Rutgers Business School, USA
Arion Cheong, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Miklos A. Vasarhelyi,Rutgers Business School, USA
Discussant: TBA

Closing Remarks
Charles Tang, Ph.D. Chair of Accounting Department, Professor of Accounting, Lubin School of Business, Pace University

10:30 am - 11:00 pm