In theory, auditing should be unbiased and independent. In reality, biases abound. Auditors are human, and companies — even auditing firms— have agendas that shape how they approach audits. These blind spots can have real consequences for investors and the economy. Associate professor Minlei Ye joins Executive Summary to reveal where these hidden biases come from, how they influence decision-making, and why stronger safeguards and a shift in business thinking are essential for fairer results.

Show notes

[0:00] What happened with Enron and Arthur Andersen

[0:53] Meet Minlei Ye, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Toronto, and she says when audits fail to catch red flags, it can have devastating consequences on individuals and the economy.

[2:22] What is the role of an auditor, exactly?

[2:59] What role did auditors play in the Enron and Lehman Brothers scandals?

[4:49] How can an organizational focus on compliance lead to misrepresentation? And is fair representation a better option?

[6:03] Other systemic biases that shape an audit firms’ accuracy include the need to keep the client happy.

[6:42] Auditors’ personal biases – like familiarity bias, confirmation bias and groupthink also shape how accurate an audit will be.

[7:38] Minlei’s research into otherwise positive programs – like rewards for whistleblowing – can have unintentional consequences on how auditors approach a client.

[9:01] And then there are egos – like when bosses pull superstar employees off key client accounts out of fear the superstar will be poached by another firm.

[9:45] Team makeup – whether homogenous or diverse – matters too.

[10:40] Auditing is built on the fundamental principle of independence.

[11:29] To help mitigate some of the aforementioned biases, regulation is needed to protect that independence. But, in the U.S. in particular, those protections are under attack.

[13:00] In the meantime auditing firms need to step up to protect their independence…and so do the companies being audited.

[14:21] “Instead of looking at auditing as something that they have to do, like a compliance thing that you have to hire the auditor, they can think of the auditor as a strategic safeguard for the capital needs, for their reputation and stakeholder trust.”

Be sure to check out the Executive Summary back catalogue. We tackle everything from how to build a better board room to what employees can tell leaders about an organization's financial health.

Canada faces an acute shortage of doctors and medical equipment. But simply hiring more people or buying more machines won’t fix our healthcare backlog. In this episode of The Executive Summary, professor Opher Baron explains how — from an operations management perspective — we got into this mess, and why smarter planning and better use of data are just as essential as addressing our shortages if we really want to dig out of Canada’s healthcare deficit.

Show notes:

[0:00] Canadians are in a healthcare crisis.

[0:12] Meet Opher Baron, a professor of operations management at the Rotman School, and an expert in hospital queues. He doesn’t believe more doctors and medical equipment will get us out of our healthcare crisis.

[1:34] A recognition that our healthcare system – and its problems – is nuanced and complex, and this episode is just 15 minutes.

[2:07] Canada has a supply shortage: too few doctors and too little equipment to meet the population demand.

[2:42] This shortage is felt across all sectors of healthcare, but acutely in family care and emergency care.

[3:12] The provincial governments are taking steps to remediate the problems, but it won’t happen quickly.

[4:20] So how did we get here? In short: Poor planning.

[5:31] Hospitals are chaotic, and that makes it difficult to plan.

[7:21] Let’s look at how one issue – continuity of care, coupled with physician incentives – can affect how quickly patients move through an emergency room. Simply, doctors are more likely to take patients at the beginning of their shift than at the end of it.

[9:57] How do you address these types of issues? First, you need to be measuring the right key performance indicators…which we’re not. And you can’t fix a problem, if you can’t identify the problem.

[11:49] Let’s start by recognizing that healthcare professionals aren’t operations management experts.

[12:33] Opher has worked with several hospitals to test new operational efficiencies, including Erie Shores.

[13:58] With the advent of AI, there’s also a lot of opportunity in what Opher calls “digital twin” environments, which will allow hospital administrators to test changes virtually before implementing them in real life.

[15:13] We can’t just throw money at the problem and expect we’ll fix our healthcare system. “I hope that once people understand better what is the important data for them and what they can do with the right data…we can improve the efficiency of our systems, and given the current resources, investing a little bit more kind of in the right places.”

Be sure to check out the Executive Summary back catalogue. We tackle everything from whether we can fix our broken online review system to how extreme heat negatively impacts companies' bottom lines.

For decades, Canada’s economic fortunes have been tied to its southern neighbour — but what happens when that relationship falters? As a new wave of tariffs rattles global markets, professor Dimitry Anastakis joins The Executive Summary to trace Canada’s long history of trade wars with the U.S., the hard lessons they’ve taught us, and why this time, the old playbook may no longer work.

Show Notes

[0:00] Meet Dimitry Anastakis - a University of Toronto professor and expert on Canadian business and economic history, who says Donald Trump’s views on tariffs were really cemented in the ‘80s, putting him at odds with the Republican Party at the time.

[1:03] Canada’s economy is enmeshed with that of the U.S., which doesn’t bode well for us as we face a new trade war.

[2:07] A quick recap of the 2025 trade war between Canada and the U.S. to date.

[3:43] Lessons from the past — we’ve been in this type of situation with the U.S. before.

[3:59] We’ve faced familiar trade disputes in the 1890s, 1920s to ‘30s and the ‘70s to 80s.

[5:57] Reagan-era trade disputes — The trade war of the ‘80s was different from the earlier spats – with the U.S. using it as a tool to convince Canada to join the North American Free Trade Agreement.

[7:10] Canada’s historical options in trade disputes — historically, trade wars are an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on their best path forward. And we usually face three choices.

[8:01] Why have we eschewed the “third option” of diversifying our trading partners and instead increasingly turned into partnerships with the U.S.?

[9:01] And how has closer ties to the U.S. helped us through post-trade war recessions?

[10:18] Why this trade war is different.

[10:38] How are tariffs actually supposed to work, and why is that incongruent with how Donald Trump is wielding them?

[11:22] What role do previous trade agreements play if a key player just decides to ignore them entirely?

[12:09] Canadians are feeling betrayed.

[12:37] And if these tariffs remain in place long term, it does not bode well for the Canadian economy.

[13:40] Resilience in the face of disruption — perhaps now is a time for us to reflect and move towards a new economic path, less dependent on the U.S.

[15:29] “We do need to expect that there's going to be a rough ride. But most importantly, we need to rise to the challenge. We need entrepreneurs and governments and firms to start thinking about how Canadians can exploit the advantages that they have in a new kind of economy in the 21st century. Canadians should recognize that this provides an opportunity for us to start building on our strengths. And, you know, the great thing is that history shows us that the Canadian people have been pretty resilient in these situations.”

Be sure to check out the Executive Summary back catalogue. We tackle everything from why it’s time to explore a four-day work week to where you can actually get the best innovation.