Louise Nesterenko
Chair, Certified General Accountants Canada

As bean-counters go, Louise Nesterenko is  number one. The 2004-2005 chair of the 62,000-member Certified General Accountants Association of Canada aims to restore professional gloss to the accounting industry. She has called for legislative changes to help further tighten accounting standards and for the independence and transparency of the auditor oversight process. An energetic keynote speaker, Nesterenko has long been a cheerleader for women in business in Alberta, Canada and abroad. In October 2004, Nesterenko's represented the CGA in China, where the organization is offering its expertise to refine Chinese accounting practices. Nesterenko met with 27 women eager to crack the bamboo ceiling by becoming CGAs. In addition to her boardroom responsibilities, Nesterenko serves as vice-president of Alberta Computer Cables Inc., and lends her time to fundraising activities. Over the past 10 years, Nesterenko and her dedicated ACC employees have raised more than $200,000 for youth with disabilities. - AD

Two years ago the CGA announced initiatives to try and restore Canadian confidence in corporate accounting practices. What kind of progress has been made?
We made a submission to the Canadian Accounting Standards Board regarding its future direction. We urged the adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for Canada and the establishment of a set of differential reporting require--ments for the SME sector as positive measures to restore investor confidence. We are very pleased that the accounting standards board has endorsed the notion of bringing IFRS to Canada and has put that point of view out for broad public comment. This is a very important step in the right direction to improve investor confidence.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
I love Ralph Klein and I think he'll go down in the history books. But I'm going to pick Emily Murphy, who was the head of the Famous Five. She battled to have women recognized as persons, and was the first female police magistrate in Alberta, maybe Canada. Still, Ralph is my secret sweetie.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
I have to chuckle. I went and called my name up on Google, and I gave up after 18 hits. Then I thought a chapter in a history book. Well, you know, I sell books and I figure there won't be any books in 100 years, so it would have to be something on the internet. But I chose a footnote to great events.