Monthly Archives: March 2015

Job quality heading south

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Canadian Economy.

Description: More Canadians are becoming self-employed. And wages of those employed seem to be falling. A study by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce shows rather alarming trends in measures of job quality, looking at data from a 25 year span. Source: Globe and Mail.com Date:  March 5, 2015 Link:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/job-quality-in-canada-sinks-to-all-time-low-cibc-index-shows/article23303996/ Discussion Points: 1) How… Read more »

Costco beats Walmart

Posted by & filed under Accounting Theory, Corporate Strategy.

Description: Costco – the huge warehouse style retailer – beat Walmart and Target in sales growth in the most recent quarter. Costco was up over 8% versus about 1.5% for Walmart and 3.2% for Target. Perhaps in a bit of a surprise though, Costco shares fell about 0.1%. Source: Globe and Mail.com Date:  March 5,… Read more »

Not ready for hackers

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Auditing.

Description: A report released on Tuesday, February 24, by security firm FireEye showed that roughly 70 percent of companies suffering data breaches last year found out about it from someone outside the organization. Police agencies and customers, for example, may notify a company before anyone inside the organization realizes they have been hit by cyberattack…. Read more »

Can Canada afford it?

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Personal Tax.

Description: A report released by Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer is raising alarm regarding the government’s plan to double the limit on Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs). Both the federal government and the provinces would eventually be losing billions in revenue each year as a result of the changes. With aging populations, this raises serious questions… Read more »

Bay goes beyond retail

Posted by & filed under Advanced Accounting, Intermediate Accounting.

Description: Hudson’s Bay Company is going beyond the retail sales stream in an effort to add value to its business. The company announced it has entered into joint ventures, one with an American company and the other here in Canada, in an effort to cash in on value locked in its real estate assets. The… Read more »