Monthly Archives: October 2015

Tax changes coming?

Posted by & filed under Canadian governments, Personal Tax.

Description: Canadians are anticipating some personal income tax changes following Justin Trudeau’s election victory on October 19. The Prime Minister designate campaigned on a platform of tax breaks for the middle class while stating his intention to raise the rates of the highest income earners. All this has prompted New Brunswick’s Finance Minister, Roger Melanson,… Read more »

Dell buys big

Posted by & filed under Advanced Accounting, Cloud computing, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Computer maker Dell  is buying in big to the data storage business with a $67 billion takeover of EMC Corp. With the computer market stagnating, this move is seen as one which opens doors for Dell to participate in the expanding market for cloud services. The market’s initial reaction has been lukewarm to this… Read more »

MEC changes gears

Posted by & filed under Contemporary Business Issues, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility.

Description: Mountain Equipment Co-op, better known perhaps by its signature letters MEC, is a much admired Canadian co-operative. Members can still join for simply putting down $5 for a share. But recently some members have been concerned that MEC seems to be shifting its governance profile to be more corporate like, meaning that some members… Read more »

Big banks cut costs

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Managerial Accounting.

Description: TD Bank, CIBC, the National Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia, all representatives of a highly profitable Canadian banking sector, all appear to be in a cost-cutting mode. One of TD’s moves will be to shrink its branch footprint through amalgamations and closures of branches. But TD is also proposing shrinking the actual… Read more »

Cashiers out in the cold

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Fraud, Internal control.

Description: Apparently it was cheaper for the organization running the rink where the Edmonton Oilers play hockey to fire all the parking lot cashiers rather than track down which cashiers had been stealing parking fees. Investigations this past summer caused management at Northlands to conclude that they were losing about 20% of the possible revenue… Read more »

Chip Wilson speaks out

Posted by & filed under Accounting Theory, Managerial Accounting.

Description:  Ousted Lululemon Chair, Chip Wilson, had some things to say about the company he founded.  The clothing company has been facing pressure from rivals such as Under Armour, pressures which had driven down Lululemon’s market value in recent months. Wilson remarked that while Under Armour has about three times the market value of Lululemon,… Read more »

Real estate loophole

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Taxation.

Description: The BC government has stated it intends to crack down on a tax loophole that appears to be allowing foreign investors to escape paying property transfer taxes in a red-hot real estate market. An investigation by the Globe and Mail revealed the disturbing news that some foreign investors were using trusts or transferring property… Read more »

Tax changes coming?

Posted by & filed under Canadian governments, Personal Tax.

Description: Canadians are anticipating some personal income tax changes following Justin Trudeau’s election victory on October 19. The Prime Minister designate campaigned on a platform of tax breaks for the middle class while stating his intention to raise the rates of the highest income earners. All this has prompted New Brunswick’s Finance Minister, Roger Melanson,… Read more »