Description: New Brunswick forestry companies are being hit with a duty of almost 21% on softwood lumber exports to the United States following a decision by  the U.S. Commerce Department. It appears some parts of the forestry industry are blaming New Brunswick’s Auditor General for their misfortune, noting that the U.S. government relied on Kim MacPherson’s 2015 report in making this decision. While forest companies are calling for more study to dispute the AG’s reports on New Brunswick’s market for Crown wood, private woodlot owners are saying the problem is that the government has not implemented the Auditor General’s recommendations.

Date: November 3, 2017

Source: cbc.ca

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/jdi-softwood-lumber-duties-response-1.4386537

Discussion Points:

1) Why has New Brunswick been hit with these duties while the neighboring Maritime provinces have not?

2)  Do you think that a study disputing the Auditor General’s findings would undermine confidence in the Office of the Auditor General?

3)  On page 284 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making you can see problem P5-10A dealing with various financial statement numbers of a major forestry company, Canfor Limited. How would the financial statement numbers presented in that problem be impacted by a duty similar to the one imposed on New Brunswick’s forestry companies?