Description: Job gains announced last week were three times higher than expected. Statistics Canada was way off on its call of quarterly results for Gross Domestic Product. If Covid-19 hadn’t already thrown enough curve balls already, now you can include the notion that the economic results are even confusing the economists. The deputy chief economist at CIBC, Benjamin Tal, noted “My head is spinning, too. . . . we’ve never seen anything like this.”

Date:  December 5, 2020

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/bsiness/economy-covid-economists-numbers-1.5829332

Discussion points:

1) Have you been confused about the economic news too? What did you learn from reading this article?

2) Have you been discussing any of these factors in your classes as part of your studies?

3) In Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach we learn a number of important things to consider in planning an audit. Chapter 3, (page 3-10 ), tells us “when gaining an understanding of a client, an auditor assesses how economy-level factors affect the client.” How might audit planning be affected in the midst of the pandemic?