Description: When Canadians are thinking sticker shock on oil, they are usually thinking about gas prices rising for their automobiles. But if you have been watching your grocery order closely, you may have noticed vegetable oil, a staple supply for the cupboard, has been rising at quite a rate. Statistics Canada data shows a 3 litre container of vegetable oil that cost $8.45 last August was now up to $12.01 in August 2022. That’s an increase of over 40%.

Date: October 20, 2022

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-food-prices-inflation-vegetable-oil-1.6621673

Discussion points:

1) How many of your classmates have noticed this price hike in vegetable oil? Has it impacted your meal preparation?

2) What factors do you think are most likely to have caused the price trend?

3) Chapters 3 and 4 of Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach deal with the Risk Assessment Phase of a financial statement audit. What might be some examples of audit clients or auditees where risk could be impacted by a 40% increase in the price of vegetable oil?