Posts By: Brent White

Should You Tip the Robot?

Posted by & filed under Contemporary Business Issues.

Description: If you ordered from Pizza Hut in Vancouver, it could be that your eats were delivered by Angie, Hugo or Raja: three delivery robots. The robots were part of a two-week pilot project at only one location, but customers expressed a high satisfaction rate of 95%. In case you are wondering if someone could… Read more »

Suncor Keeping Petro-Canada

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis, Student life.

Description: After shopping around for potential buyers, Suncor has decided to keep, rather than sell, fuel retailer Petro-Canada. Suncor had been seeking a cash purchase price in the range of $3.8 billion to $5.7 billion. Though Petro-Canada has the largest market share in its class in Canada, no buyer was interested in paying the price…. Read more »

Financial Literacy

Posted by & filed under Student life.

Description: How financial literate do you feel you are? November was financial literacy month in Canada and some high schools in Canada are adding this important life-skill area to the curriculum. With the economic pressures facing Canadians, and the clear correlation between financial health and mental health, some observers are calling for mandatory financial literacy… Read more »

Six Unions; Only One Contract

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Student life.

Description: Workers at six Starbucks locations in Alberta and British Columbia have formed unions. But so far, only in one store in Victoria has the new union actually reached a collective agreement with management. Until that first contract is in place, union members do not pay dues. It will be interesting to watch ongoing developments… Read more »

Questionable Conduct at Laurentian

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Student life.

Description: In a special report on the Laurentian University financial crisis, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk showed that senior management at the school erred by declining government assistance and heading straight to bankruptcy. Lysyk found that the Laurentian senior management and board of governors relied on external advisors in opting for the bankruptcy route, rather… Read more »

Swift Rebuke

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Taylor Swift called it “excruciating.” That’s her take on the fiasco that saw frustrated fans struggling to secure tickets for her upcoming tour after waiting it out for hours. Swift and others see this as a signal that Ticketmaster – and its parent company Live Nation – are broken. Calls are emerging to investigate… Read more »

That’s a Big Fraud Doc!

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: An Alberta physician, Dr. Yifei Shi, has been convicted in what has been called the largest doctor billing fraud in the province’s history. In addition to a four-year prison term, Dr. Shi will have to repay $827,077 to the province. Dr. Shi will also face scrutiny from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of… Read more »

Insolvencies Up

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Student life.

Description: Insolvencies in Canada were up 22.5% over the same quarter last year. Statistics Canada said this was the largest year-over-year increase in 13 years. During the pandemic, a number of government programs seemed to have helped businesses and consumers to avoid this level of financial difficulty. But the rise of inflation, increasing interest rates,… Read more »