Posts By: Brent White

Facebook Falling

Posted by & filed under eCommerce, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: The stock price of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has been tanking. On Thursday, the markets wiped out 20 percent of the big tech giant’s market valuation, following two quarter’s of revenue declines. Investors see former Facebook advertisers heading off to TikTok as one of Meta’s problems. Others see the billions of spending on the… Read more »

Price Freeze

Posted by & filed under Marketing & Strategy, Student life.

Description: Loblaw is freezing its prices on approximately 1,500 store-brand “No Name” products until 31 January 2023. Some experts are labeling the freeze as a publicity move, something to blunt public and political rhetoric around profiteering by grocery giants. Another grocery chain, Metro, followed suit by announcing its own price freeze shortly after Loblaw made… Read more »

Oil Shock

Posted by & filed under Student life.

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… Read more »

Netflix Light?

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Perhaps it will appeal to some customers in these inflationary times; Netflix is offering Canadians a reduced monthly rate of $5.99. The catch is you have to be willing to put up with about five minutes of ads each hour in exchange for your rate reduction. The move seems to fly in the face… Read more »

Who’s Watching?

Posted by & filed under Contemporary Business Issues, Ethics.

Description: Mackenzie Irwin of the firm Samfiru Tumarkin LLP in Toronto, practices in the area of employment law. Irwin observed that over the pandemic, with so many working remotely, some employers began tracking employee activity online, trying to sift out the YouTube time-wasting from the spreadsheet work. But starting Tuesday, the Working for Workers Act… Read more »

Have You Started Christmas Shopping Yet?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Canadian Economy, Risk management.

Description: Canadians are launching their Christmas shopping early this year, partially driven by an effort to beat higher prices due to inflation. An American survey indicates that 37% of that population plans to start earlier this year. Robert Domagala, a retail industry analyst, noted to Global News that “prudent shoppers are probably going to try… Read more »

User Security Concerns at Facebook

Posted by & filed under Data security, Internal control.

Description: On Friday Facebook’s parent company Meta announced that approximately 1 million of its users may have had their usernames and passwords stolen by hackers. Apps downloaded from Apple and Google appear to be the source of the problem, by permitting access to user information while disguising themselves as popular apps like fitness trackers and… Read more »

Get Ready for Fees

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Student life.

Description: Starting October 6, Canadian merchants are permitted to pass along credit card fees to consumers. In fact, Telus has already announced that it will do so. But retail watcher Bruce Winder said he does not see most restaurants and or retailers passing these fees along, fearing a possible customer backlash in an inflationary environment…. Read more »

Quiet Firing

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Financial Accounting.

Description: On September 6, this blog featured a post on the trend of quiet quitting. Now comes the flip side: quiet firing. Nita Chhinzer a professor at the University of Guelph, speaks of employers who make “the workplace such a difficult environment that the employee feels that they have no choice but to leave,” saving… Read more »