Posts By: Brent White

Missing: $247 Million

Posted by & filed under Taxation.

Description: Canada’s new Auditor General, Karen Hogan, appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday to discuss her Office’s 2019 report on e-commerce. In a nutshell, transactions with foreign vendors are not being taxed correctly. Not only has this placed Canadian vendors at a disadvantage, it has cost our public purse $247 million. Date:  November… Read more »

Financial Literacy Month

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers.

Description: Did you know that November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada? This year marks the tenth anniversary. The Financial and Consumer Agency of Canada is co-sponsoring a November 19 event with the Canadian Bankers’ Association called It’s your money – Make it count!. The event is targeted towards students, so check it out at… Read more »

Employees as Owners

Posted by & filed under Marketing & Strategy.

Description: The Corona virus is just one of the things shaping the economy. Another factor is the sale of businesses by older entrepreneurs as they transition towards retirement. Jon Shell, a co-founder of SaveSmallBusiness.ca, argues that Canada should join Britain and the United States to create employee ownership trusts, a strategy to transfer businesses to… Read more »

Rental Market Switch

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Financial Accounting.

Description: The Toronto rental market is featuring an interesting switch in demand patterns. Younger renters were often prepared to put up with cramped apartments and high rents to live close to the action in the downtown. But with Covid-19 shutting down so much of the city’s social life in restaurants and bars, renters are heading… Read more »

How About This?

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Student life.

Description: An opinion piece in the Globe and Mail this past week offered that cutting student debt may be an excellent policy alternative for generating entrepreneurship in Canada. Over the past few decades, government support for higher education has declined. Combine this with higher tuition and it means students are graduating with higher debt loads…. Read more »

Nice Change for Humans

Posted by & filed under Corporate Social Responsibility.

Description: I guess those robots can’t really replace all the humans after all! Walmart has decided to fire its inventory robots. Real, live human beings can gather information on inventory as they stock items in the stores, allowing them to do at least as good of a job as the mechanical workers. Walmart’s CEO wondered… Read more »

Seven Lessons from Entrepreneurs

Posted by & filed under Marketing & Strategy.

Description: A paint store where the owner gets in trouble for taking a day off. A fitness equipment company with sales booming rather than tanking. A gym owner switching to online training. These – and four more – are stories of Canadian business owners dealing with Covid challenges since March. The seven were profiled by… Read more »

Time for a Code?

Posted by & filed under Ethics.

Description: Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois argues its time that the big Canadian grocery chains sign-on to an industry code of conduct. He offers this opinion in the light of a move by all the big grocers except Sobeys to place new fees on their suppliers who want access to their store shelves. Charlebois goes… Read more »

Now That is Nice

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Financial Statement Analysis.

Description: TD Bank is putting smiles on the faces of many of its employees with the news that 90,000 or so of them will be receiving a $500 bonus. This reward is to thank the employees for their extra efforts during the pandemic. TD’s CEO said “I am incredibly proud of your efforts to support… Read more »