Posts By: Brent White

Those $68 Mittens!

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

Description: Some Canadians are more than a bit shocked at the $68 sticker price on Lululemon’s Canadian Olympic Team winter mittens. Long gone are the $10 mittens offered to souvenir seekers by Hudsons Bay Company at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. But defenders of this year’s Olympic gear say Lululemon is offering a higher quality… Read more »

Truck Snarls

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Managerial Accounting.

Description: You’ve seen the trucks on Parliament Hill. Now the protests have spread to the Ambassador Bridge connecting Canada and the United States at Windsor. With $300 million in international trade crossing this bridge every day, Canadians across the country are beginning to feel the impacts of this Ambassador shutdown. Auto manufacturers have already reduced… Read more »

1.42 Billion Chicken Wings

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Student life.

Description: 1.42 Billion Chicken Wings: that’s a whole lot of chicken projected to be eaten in the United States on Super Bowl Sunday. Though prices are up over last year, the good news from the National Chicken Council (NCC) is that there are no fears of a wing shortage, unlike the situation accompanying last year’s… Read more »

Will the Subsidies End?

Posted by & filed under Marketing & Strategy.

Description: Have you ever wondered how an Uber ride can be so much cheaper than a taxi? Or how Netflix has fostered a creative war that seems like a boon for binge-watching? Or why Amazon really doesn’t make all that much money despite its massive footprint in our lives? These companies, and others such as… Read more »

$200 Billion Wipeout!

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting.

Description: Meta – that company you probably still think of as Facebook – scared off investors this week, with projections of weakening revenues and higher costs. The market quickly cast its verdict, driving the market value of Meta down $200 billion. It appears that the metaverse might be a costly venture. Analyst Debra Aho Williamson… Read more »

Blackberry’s Rich Patents

Posted by & filed under Data security, Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Blackberry has announced the sales of the bulk of its remaining patents related to its communications technology. Catapault IP Innovations has purchased this intellectual property for $600 million in a combination of cash and promissory notes. As Blackberry has moved itself from a mobile device company to a cybersecurity business, fans of the legendary… Read more »

Good Times for Job Hunters

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers.

Description: The Canadian economy continues to provide opportunity for job seekers. According to Statistics Canada, January showed 874,000 job openings. This number is down a bit from September, but still a very favourable statistic for potential employees. The Bank of Canada has stressed that the positive job market trend is one reason it is considering… Read more »

Auto-file for Tax Returns?

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Personal Tax.

Description: The C.D. Howe Institute released a report last week questioning the very idea that most Canadians should have to file an annual income tax return with the federal government. The report, Automatic Tax Filing: A Challenging Idea for Canada, compared our Canadian tax system to those of other OECD nations, looking at the feasibility… Read more »

Gas Going Up

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Canadian Economy, Student life.

Description: It keeps on going. Going up that is: the price of gasoline. You are probably among the many Canadians giving a second look at the price on the pump when you’ve been filling your vehicle with fuel. Though gas prices dropped to almost ridiculous lows in the early shutdown phase of the pandemic, prices… Read more »