Posts By: Brent White

Disappointment on Target

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Marketing & Strategy, MD&A.

Description: Target began its liquidation of inventory in its Canadian stores this past week. And it seems that in some respects the retailer which disappointed Canadians is continuing to disappoint in its exit from the country. Empty shelves and slim discounts were on the minds of shoppers. One shopper told the Globe and Mail that… Read more »

Google cost control

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Uncategorized.

Description: Googles latest results have fallen short of analyst projections. Both revenue and profit were below expectations. One issue noted was that Google’s operating expenses had increased by 35% from the previous year, perhaps due to some projects outside the core business, such as the so-called driverless car project. Source: Globe and Mail.com Date:  January 29, 2015… Read more »

Modernizing shareholder governance

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance, Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Last Thursday Canadian Securities Administrators labelled the shareholders’ voting system in Canada “antiquated and fragmented”. This “antiquated and fragmented” approach has lead to miscounts in votes by shareholders at corporate meetings, generating complaints that more votes are cast than the number of outstanding shares in the company. Handling of proxy votes appears to be… Read more »

Protecting public assets

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Canadian governments, Public Finance.

Description: On January 22, New Brunswick’s Auditor General, Kim MacPherson, released her report for 2014. Two issues which grabbed a lot of attention were the Province’s increasing public debt and NB Power’s refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station. Another important issue raised was the deteriorating state of the Province’s public assets, and the… Read more »

The big 80

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Corporate Social Responsibility, Taxation.

Description: The charitable organization Oxfam released a report last week, adding another voice to the chorus of those raising alarm bells on rising global inequality. Oxfam’s report says that the richest 80 people in the world own as much as the 3.5 billion humans at the bottom of the economic scale. Oxfam calls for a… Read more »

A long-running dispute

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Auditing.

Description: It has been dragging on for over 20 years. But now, a $220 million offer from Coopers and Lybrand, Chartered Accountants, has been put forward to take care of all claims resulting from the failure of Castor Holdings in 1992. Coopers Lybrand, which subsequently merged with Price Waterhouse, was the auditor of Castor Holdings,… Read more »

High frequency trader charged

Posted by & filed under Contemporary Business Issues, Ethics.

Description: A Canadian has been arrested in Florida for his alleged involvement in a high-frequency trading scheme. Allegations suggest that the Canadian trader used a plan known as layering or spoofing to impact share prices. It appears that the scheme was detected when the trader approached an employee of a bank in an attempt to… Read more »

Financing public infrastructure

Posted by & filed under Advanced Accounting, Public Finance.

Description: On Tuesday, January 13, the Quebec government announced that the provincial pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, would make a $5 billion investment in the province’s transportation network. The pension fund will provide both the financing and the management for these assets. This mixing of political and pension goals may… Read more »