Description: Around the world, governments, medical authorities, and scientists have been organizing responses to the COVID-19 virus. The response to the crisis is tapping into human resourcefulness and inventiveness. Yet economists are asking what is it that keeps us from being better prepared for such a crisis, one that epidemiologists had warned about? Something economists… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Accounting Theory
Still cleaning up
Description: Greenpeace is still out there cleaning up beaches as part of its annual survey of Canadian litter leaders. Once again, Tim Hortons and Nestle are leading – if one can call it that – the race as the top plastic polluter. Perhaps not surprisingly, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Coca-Cola are in the top five as… Read more »
The other two teams at the Super Bowl
Description: While the Patriots and the Rams draw the focus for the Super Bowl in Atlanta, take a moment to consider another big contest that has been playing out all week: Coke versus Pepsi. Pepsi is an official Super Bowl sponsor, so it should normally get all the attention inside the zone surrounding the Super… Read more »
Worth remembering
Description: On December 6, many gathered in Halifax for a special ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion. On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in Halifax harbour. One of them, heavily loaded with munitions, caught fire and soon exploded, leveling neighborhoods, killing approximately 2,000 people, and injuring many more. Professor Jack Rozdilsky… Read more »
How about those Bombardier bonuses?
Description: In an intriguing display of public outrage, approximately 200 protestors gathered outside Bombardier headquarters in Montreal to decry the bonuses granted to company executives while taxpayers have been bailing out the company. With both the federal and provincial governments kicking in over a billion dollars, citizens were outraged that the company opened up the… Read more »
GlaxoSmithKline pays female CEO less
Description: Emma Walmsley is the first female CEO for giant pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKlein. A story from Bloomberg News this past week indicated that Ms. Walmsley would be earning less than her predecessor Andrew Witty. This compensation difference may add to the debate on pay equity, though observers point out that when he started, Mr. Witty… Read more »
Nice work if you can get it!
Description: It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that CEOs are well compensated. But did you realize that shortly before noon hour on January 3, the second work day of the year, the CEOs at the top rung in Canada will have earned more than the average Canadian worker will earn for all… Read more »
Harris painting hits new heights
Description: This week art markets saw a new record auction price for a Canadian painting. Lawren Harris’s 1926 work, Mountain Forms, attracted a winning bid of $11.2 million, far more than the anticipated $3 million to $5 million. The buyer remains anonymous. Date: November 24, 2016 Source: cbc.ca Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/lawren-harris-mountain-forms-auction-1.3864470 Discussion Points: 1) The… Read more »
Shareholder pressure up; salaries down
Description: With shareholder pressure on the uptick, the latest survey of salaries among Canadian bank executives shows that overall compensation is down. Board’s may be looking at performance benchmarks more closely, accounting for some of the reduction in salary. But it is possible that the fact that four of the five CEO’s at the largest… Read more »
That’s quite a pay cut
Description: This past week we learned Barrick Gold executive chairman John Thornton earned just a little over $3 million for 2015. That doesn’t sound too bad, until you read that the year before Thornton was awarded almost $13 million, with almost $9.5 million coming from incentives. Barrick Gold drew the attention of three major pension… Read more »