Contemporary Business Issues | Wiley Accounting Updates

Last friend standing at Blackberry

Posted 6:54 am by Brent White & filed under Corporate Restructuring, Succession Planning.

Description: This past week, Dan Dodge, the last member of the current Blackberry executive team with close ties to the pioneering Mike Lazaridis, announced he was leaving the company. Dodge was known to be a science and tech lover, just like Blackberry co-founder Mike Lazaridis. It will be interesting to see how Dodge’s departure impacts… Read more »

Pension takes off

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Theory, Advanced Accounting, Contemporary Business Issues.

Description: This past week Air Canada announced that it is raised retierment compensation for its CEO, Calin Rovinescu. The amount of his pension at $791,300 will be close to double its previous amount and is conditional on remaining with the airline for another three years. Unifor, the union that represents the Air Canada customer service… Read more »

Pension funds say on pay

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Theory, Contemporary Business Issues, Executive Compensation.

Description: Three major pension funds are ready to throw out the board of Barrick Gold because they are concerned about the company’s executive pay plan. One of the three pension funds also expressed concerns about pay practices at CIBC. Although these funds are only minority shareholders, their public statements may raise important points regarding concerns… Read more »

Jones Soda and the Seahawks

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Careers, Corporate Strategy, Succession Planning.

Description: Jones Soda is a small soft drink company compared to the giants Coke and Pepsi. But Jones is using its unique location – across the street from the home field of the Seattle Seahawks – as a marketing advantage, sending along its promotional RV to the Super Bowl in Arizona. There Jones Soda continues… Read more »

High frequency trader charged

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & 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 »

Holstein hero

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Principles, Contemporary Business Issues.

Description: Rosafe Signet is sort of a household name in Cuba, but he is barely known in his Canadian home. This prize Holstein bull is the father of much of Cuba’s dairy herd. Now, with President Obama’s warming of relations towards Cuba, and the actions of a determined Vancouver attorney named Carey Linde fronting the… Read more »

Uber valuation soars

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Canadian governments, Contemporary Business Issues, eCommerce.

Description: Have you ever hitched a ride using Uber? The operations of this ride sharing service are proving disruptive to traditional taxi operations in major cities in over 50 countries. Now, Uber has raised an additional $1.2 billion in capital to fuel foreign expansion. This latest round of investment values Uber at over $40 billion…. Read more »

Harnessing highest tides

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Principles, Contemporary Business Issues, Managerial Accounting.

Description: A 10 tonne turbine – worth multi-millions of dollars- was disabled in three weeks in an attempt to test the electricity generating potential of the Fundy tides. But the Irish company, Open Hydro, is back to the Bay of Fundy again in its ongoing efforts to harness the this possible generation opportunity. Some experts… Read more »

Big banks busted

Posted 6:55 am by Brent White & filed under Advanced Accounting, Contemporary Business Issues, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility.

Description: Following on the heels of the Libor scandal (in which banks were found out for manipulating short term interest rates), on Wednesday documents disclosed that six large banks were fined $4.3 billion (yes, that’s billion with a “B”) for manipulating the foreign exchange market. Additional fines and civil suits could keep this nasty story… Read more »

Canadian companies; US politics

Posted 7:00 am by Brent White & filed under Accounting Principles, Auditing, Contemporary Business Issues.

Description: Following a 2010 US Supreme Court decision, Canadian companies have joined with their US counterparts, directing funds towards lobbying and political financing. Large organizations such as Power Corp, RBC, Encana and Barrick Gold have entered the field. The Shareholders Association for Research & Education (SHARE) has raised some serious questions of accountability regarding this political… Read more »