Messy Breakup for Accountants?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Corporate Governance.

Description: It sounds like a bit of a messy breakup for Canada’s professional accountants. In June, the provincial bodies for Chartered Professional Accountants in both Ontario and Quebec informed the national umbrella organization, CPA Canada, that they were triggering the withdrawal mechanism that would see them leave in 18 months. Meanwhile though, six former chairs… Read more »

Musk Wants Twitter

Posted by & filed under Corporate Governance, Corporate Restructuring.

Description: Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, wants to buy his favourite social media company, Twitter. Musk already owns 9.1 percent of Twitter, and his “best and final” offer values the company at $43 billion, considerably higher than its current market capitalization. Corporate governance experts have mused that Musk may encounter obstacles as… Read more »

Blowing the Whistle

Posted by & filed under Corporate Governance.

Description: When Peter Cook, a former ‘franchise’ holder, took the Crown corporation NB Liquor to court over the awarding of a contract to a different store owner in the small town of Hartland, it was probably somewhat embarrassing for the government of New Brunswick, (the sole ‘shareholder’ of NB Liquor). But this past week allegations… Read more »

Rogers Out at Rogers

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance.

Description: An apparent power struggle is underway at Rogers Communications. This week the board removed Edward Rogers as chair, replacing him with John MacDonald, who has had a board seat for 12 years. Rogers, however, will maintain his place as a board member. He is also attempting to replace five board members with those who… Read more »

Financial misconduct ousts Nissan chair

Posted by & filed under Corporate Governance, Ethics.

Description:  Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been ousted for financial misconduct. This is shocking news for the man credited with turning the company around. The details of the investigation have not been made public, but one aspect seems to be a under reporting of Ghosn’s compensation. Ghosn has been arrested along with a Nissan director… Read more »

Fighting Corruption

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance.

Description: December 9 was International Anti-Corruption Day. The United Nations website tells us that each year $1 trillion is paid in bribes around the globe while thieves make off with $2.6 trillion stolen through various corrupt methods. These figures far outstrip the amount of development aid targeted to nations. Date: December 9, 2017 Source: un.org… Read more »

How do we change the culture?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Corporate Governance.

Description: This past week a study revealed that only 5% of Canadian tech companies have been founded by females. A similar 5% have a female CEO with females representing only 13% of the executive team. Further, 53% of these tech companies had no female executives. About a month ago, the Canadian Security Administrators released a… Read more »

Gambling on governance at ALC

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance.

Description: Cooperation between governments is a good thing. And in Atlantic Canada, the four provinces have cooperated for years as shareholders in one gambling organization, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC). This week, however, an audit report issued by the four auditors general of the Atlantic provinces concluded that the four provinces need to do a… Read more »

Corporate governance at MEC

Posted by & filed under Corporate Governance.

Description:  Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) has responded to concern from its members and scrapped certain criteria it had proposed for its board members. Given its role as a major retailer, MEC wanted board members who had governance or management experience in large and complex organizations. But this upset MEC’s members who appealed to the principle… Read more »

Voting power

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance.

Description: The Canadian federal government is on its way to giving shareholders increased power to vote against a board director. Under the rules right now, voters can only withhold a vote for a nominee they are unhappy with. This means, theoretically, that a “bad” director could be elected with a single vote if all other… Read more »