Wells Fargo Woes

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Corporate Governance.

Description: Not too many people would  have wanted to be in the shoes of  Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf last week as he faced a grilling from US politicians over his bank’s tactics.  Employees had been accused of opening customer accounts without their clients’ knowledge in an effort to meet sales targets. In cases, Stumpf conceded,… Read more »

MEC changes gears

Posted by & filed under Contemporary Business Issues, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility.

Description: Mountain Equipment Co-op, better known perhaps by its signature letters MEC, is a much admired Canadian co-operative. Members can still join for simply putting down $5 for a share. But recently some members have been concerned that MEC seems to be shifting its governance profile to be more corporate like, meaning that some members… Read more »

Chip Wilson Exits

Posted by & filed under Corporate Governance, Ethics.

Description: This past week, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson left the board of the popular clothing retailer. Wilson has joined the a competitor clothing company founded by Shannon, his wife, and J.J., his son. This new company, Kit and Ace, appears set to compete with Lululemon in the high-end clothing market. Source: Globe and Mail.com Date: … 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 »

Big banks busted

Posted by & 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 »

Having their say on pay

Posted by & filed under Accounting Theory, Advanced Accounting, Corporate Governance, Executive Compensation.

Description: Shareholders are beginning to flex a bit more muscle in Canada when it comes to executive compensation. In short, a recent survey of shareholder voting at some of Canada’s largest companies shows that voters may be aligning executive pay with return to shareholders. Source: Globe and Mail.com Date: September 7, 2014, last updated September… Read more »