Wiley Accounting Updates

Posted October 31st, 2022 by Brent White & filed under eCommerce, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: The stock price of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has been tanking. On Thursday, the markets wiped out 20 percent of the big tech giant’s market valuation, following two quarter’s of revenue declines. Investors see former Facebook advertisers heading off to TikTok as one of Meta’s problems. Others see the billions of spending on the so-called metaverse initiative as a drain on Meta’s value.

Date: October 27, 2022

Source: cbc.ca

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/meta-facebook-zuckerberg-troubles-1.6631198

Discussion points:

1) What is your go-to social media application?

2) Do you think the metaverse strategy is a winning one for Meta?

3) Page 11-14 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses the dividend practices of Facebook. Has there been any change in this practice in the last year since the formation of Meta?

Posted October 24th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Marketing & Strategy, Student life.

Description: Loblaw is freezing its prices on approximately 1,500 store-brand “No Name” products until 31 January 2023. Some experts are labeling the freeze as a publicity move, something to blunt public and political rhetoric around profiteering by grocery giants. Another grocery chain, Metro, followed suit by announcing its own price freeze shortly after Loblaw made its announcement.

Date: October 18, 2022

Source: ctvnews.ca

Link: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/critics-call-loblaw-price-freeze-a-pr-move-as-grocers-face-accusations-of-profiteering-1.6113983

Discussion points:

1) Do you buy No Name products? How about your classmates?

2) What do you think of the opinion that this may have been a publicity move?

3) Page 5-1 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses Loblaw’s supply chain and inventory management. What percentage of Loblaw’s current assets does inventory represent?

Posted October 24th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Student life.

Description: When Canadians are thinking sticker shock on oil, they are usually thinking about gas prices rising for their automobiles. But if you have been watching your grocery order closely, you may have noticed vegetable oil, a staple supply for the cupboard, has been rising at quite a rate. Statistics Canada data shows a 3 litre container of vegetable oil that cost $8.45 last August was now up to $12.01 in August 2022. That’s an increase of over 40%.

Date: October 20, 2022

Source: cbc.ca

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-food-prices-inflation-vegetable-oil-1.6621673

Discussion points:

1) How many of your classmates have noticed this price hike in vegetable oil? Has it impacted your meal preparation?

2) What factors do you think are most likely to have caused the price trend?

3) Chapters 3 and 4 of Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach deal with the Risk Assessment Phase of a financial statement audit. What might be some examples of audit clients or auditees where risk could be impacted by a 40% increase in the price of vegetable oil?

Posted October 24th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Accounting Careers, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Elon Musk says that if he completes his planned acquisition of Twitter, then up to 75% of the employees could get their pink slips. Analyst Dan Ives stated that a 75 per cent cut in Twitter’s staff would create “stronger free cash flow and profitability,” both of which could attract investors to Musk’s deal. Of course, Ives tempered this view with the notion that “you can’t cut your way to growth.”

Date: October 21, 2022

Source: cbc.ca

Link:https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/elon-musk-twitter-1.6624859

Discussion points:

1) Are you a Twitter user? How many of your classmates use it regularly?

2) If you were an accountant working at Twitter, how would this news impact your morale?

3) Pages 14-20&21 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discuss the performance measure Free Cash Flow. How is this measure calculated?

Posted October 17th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Perhaps it will appeal to some customers in these inflationary times; Netflix is offering Canadians a reduced monthly rate of $5.99. The catch is you have to be willing to put up with about five minutes of ads each hour in exchange for your rate reduction. The move seems to fly in the face of Netflix’s previous claims that it would not resort to commercials, an approach it used to build its brand. The pressure from Wall Street to stem the loss of subscribers could explain the shift in policy.

Date: October 13, 2022

Source: thestar.com

Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/10/13/netflix-canada-launches-ad-supported-tier-for-599-on-nov-1.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a05&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email

Discussion points:

1) How many students in your class are Netflix subscribers?

2) Will this change impact whether or not you subscribe to Netflix? Do you think this is a good marketing decision?

3) The Accounting Matters inset box on page 11-19 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making details movements and stock splits in Netflix’s shares since the company made its first public offering in 2002 up until July 2015. As a class research project, track Netflix’s stock splits since 2015 and its current stock price.

Posted October 17th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Contemporary Business Issues, Ethics.

Description: Mackenzie Irwin of the firm Samfiru Tumarkin LLP in Toronto, practices in the area of employment law. Irwin observed that over the pandemic, with so many working remotely, some employers began tracking employee activity online, trying to sift out the YouTube time-wasting from the spreadsheet work. But starting Tuesday, the Working for Workers Act means employers in Ontario cannot watch their employees in secret any longer, perhaps unleashing significant morale issues in the workforce.

Date: October 11, 2022

Source: cbc.ca

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadians-workers-employers-tracking-1.6612228

Discussion points:

1) Do you know if your employer has ever used electronic monitoring on you?

2) How would you respond if you found out your employer was monitoring you this way?

3) On page 7-3 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making we see a discussion of how employers make cashiers accountable for their cash drawers by assigning responsibility, a widely-accepted technique for checking employees to ensure no money goes missing. Why would this technique of supervision be considered acceptable whereas many would protest about the notion that their employer could now tell when a co-worker is surfing online instead of working?

Posted October 17th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Accounting Careers, Canadian Economy, Risk management.

Description: Canadians are launching their Christmas shopping early this year, partially driven by an effort to beat higher prices due to inflation. An American survey indicates that 37% of that population plans to start earlier this year. Robert Domagala, a retail industry analyst, noted to Global News that “prudent shoppers are probably going to try to chip away at things,” to better handle cash flows. Another factor at play could be Canadians buying early to avoid supply chain disappointments we have heard about over and over again since the pandemic started.

Date: October 14, 2022

Source: globalnews.ca

Link: https://globalnews.ca/news/9200420/canadian-consumers-holiday-shopping/

Discussion points:

1) How do you organize your holiday shopping? How about your classmates?

2) If you were an accountant for a major retailer, what sort of challenges might an earlier start to the shopping season bring for you and your colleagues?

3) The vignette on page 5-1 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses changes in Loblaws’ supply chain over recent times. What might be some of the supply chain challenges and opportunities posed by Canadians starting this holiday shopping earlier this year?

Posted October 11th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Data security, Internal control.

Description: On Friday Facebook’s parent company Meta announced that approximately 1 million of its users may have had their usernames and passwords stolen by hackers. Apps downloaded from Apple and Google appear to be the source of the problem, by permitting access to user information while disguising themselves as popular apps like fitness trackers and games. Apple and Google responded by nixing the troublesome apps from their platforms while Facebook has provided its users with advice on how to avoid similar problems in the future.

Date: October 7, 2022

Source: thestar.com

Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/10/07/facebook-warns-1-million-users-about-stolen-usernames-passwords.html

Discussion points:

1) Have you ever been hacked? How about your classmates?

2) What are some habits you have adopted to improve your online security in the face of these skillful, but malicious, attempts to compromise your data security?

3) Starting on page 7-3 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making is a section on the five control activities most organizations employ. Which category includes user names and passwords?

Posted October 11th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Financial Accounting, Student life.

Description: Starting October 6, Canadian merchants are permitted to pass along credit card fees to consumers. In fact, Telus has already announced that it will do so. But retail watcher Bruce Winder said he does not see most restaurants and or retailers passing these fees along, fearing a possible customer backlash in an inflationary environment.

Date: October 5, 2022

Source: ctvnews.ca

Link: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadian-businesses-can-charge-credit-card-fees-starting-oct-6-1.6096370

Discussion points:

1) Have you (or any of your classmates) had to pay a transaction fee yet on your credit card?

2) How would a merchant account for these credit card fees? What might the journal entry look like?

3) On page 7-17 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making we read about service fees for processing debit and credit card transactions. What is the name of the largest Canadian payment processing business?

Posted October 11th, 2022 by Brent White & filed under Accounting Careers, Financial Accounting.

Description: On September 6, this blog featured a post on the trend of quiet quitting. Now comes the flip side: quiet firing. Nita Chhinzer a professor at the University of Guelph, speaks of employers who make “the workplace such a difficult environment that the employee feels that they have no choice but to leave,” saving the organization from the cost and unpleasantness of an outright dismissal. Techniques include micromanagement, exclusion from meetings, and scheduling fewer shifts for the employee. Lawyer Hermie Abraham explains that some of those quietly fired may have a legal claim under the principles of constructive dismissal, whereas others may not.

Date: October 8, 2022

Source: cbc.ca

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/quiet-firing-1.6609557

Discussion points:

1) Have you ever experienced quiet firing? If so, how did you respond under the circumstances?

2) If you were an accountant in an organization that wanted to pursue quiet firing, and your boss came to you asking for a cost comparison of quiet firing to traditional methods, how would you proceed?

3) The section “Payroll” starting on page 10-6 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making features a number of costs that employers must pay in addition to paying their employees’ earnings. What is the name given to this category of expense?