No Strike at No Frills

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Marketing & Strategy, Student life.

Description: A last minute deal has averted a strike at discount grocer No Frills. Union President Lana Payne said the new “agreement delivers pattern wages and many other improvements for our members.” An immediate raise of $1.50 an hour appears to be one of the gains. The union had noted that it has been a very profitable time for the grocery chain and that some of this profit needed to be shared with the labour force that helped earn it.

Date:  November 19, 2023

Source:  ctvnews.ca

 Link: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/strike-averted-at-17-no-frills-stores-in-ontario-1.6651532

Discussion points:

1) Do you and your classmates rely on discount grocers like No Frills?

2) Do you think that ongoing labour activity by groups like these No Frills employees, the Hollywood writers, the automaker unions, and the Starbucks red cup day walkouts seem to indicate a strengthening of labour’s power in the economy?

3) Page 5-1 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making introduces us to Loblaw Companies Limited and a number of its “food banners,” such as No Frills. What strategic advantage could the company be seeking in marketing its retail operations under more than one banner?

“Here is how platforms die” – The We Work Story

Posted by & filed under IPO, Marketing & Strategy, Risk management.

Description: Like a number of other highly-hyped organizations, We Work, a company that was supposed to reinvent the office by giving temporary space to the workforce, has failed. We Work tallied up $16 billion in losses since introducing its first location in New York in 2010. John Andrew, a real estate consultant, said that “They were up to their eyeballs in debt, and then we know what happened with interest rates.” Tech writer and sci-fi novelist Cory Doctorow has seen this show before, describing tech hype ending in disappointment as “Here is how platforms die.”

Date:  November 19, 2023

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/armstrong-start-ups-wework-uber-1.7032264

Discussion points:

1) As pointed out by Cory Doctorow, have you or your classmates ever felt abused as a user of a new platform that did not live up to its promise?

2) As suggested by John Andrew, do you think a company like We Work might actually have a path to success in the post-pandemic world?

3) Page 11-7 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses the concept of the IPO – Initial Public Offering. What journal entry does a company make to record the issue of shares through an IPO?

A Good Year for the Wealthy

Posted by & filed under Canadian Economy, Canadian Government.

Description: According to Statistics Canada, 2021 was a good year for the wealthy. Canada’s top 1% of income earners saw their incomes go up by 9.4% that year, with the top 0.1% doing even better with an increase of 17.4%, pushing them to an average of nearly $2.1 million. Statistics Canada noted similar increases were seen following the financial crisis of 2008.

Date:  November 13, 2023

Source:  thestar.com

 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/canadas-richest-1-saw-largest-leap-in-annual-income-in-years-while-lower-earners-wages/article_2f9dc18a-d812-5cf1-b6a9-565dcce174e6.html?source=newsletter&utm_email=760BE779956395955CFBBA5C497D22A3

Discussion points:

1) Were you aware of these income trends?

2) Do you see these type of trends as a potential point of concern in a democracy?

3) Page 1-5 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making introduces us to the role of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Do you think the CRA could have a role in providing the Canadian citizens with more understanding regarding top income earners and the sources of their income?

International Accounting Day

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, International Accounting.

Description: Friday, November 10, was International Accounting Day. For a discipline that is used to operating out of the limelight, this is one day of the year that focuses on what exactly it is that accountants do. Accounting can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia. International Accounting Day comes from the anniversary of the publication of a 15th century seminal work on accounting.

Date:  November 10, 2023

Source:  livemint.com

 Link: https://www.livemint.com/news/international-accounting-day-know-history-significance-and-relevance-of-accountants-contribution-to-business-economy-11699579735402.html

Discussion points:

1) Are you interested in a career in accounting?

2) The article tells us a bit about the history of accounting. Do you think accounting courses should have more of a historical dimension?

3) Page 2-21 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses the work of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). What is the job of the IASB?

Canadian Tire Layoffs

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Student life.

Description: It’s hard to figure out what’s going on these days in the job market. One day, restaurants and retailers are jamming their windows with help wanted signs. Then, you turn around and find retail giant Canadian Tire is laying off three percent of its workforce, citing declines in business as prompting the move. Reports say job postings for Christmas season jobs, a normally vibrant time in the retail business, are down 30 percent this year.

Date:  November 9, 2023

Source:  ctvnews.ca

 Link: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/analysts-warn-more-companies-will-layoff-staff-as-canadian-tire-cuts-employees-1.6638732

Discussion points:

1) Have you ever had a Christmas season retail job during your time at university?

2) Do you see a lot of job postings or help wanted signs in your university town?

3) Page 8.1 of Wiley’s Understanding Financial Accounting discusses Canadian Tire’s long-term assets. What intangible assets are owned by Canadian Tire?

Giving With Impact

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Student life.

Description: According to Canada Helps, Canadians make 30% of their charitable donations in December. A survey by AFP Foundation for Philanthropy found that Canadians would give more if they were better informed around the impacts that their donations help achieve. Brad Offman, CEO at an organization that provides consulting services to charities, says that “there’s no definitive answer to (measuring impact).” Offman notes that assuming low administration costs equals high impact is not valid.

Date:  November 6, 2023

Source:  thestar.com

 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/personal-finance/is-the-money-you-donate-to-charity-being-used-the-way-you-think-how-to/article_4639b4c3-4b91-5e8a-aa85-f76ce0f0bec0.html?source=newsletter&utm_email=760BE779956395955CFBBA5C497D22A3

Discussion points:

1) How many of your classmates make charitable donations each year?

2) Do you have any personal selection criteria for making charitable donations?

3) Page 7-27 of Wiley’s Understanding Financial Accounting discusses some of the work of the Daily Bread Food Bank. If you were a financial officer or a board member at this food bank, what might be some of the things you would recommend the organization use to measure its impact?

Sam Bankman-Fried Guilty

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of fraud for his actions around cryptocurrency company FTX. The jury deliberated for three days after a trial that lasted about a month. U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon characterized Bankman-Fried as using customers money as a “personal piggy bank.” For his part, Bankman-Fried testified in his own defence that he did not commit fraud.

Date:  November 2, 2023

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bankman-fried-convicted-1.7017241

Discussion points:

1) Have you or any of your classmates invested in a cryptocurrency? If so, how was your experience?

2) Have you ever been the victim of a fraud?

3) Illustration 7.2 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses the fraud triangle. What are the three factors present in the fraud triangle?

A Costly Internal Control Lapse

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Accounting Principles, Student life.

Description: The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has reached an $8 million settlement that will see it pay out this total, split among three different securities regulators. The Ontario Securities Commission Capital Markets Tribunal approved the settlement for RBC’s control weaknesses in differentiating between capital and operating expenditures in software development. RBC offered that the control deficiencies have been corrected.

Date:  November 3, 2023

Source:  winnipegfreepress.com

 Link: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/2023/11/03/osc-tribunal-approves-10m-settlement-over-rbc-accounting-practices

Discussion points:

1) Which bank seems to be the most widely used by you and your classmates?

2) Though the article does not have a lot of detail, what do you think may have caused this problem?

3) Pages 9-3 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making discusses the difference between operating and capital expenditures. How would explain the difference to a friend who was not studying accounting?

Big Fine for Deloitte

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Auditing, Ethics.

Description: In what could be described as somewhat of an embarrassment, Big Four audit firm Deloitte has been fined $1.59 million by CPA Ontario, the governing body for the accounting profession in that province. Deloitte’s problem was that some employees engaged in “deliberate backdating” of audit working papers on close to 40 audits. Somehow the auditors were able to work around the software controls to backdate work to make it appear it was performed or reviewed earlier than in reality. CPA Ontario said “Backdating obscures when and what work was performed and reviewed,” creating “questions about the accuracy or timeliness of audit documentation and the quality of the audit.”

Date:  November 2, 2023

Source:  thestar.com

 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/deloitte-fined-1-59-million-by-ontario-regulator-after-some-employees-altered-computer-clocks-to/article_561fe53c-f68b-5089-9e46-fc7f533e2d2f.html?source=newsletter&utm_email=760BE779956395955CFBBA5C497D22A3

Discussion points:

1) As someone studying accounting, how might this story impact your choice of employer after graduation?

2) The story tells us Deloitte became aware of the problem in March 2018, reported it to CPA Ontario in September 2019, and reached the settlement last week. What opinion do you have on this timeline?

3) Pages 10-10 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making mentions Deloitte in the Analytics Mindset inset box. What does this section tell us regarding Deloitte?

Students Failing on Online Security

Posted by & filed under Data security, Internal control, Student life.

Description: If online security were a university course, many Canadian post-secondary students would have a failing grade, at least according to survey results from RBC’s Students and Fraud Poll. Eighty percent of the students admit to vulnerabilities, including 28% who had shared their passwords on debit and credit cards. With fraudsters becoming more resourceful, it’s time for students to step up by improving their own security measures.

Date:  October 23, 2023

Source:  thestar.com

 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/canadian-students-receive-failing-grade-for-fraud-prevention-and-sharing-passwords-new-survey-finds/article_43d5b7ce-c18c-52bf-970e-4439cf076138.html?source=newsletter&utm_email=760BE779956395955CFBBA5C497D22A3

Discussion points:

1) Have you or your classmates ever been scammed in regard to your own banking information?

2) What tips do you have for protecting your cards, bank apps, and other important elements of your own financial life?

3) Illustrations 7.3 and 7.4 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making show us control activities over cash receipts and cash disbursements? Which of these do you think can be adopted by students in looking after their own cash?