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Accountants have found that the internet has things like... online videos. The results are stunning. Rod Barr, the President and CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario delivers a going concern level of delicious snark in the first 25 seconds of this video . He says that we are having an important vote, and "apparently our webinar series is not capturing the excitement of this complex, impending change." He continues, "accordingly, we have to try something new. How about this?" Then the "typography"-ish music video kicks into gear through the magic of a glowing yellow orb that appears in his hand. Apparently senior CAs who become FCAs have magic powers that are poorly understood. Feel free to discuss this madness on ACS' facebook page while I figure out how to upgrade the commenting system here. The video is at 3496 views as of now - curious to see how viral it gets.
Subtle strike commentary? Perhaps I disagree with Post columnist Terence Corcoran when I read much of his work - so much so that I tend to avoid buying or reading the Post to avoid getting a nasty case of "I can't believe you said that, do you have life?" And yet, I can now forgive the last 100 times he's annoyed me after his spot on front page editorial piece in yesterday's Post : While the Mayor goes down in the media and with the public, union leaders chug relatively unscathed through their ritual assaults on taxpayers, good sense and rationality. Mark Ferguson, head of Toronto Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents garbage and other outside workers, turned up in a weekend Toronto Star profile as soft-hearted New Wave mystic. He reads works by the Dalai Lama and allegedly seeks to avoid confrontation in favour of fairness. What Mr. Ferguson also reads, however, is the same old union class-warfare texts that have animated union power...
The internet is full of lively conversations about Canada's proposed federal budget. @krisjoseph Tomorrow morn Jack Layton will pitch the burial of C Party leadership as a shovel-ready infrastructure project As with most parliamentary democracies, the government's budget must be approved by the elected officials in Parliament before it is accepted. If it is rejected - a risk in minority government scenarios such as the one Canada finds itself in - the government falls. The opposition can try to assemble a coalition government. Failing that, an election takes place. It must have been a little annoying to be a young CA tax professional with the thought in mind "this may never end up actually becoming the country's budget if the government falls tomorrow," while rushing to complete an astute summary of the budget to share with all the firm's clients and the general public. Knowing that everyone likes a little publicity, the firms promptly posted their highlights...
I just wrote a post inspired by an earlier article by Steve McIntyre-Smith, but that wasn't the only commentary on his writings I decided to prepare. I was also intrigued by his note regarding the fact that only 953 people, out of 2357 nationally, successfully passed the UFE in Ontario last year . He goes on to speculate about the demographic time bomb facing the profession. In the near future, the baby-boomer CAs are going retire. Steve, as are many, is worried that not enough students are joining the profession to fill their spots. He argues that current CAs should do more to "sell" the CA designation. When asked "what do you do?", they need something captivating to share with the listener, instead of just saying, "I'm a CA". Instead, saying something like "I make millionaires" through the work you do is more likely to grab people's attention. When speaking to junior staff, I myself have always liked to half-jokingly point out that...
I'm not really in the mood to argue. I mean, I've had some excellent food lately, which should really put anyone in a good mood. But I'm still shocked and appalled. And I really should've replied to the news that photography is banned from the station with a chilly, "what for?" You see, according to the best guess of the Montreal train station's security, I apparently must look like a terrorist. Wow, they should've seen me when I was all scruffy and bearded in university. One of my friends from back then thought I was a History, rather than a Commerce student, for that simple fact. This is the second time in two months that I've been witness to an instruction from security to stop taking photos in a government-owned facility. And it's so stupid I wish I got drop the hammer on someone the way America's Henry Waxman does two and a half minutes into this video . Waxman is understandably annoyed with the stonewalling he gets from the EPA about...
Last fall I was ready to write up a little article about the lack of glamorous in business travel. Well, then I got busy, put writing on hold, got to travel to Europe for a couple of weeks of work, and found the idea had shelved itself but quickly and quietly. Having said that, check out Gelato baby's account of a 36 hour trip home from Helsinki with an emergency stop in Glasgow to see how quickly things can go sour. It's a very amusing article. It also reveals how quickly travel can go wrong. All you need is one big missed flight to throw you for a loop. Which segues to the fact that it's been almost a year since my last vacation. It's about time to start planning the next one. This time it's going to be the West Coast. I'm not done going through the list of friends who have put down roots out there, but at the moment it's looking like I'll be able to see 15 or more people in 7 cities over a 10 day period. Wait, I just thought of another three. Make it...