Thought Leaders

Thought Leaders

Trump’s push to shut down USAID shows how international development is also about strategic interests

A Canadian accounting professor explains that development relationships like USAID are shaped by both the interests of donors and those of the recipients.
Thought Leaders

What is the 90-year-old tax rule Trump could use to double US taxes on foreigners?

Like Canada, Australia created a digital tax that US President Trump could deem as discriminatory or extraterritorial, and subject to retaliatory tariffs
Thought Leaders

Why accountants should recognize the bias in accounting standards and use it to our advantage

Accounting standards have focused on the balance sheet, says Philip Maguire, CPA, CA, yet the effort to match book value to market value has been a failure
Thought Leaders

The carbon tax needs fixing, not axing — Canada needs a progressive carbon tax

A progressive tax that punished the wealthy for their outsized emissions would be more palatable than a flat steering tax that hurts low-income Canadians
Thought Leaders

Trump’s proposed tariffs against Canada and Mexico may be illegal, but that’s not the real problem

To integrate further through appeasement with a country that has rejected the rule of law would be to surrender Canadian sovereignty to the United States
Thought Leaders

The Big Four accounting firms often consult for the same clients they audit. Should that be allowed?

Accounting research shows that the Big Four, when engaged as compensation consultants, appear to uphold more rigorous standards than smaller counterparts
Thought Leaders

Cineplex’s $38.9 million fine is a wake-up call about corporate sustainability practices

Accounting professor Douglas A. Stuart asserts the Competition Bureau’s fine for drip pricing practices is just one example of sustainability mismanagement
Thought Leaders

Only the United States benefits from renegotiating the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal

Free trade deals with regular renegotiation requirements such as CUSMA put smaller economies under pressure to lose leverage and surrender policy autonomy
Thought Leaders

Churches don’t pay taxes. Should they?

Many Canadians don’t realize that religious properties are tax exempt, however, this privilege is increasingly being debated as organized religion recedes
Thought Leaders

The ‘tax-free trap’: How a simple phrase skews Canadians’ savings choices

Canadian taxpayers may be sacrificing long-term savings for short-term investments due to heuristic language that simplifies complex decisions
Thought Leaders

A Privilege Primer, Part III: Reconsidering accountants’ tax services as legal services

In the third of a three-part series on the Gaudreau case before the FCA in Quebec, Brian Studniberg of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP concludes his thoughts on situational forms of privilege between tax accountants and their clients
Thought Leaders

Election rumours invite reflections on Doug Ford’s record in Ontario

Reducing taxes and costs to businesses and consumers in the short term is raising questions about the Ontario government’s long term fiscal responsibility