Friday News Roundup 21.07.30: Supreme Court on Atcon, ISSB pitch, MNP embrace and more

Wrapping up the odds and ends in this week’s Canadian accounting news

Jul 31, 2021 Author: Canadian Accountant

TORONTO, July 30, 2021 – How much tax revenue may be lost in the next three to four months, asks Allan Lanthier in the Financial Post, before new rules on intergenerational family business transfers take effect, but it will certainly be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Canadian Accountant has covered the evolution of Bill C-208 extensively, but if you’re still hungry for more, check out part two of a two-part series by Lanthier in Finances of the Nation, then join us for the odds and ends from the world of Canadian accounting:

Supreme Court steamrolls Grant Thornton New Brunswick lawsuit

By a vote of 7-0, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled this past week that New Brunswick cannot sue accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP, over an allegedly flawed audit of a company called Atcon. The majority ruling concluded the province did not file its claim against Grant Thornton within the allowable time limit of two years set out in provincial law.

Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michael Moldaver stated that it was not making a finding on whether Grant Thornton was actually negligent. The province should have known by 2011 whether it “had sufficient knowledge to draw a plausible inference that Grant Thornton had been negligent.” The province (under the leadership of Conservative David Alward) made a formal complaint to the New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2012 but did not launch its lawsuit until June 2014, three months before it lost the next election.

Could Canada house the new International Sustainability Standards Board?

The Government of Canada has formally submitted a Canadian offer letter to the IFRS Foundation to host the global headquarters for the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). CPA Canada is psyched about the possibility:

"Our country has a solid track record of working with global institutions on sustainability and standard setting, including the IFRS Foundation," explains Charles-Antoine St-Jean, president and CEO, CPA Canada. "Our standard setters are respected internationally and their knowledge and expertise are continually in demand."

MNP LLP gets locked in a Digital Embrace

Canadian accounting firms continue to scoop up technology companies. MNP has added to its technology portfolio by “merging” with Digital Embrace, which is based in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The company specializes in “tailored solutions” through the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform.

Hold on tight to your receipts. Better still, get an accountant.

In Always keep your receipts — the CRA tells its auditors not to believe you without them, Jamie Golombek points out the importance of keeping tax receipts, since Canada Revenue Agency and its own audit manual tells auditors to “disallow the expense unless there is other satisfactory audit evidence to support the amount claimed.” This is the kind of article that CPAs should print off for their clients—or link to in their newsletter.