Friday News Roundup 21.06.18: G7 tax deal, PwC equations, firing a future CPA and more

TORONTO, June 18, 2021 – Our weekly roundup of the odds and ends from the world of Canadian accounting begins with an editorial from the Globe and Mail, Hitting ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ on the world’s biggest corporate tax loophole, following the announcement last week of a G7 deal on a corporate minimum tax. For a refreshingly cynical take on the same subject, we recommend G7 tax deal: if you think multinationals will be forced to pay more, you don’t understand tax avoidance, published on Canadian Accountant. 

And, in Friday News Roundup from June 4th, we also reported on a major shakeup at the PCAOB, which will likely have ramifications in Canada. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, it appears that the SEC Investigating Former Chair of Auditing Industry Regulator over his handling of internal complaints. 

The New Equation at PwC equals tech … and trust

PricewaterhouseCoopers launched a major public relations push this past week called The New Equation. There’s a lot to dissect here, so we recommend reading more and forming your own opinions, but we’ll do our best to summarize… 

A “landmark global strategy.” A ton of money invested over the next five years to create jobs at PwC, including in Canada. The restructuring of the US firm into two business segments, combining PwC’s assurance and tax reporting practices into a new “Trust Solutions” segment, and setting up a “Consulting Solutions” segment with a focus on technology, cybersecurity, business deals and more. 

A few thoughts. We’ve written before about the success of Deloitte and its pivot to digital. The word “technology” is mentioned 20 times in the press release. “Trust” is mentioned 14 times. The word “tax” is mentioned twice, “audit” four times. Going Concern has its usual fun with the Big Four, saying this is all about recruitment. It’s also possible to see PwC being proactive in separating its business units following the regulatory reform calls in the UK. 

As part of the big announcement, PwC Canada announced an investment of CA$125 million for FY22, which will focus on building PwC's human-led and tech-powered strategy in Canada. More information can be found at www.TheNewEquation.com. 

Beware of firing aspiring accountants

Labour Lawyer Howard Levitt had an interesting column in the Financial Post about a recent ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Basically, an articling student fired by a law firm (wrongfully, as it turned out), successfully sued the firm. The judge in the case awarded the student compensation based on the wages she would have made if she had been called to the bar. 

As Levitt suggests, the case sets a precedent for any aspiring professional, including accountants, who may have been fired from an accounting firm, for example. We recommend reading the article, of course, but think of the rumours that abounded during the early days of the pandemic, of mass layoffs at accounting firms disguised as performance review issues. Makes you wonder. 

Quick Hits

Regulators Propose Significant Changes to Public Company AIF and MD&A Filings
Vancouver lawyer suspended over client trust funds, accounting records
The CRA gives a chilling assessment on accidental TFSA overcontributions 

By Canadian Accountant staff.