I wonder if this is something businesses (including accounting firms) might want to look into: A study at Brigham Young University has found that people are “uncon­sciously fairer and more generous” in clean-smelling environ­ments. The research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behavior with just a few spritzes of citrus-scented Windex. The researchers see implications […]

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The news that KPMG has snapped up the audit of Rentokil Initial from rival PwC brings with it renewed concerns around the indepen­dence of firms providing additional services as well as opining on financial state­ments. Under the arrangement KPMG would undertake all the statutory respon­si­bil­ities associated with an external audit, while also ‘delving deeper’ and […]

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I just finished reading an article recom­mended by Richard about the estate tax, titled “Death and taxes”. It appears in New Statesman, a UK magazine “created in 1913 with the aim of perme­ating the educated and influ­ential classes with socialist ideas.” I’m glad I read the article in full before reading the magazine’s history, as […]

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Tom Spring of PC World conducted an unsci­en­tific study into how difficult it is to cancel subscription services purchased over the internet, and the results are in. It’s not easily done. To evaluate how difficult canceling an online service can be, I signed up for and then canceled 32 accounts, each at a different site. […]

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Recently, the findings from an inves­ti­gation by the Toronto Star into charities have been released in the paper and they are not good for many charities, primarily MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) Canada. The Star found that the charity spends only about 19 cents for every donor dollar on programs designed to help victims of […]

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