Canadian Finance Minister to address Chartered Accountants

A press release by the Canadian Federal government: The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, will be a guest speaker at the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Tax Symposium on Monday, October 16, 2006. Minister Flaherty will discuss the steps Canada’s New Government is taking to reduce the tax burden and create a more competitiveContinue reading “Canadian Finance Minister to address Chartered Accountants”

Loading springs and dodging bullets

Two terms, “spring-loading” and “bullet-dodging” have reminded me of the tendency in business to put a positive spin on negative practices. Spring-loading refers to the practice of granting options immediately before releasing good news that will likely increase the stock price, resulting in options that are not in the money technically when granted, but are,Continue reading “Loading springs and dodging bullets”

Novell investigating its options grants

Another tech company has announced it is conducting internal investigations into their options grant practices. This time it is Novell, a company known for its NetWare network operating system and more recently as a Linux company. Novell said its audit committee began the investigation because of news about irregularities in the way that dozens ofContinue reading “Novell investigating its options grants”

Accountant convicted over hit on client

In Sydney, Australia, an accountant was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill a client who he had stolen almost $84,000 from. He had failed to remit those amounts to the government for taxes owed by the victim. The motive was, unsurprisingly, to “stop Mr Williams from bringing the fraud to light.” This is prettyContinue reading “Accountant convicted over hit on client”

Options backdating investigation not making the SEC any friends

Tech companies are the primary focus of the SEC’s recently announced and currently ongoing investigation into options dating irregularities, which makes sense given their proclivity for awarding stock options as part of compensation packages with employees. An article in BusinessWeek documents what tech company executives have recently termed a “witch hunt”: Many executives are surprisedContinue reading “Options backdating investigation not making the SEC any friends”