by Peter McCann of McCann Corporate Consulting Associates (“MCCA”)
MCCA has seen a small, emerging phenomenon of cases that resemble customer shakedowns. MCCA has seen millions of dollars at risk. The following description is heavily disguised but the essential points are clear. This article is not specific advice for specific situations. Consult your professional advisers.
Major Company
Major Company’s head office is in a gleaming 12-storey building shimmering on an oasis of manicured suburban lawns. Recently, Major’s Internal Audit Group reviewed the Purchasing Department’s documentation on office supplies, and concluded that the 10-year old agreement between Major and Purple-Blue Office Supplies provided for a 10% volume discount and that the discount had not been given for at least 8 years. Therefore, Internal Audit reported that there had been overcharging of 10% on $300,000 average annual purchases for at least 8 years - $400,000 (including interest).
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A recent discussion with colleagues revealed that many are unaware of the issues that may arise when advising clients whether to declare corporate dividends, including in the case where there exist negative retained earnings.
From the viewpoint of an insolvency practitioner, the picture is quite clear.
A trustee of a bankrupt corporation is permitted to make an application in court to recover against the directors where the corporation has, within the year prior to bankruptcy, redeemed or
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Statistics Canada today released the 2009 Accounting Services Price Indexes for Canada as a whole. We have been tracking these indexes for Ontario, but these, along with other regional figures, are no longer available due to a redistribution of wealth within the Federal Government.
Here are the indexes for Canada graphed from their inception:
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By O. Max Gardner III
Originally published at: http://bit.ly/cceEC6
Dalton Camp proclaimed [Ed.: in Canada's defunct Saturday Night Magazine] several years ago that “having lost its value, money may no longer be the root of all evil; credit having taken its place.” This statement demonstrates the paradox of modern day Christianity and debt—should the Christian reaction be one of condemnation or one of compassion. Since many recent respected studies have shown that the average American family is only three weeks away from personal bankruptcy, and since Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that will deny bankruptcy relief to hundreds of thousands of American families, it is time to revisit what the Bible teaches us about debt.
The Bible makes it clear that people are generally expected to pay their debts. Leviticus 25:39. No one in support of or in opposition to the Bankruptcy Reform Bill presently before Congress has advanced any argument against this general proposition. However, this moral and legal obligation to pay just debts must be balanced by such considerations as the need for compassion and the call to cancel debts at periodic intervals. The Biblical basis for such considerations is based on the sabbatical and Jubilee years. The secular basis arises out of the Constitutional of Congress to enact uniform laws allowing businesses and consumers to cancel and to restructure debt obligations. This Biblical support for the legal right to cancel debt is enforced by the even stronger Biblical doctrine that prohibited interest of any amount rather than just usury or excessive interest.
Within the areas of economic justice and stability, the Old Testament is replete with examples of compassionate treatment of the poor, and with preservation of the family unit. These goals were superior to the material concerns of repayment of debt. For instance
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“Based on projected figures, more than a million [American] women will find their way to the bankruptcy courts this year – more women than will graduate from college, receive a diagnosis of cancer, or file for divorce.” As if our sexist world didn’t make it difficult enough for women, read how American women (and this is just as true for Canadians) are especially vulnerable in yet another way: http://bit.ly/6iSqan
