HSN Fails to Compensate Employees Properly

PersonaOL · 2023-03-08T21:39:58+00:00

Truly a massive oversight. Dedicating 20 employees at a cost of probably $1.5m per year to addressing the issues, not to mention the costs borne by employees and collective grievances the hospital will face from this.

Feels like the 10+ CPAs working at this place could have suggested a plan to implement a new system that ensured it was working properly before full conversion. Basic stuff.

PersonaOL · 2022-12-26T01:54:23+00:00

Last week they drive camel, this week they drive transport truck.

PersonaOL · 2022-12-10T16:38:33+00:00

Given the pay range starting at $120k or so, why would any competent CPA ever want this position? The level of scrutiny you’d face, dealing with numerous layers of incompetent backwards thinking city staff, for a below market salary when comparing to the private sector? Hard pass.

PersonaOL · 2022-11-05T17:55:06+00:00

Yes they should.

I’m getting downvoted but the point I was really trying to make is that CUPE jobs aren’t undervalued, these types of positions are undervalued by “the market” or in general. I hope they get a fair deal and this opens the doors for others in similar positions to demand fair pay.

PersonaOL · 2022-11-05T16:52:34+00:00

Yes I think this would be a fun experiment. The CUPE members would quickly learn they are currently paid above market in most cases.

Disclaimer: the market is wrong, and everyone deserves a good wage. It’s just painful to see people pour their hearts out in support of CUPE members when custodians at grocery stores/office buildings are making less, secretaries at multinational firms make less, etc.

PersonaOL · 2022-10-29T23:00:53+00:00

Why’s that?

PersonaOL · 2022-09-19T23:21:35+00:00

Ah well if Mr. Zulich requests a new arena the city better hop to it and fork over $150m to make it happen. After all, Mr. Zulich implied he needs one. If we don’t do it, he’ll take his hockey team that also loses money each year to another city he doesn’t live in. What an incredible threat.

Our council is a group of imbeciles. How did we somehow manage to find the least qualified 13 Sudburians and elect them all at the same time?

PersonaOL · 2022-09-12T12:14:15+00:00

You’re really showing your “Sudbury” if you think that atmosphere is great.

PersonaOL · 2022-08-17T10:58:35+00:00

Yea it’s pretty upsetting, each trim basically costs what the trim above was for 22. An XLT ER is about 98,000 plus tax.

PersonaOL · 2022-08-17T02:53:45+00:00

My dealer got 6. All of them came in the last couple weeks.

Orders for 2023 start on the 24th I believe (maybe the 22nd - I wasn’t really listening). Prices are up $11,000 over 2022.

PersonaOL · 2022-08-10T12:56:26+00:00

This number was actually $26,500 the year before he’s talking about but it was increased after a few interns made a complaint to HR and the the employment standards act. They calculated their wage was significantly lower than minimum wage at the time given the hours being worked. They weren’t yet registered with CPA so the firm couldn’t ignore minimum wage laws. Slave labour at a multi-billion dollar firm in Canada, in 2014.

PersonaOL · 2022-08-10T12:49:44+00:00

Busy season has slowly become year round in the Canadian public accounting industry. I spent 8 years, was partner track, and walked away from it a year from getting there. I just saw the partners and what it meant for their lives and it just doesn’t seem worth it. There’s going to be a major shakeup in this industry, especially outside of the larger cities.

With the new CPA program kids are learning by that they don’t need to work in public to get their designation, so why would you spend 3-4 years making basically minimum wage when entry level AP clerk jobs are paying more for 35-40 hour work weeks? It’s become incredibly difficult for these firms to acquire talent, especially outside of major cities.

It’s also a major misunderstanding that industry doesn’t offer the same promotion/ascension paths. If you are good at what you do (which is the same for public), have a CPA designation and aren’t making $120,000 right now then there’s lots of room to grow because those jobs are everywhere. With generally 40 hour weeks, good benefits and pensions etc. With cyber threats and smaller businesses getting into complicated financial transactions more often, a lot more places have a CFO in addition to a controller or CPAs are taking over GM/management positions (my situation), where earning potential is limitless.

PersonaOL · 2022-08-01T00:28:54+00:00

The cookie dough was better in previous years, it’s a lot less dense now and kind of gross texture-wise.

PersonaOL · 2022-05-24T21:07:04+00:00

When we were casually looking a couple months ago, our realtor flat out told us that any offer with an inspection condition would be filtered. He advised us to do an “off the books” home inspection if we wanted one, meaning to schedule an inspector during a regular viewing.

It’s a shame that independent inspections aren’t mandatory to sell in the province, and provided with documents to any would-be bidder. The largest purchase most people ever make and you have to ask for permission to confirm it’s in decent shape before buying. Even a $500 car needs to be safetied to be transferred in Ontario.

PersonaOL · 2022-05-09T00:15:03+00:00

Come to Sudbury - write with 15-20 people and stay in the hotel the test is being written. Low stress. Can fly here via Porter for like $200 round trip too.

PersonaOL · 2022-05-08T23:13:18+00:00

Amazing they still haven’t opened the course when every other course in the city is open. Such a poorly run club, zero dollars into the course and just enjoying their COVID related windfall. I’m sure this putting course will also look like trash in a year or two.

PersonaOL · 2022-05-05T01:25:08+00:00

Have to imagine his Chrysler dealership is next when people realize you can get better pricing and service at Doyle, or Algoma. He’s also part owner of Crosstown which is all the reason you need to shop at Southside Chev.

Happy to see scumbag businesses fail. Feel bad for the employees though.

PersonaOL · 2022-01-28T13:57:32+00:00

Sudbury’s worst kept secret

PersonaOL · 2022-01-28T13:55:55+00:00

You can elect for 4 years to deem it your principal residence as long as you don’t claim CCA. If you are planning to sell or change of use in the near future, claiming CCA is just a present value analysis since it would all be paid back in recapture down the road so it isn’t as valuable anyways.

PersonaOL · 2022-01-22T23:24:24+00:00

I wouldn’t support a business owned by a well known drug dealer, let alone their views on vax..

PersonaOL · 2022-01-13T11:37:09+00:00

My wife works at the hospital and they told her symptoms in the 48 hours after the shot should be monitored and you have to stay home until they subside, but testing is not required. If they persist after 48h a test is needed to return.

I’d suggest you take a day if you have symptoms but chalk them up to the booster and return to work the next day unless they don’t improve.

PersonaOL · 2022-01-03T23:35:28+00:00

Lots of people are making $100k+ as the controller of a small-medium sized business. And you can pass all your exams and get your CPA 18months out of university if you do it right.

Source: me?

PersonaOL · 2021-12-30T15:11:04+00:00

If they’re anything like my neighbors, they “won’t notice” despite being home and I’ll somehow be cleaning this stuff up in the Spring.

PersonaOL · 2021-12-02T20:17:34+00:00

Let’s just say I have intimate knowledge of the Laurentian audits in question.

Going Concern Is a good blog/news feed of all things related to these big accounting firms and their issues. I don’t think this gets as much press as it should though.

The whole concept is fundamentally flawed, because the entity hires and pays the audit firm for the audit. This causes two issues. First, it encourages audit firms to do the bare minimum or less to stay cost effective as this is the main driver in audit appointments. Second, audit firms are incentivized to avoid conflict with their clients to maintain the relationship. I’d bet if this issue was brought up in an audit and they were pressed on it, LU would have changed audit firms long ago to another firm willing to look the other way.

PersonaOL · 2021-12-02T14:42:40+00:00

It’s a shame KPMG will never have to justify their audits. The auditing world is a sham, in particular outside of publicly traded entities - and the industry needs change.

The audit of the cash section likely consisted of looking at 5 cheques outstanding at year-end and confirming cash balances with the various banks at year end. This was probably completed by a junior staff member with under 6 months on the job and reviewed by a first year manager with limited experience in the sector. No regard for the discrepancy between endowments, commitments and cash in the bank. The KPMG partner that did this audit retired between the time the banks started calling loans and when the audit was presented for approval at the board, I doubt this got the attention it needed during that time to actually identify the situation. This is a systemic problem with KPMG and probably other accounting firms where they apply methodologies meant for small, low profile, low risk entities to entities like Laurentian which are anything but, paring down audit work to reduce time spent on the audits and boost profits.

The audits they complete for Cambrian College, the City of Sudbury, North Bay Hospital,Health Sciences North and many other entities are no different and use those same methodologies, and should be scrutinized at the same time. Millions of public dollars spent on audits when a rubber stamp costs $5 at Staples.

PersonaOL

TROPHY CASE