“As those who engaged in arbitraging globalization prospered, those anchored to local markets grew increasingly marginalized.” Sir Robin Niblett -Distinguished Fellow and former Director and Chief Executive, Chatham House (2007–2022)Foreign Affairs, 30 Mar. 2021 The business models of our largest firms have evolved quickly to adapt to changing technologies, and exploit arbitrage in wages. Small … Read more
Canada’s largest CPA firms have undergone a paradigm shift in the last decade. One estimate suggests that 80% of our top 10 firms now have a ‘dedicated offshore pod’ in India or the Philippines. What’s more, these same experts suggest that 70% of the staff for a typical Vancouver public company audit work from one … Read more
In 2015 the Big 4 accounting firms employed about 75,000 staff in low-cost delivery centres (i.e. India, Philippines, Poland, Argentina, etc.). By 2025 that had increased to a headcount of more than 285,000. According to Microsoft’s CoPilot AI service: “A typical audit file for a Vancouver-listed issuer might be staffed 30 % in Canada, 50 … Read more
In some ways, the leverage model in a professional service firm resembles a standard markup function in an automotive repair business. There is an important difference, however. Professional service firms like our big four audit firms use a markup of at least 7 times the wage cost and often 10 times or more. This compares … Read more
The 20th century saw a proliferation of professions from the original three:First, theology;Second, medicine;and third, the law. Religion has recently lost out to ideology. But law and medicine, and their new 20th century cousins (which are all really just occupations with a sense of entitlement) have lobbied successfully for regulations in order to protect the … Read more
The first European universities emerged at the beginning of the High Middle Ages, offering courses in the liberal arts, and advanced professional training in theology, law, and medicine. A Medieval scholar might have described the study of the liberal arts as a necessary precursor to what academics now call ‘critical thinking’. But, it could be … Read more
Why JD Vance’s anti-university rhetoric is winning votes. October 31, 2024 by Lincoln Allison (emeritus reader in politics at the University of Warwick). AI Summary Made by Wordtune: On October 31st I received this article in my inbox. Like the author, I believe that JD Vance’s position on the higher education industry has some merit. … Read more
CPA Canada admits it’s having trouble attracting new recruits into the profession. According to a recent article in the profession’s PIVOT Magazine: “Mitch Stein – an Associate Professor of Managerial Accounting and Control at the Ivey School of Business and Director of the CPA Ontario Centre for Accounting and the Public Interest, and many other … Read more