Minimum wage rising

Chapter 16 Payroll Accounting

Link: http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1495889

Summary
This article is about the minimum wage that employers pay to their employees are rising. Back in 2003, the minimum wage for adult workers was $6.85, but now the current wage of $8.75 will rise to $9.50 on march 31. It is under the law that

"100% of net earnings are deducted from social assistance cheques for recipients for the first three months, but after that it's a 50% deduction so there will be a little extra then"

This raise is part of the provincial government's poverty reduction strategy which is to reduce the number of children living in poverty, estimated by 25% over five years. The government has also scheduled the next minimum wage increase for next year which would have a total increase of $3.40 per hour to the minimum wage since 2003. Also, it is expected that student minimum wage will also rise on March 31.

Connection
This article is connected to chapter 16 in accounting 12 by wage and deductions. These employees are payed by wages for their labour on an hourly basis. They are fortunate to receive $0.75 more than usual but as said in the article, "for those on social assistance, the increase will mean "not a lot"". Of course, it is better than nothing. Since this increase is stil a bit tight to workers, they would still have to face payroll deductions from their gross pay. Deductions such as income tax, RRSP, and maybe union dues deduction may even lower their net pay to a point where employees are devastated.

Reflection
In my point of view, it seems like this amount for minimum wage is not bad to students but a bit restricted to adults. Adults have more to worry about such as paying bills and maybe even taking care of their family. However, I think it really depends on what kind of labour the employee is performing and how much work you have to put into it. Commissions would help the troubled people more because it can influence them into working harder and making more sales. It can also demonstrate their strong performance to their employers and hopefully earning them a raise. Overall, this improvement would definately decrease the number of poverty for people, especially childen.

Warning about RV sales scam

Accounting 12 Chapter 14

Link: http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/39372469.html

Summary

This article is about a person trying to sell their recreational vehicle through an online ad. The person received an email, often the name of Nathan Seer or Rich Edmund, to say that they are a likely buyer. The buyer offers a flat cash payment by using a cheque from an earlier deal that never succeeded . However, the cheque is for a bigger amount than the RV's selling price so the buyer explains to the seller that he can send him a cheque for the difference. The seller in the end realized that he had receieved a NSF and lost as much as $10 000 not including the RV.

Connection

The connection between chapter fourteen and this article is not sufficient funds. The dishonoured cheque that the man receieved has made him lose thousands of dollars. Not only did he lose the RV and roughly around $10 000, he also has to be responsible for any counterfeit or NSF cheques, including fees, interest and repayment of the full amount. The article also mentions that the buyer should be advised that the cheque is certified (the bank takes the funds out of the issuer's account in advance) in order to confirm that the cheque is good.

Reflection

I think issuing a cheque is not only convenient but also risky. It seems like it is a gamble between whether the issuer is reliable or not. If the issuer is not, then the receiver would get a NSF and on top of that service charges to pay despite that they are the innocent party. It seems unfair for the innocent party to pay service charges when they are the ones that has lost a huge amount of money. I think it's best if the issuer gets charged of around 10% of what they issued in the bounce cheque in order to lower the possibility of scams.

Telus to open Vegas call centre

Accounting Chapter 15



Link: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=984f5691-232c-4c6c-9623-4355d0cfe243

Summary:
This article is about the company, Telus, planning to open a call center in Las Vegas, Nev.. The call center will provide Spanish-language support to the customer service line and also Telus members that are able to speak Spanish, in order to better serve their customers. This project would create up to 1000 job opportunities in Las Vegas, as well as some "headquarter style" jobs in Canada. The Telus spokesman guaranteed no job losses in Alberta thats related to the project because the Vegas call centre is function to adding capacity to the Telus' business in order to grow. The new call centre is said to be part of a tentative agreement between Telus and the city of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency.

Connection:
The connection between chapter 15 and this article is the decisions being made by company with the help of useful financial statements and percentages. During this difficult economic time, many companies are pulling out their financial statements to analayze how they're doing in order to not get pulled into the economic problems. Telus has decided to create a new call centre, which is considered an unlikely move due to the economic slowdown of many business. Their financial statements are very important to Telus' decision because they would probably have to study them so that they can come up with the best solution to boost their sales and net profit. The sales percentage of their years of business would definately help them because they would want to know what projects or new ideas had increase their sales heavily. Also, Las Vegas Redevlopment Agency also must study Telus' financial statements to see if opening their call center would benefit the Las Vegas' economicy

Reflection:
Although opening a call centre in Las Vegas may sound risky because of the number of people who are slowing down in their purchases, it may be a good idea to Telus for a change. Their ideas of including Spanish as a language for their service and even opening in a city where there are populated spanish-speaking people is a interesting idea. This can grab more people into using Telus because they can understand spanish instead of english. Telus' project can also increase job opportunities for people since many people are getting laid off.