It’s not glamorous, but a budget will help manage costs, identify red flags, and achieve profitability. Between 2004 and 2007, Apex facility resources, a Seattle furniture dealership and relocation company, experienced a 900% jump in sales. Yet the owners, Marlaine McCauley and Matt Watson, didn’t know if they’d actually made any money. “We didn’t have [...]

Credit 1 Credit Union, the provider of wholesale services to credit unions in B.C. and Ontario, reported a stronger third quarter in 2009. Higher financial income and a positive change in the fair value of its financial investments were cited as the reason. It reported third quarter net income of $35.5 million compared with a [...]

About 11,300 more British Columbians collected employment insurance in September than August, leading to the first increase in EI rolls since June, according to data released from Statistics Canada Tuesday. The number of people in B.C. receiving benefits rose 12.8% to 99,360 in September, up from 88,080 in August. StatsCan reported that 15 of B.C.’s [...]

Young, first-time home buyers are opting for older homes as a more affordable first step to home ownership, according to a TD Canada Trust survey released Monday. Almost half of first-time home owners aged 18 to 34 bought a house that was at least 21 years old, compared with only 27% of home owners aged [...]

Bookkeeping is an important task for small to large businesses and needs extra care and attention to detail. If you own a small business, the growth of your company depends on accurate financial records management. Any small mistake can affect the success of your business as it grows. If you manage a small business, budget [...]

There were three interesting stories in the press this week about pensions and bankruptcy in Canada. On Wednesday the CBC ran a story on how the Liberals vow to change bankruptcy laws. Here’s a quote from the story: The Liberal Party says it is committed to changing Canadian bankruptcy laws so former employees of failed [...]

British Columbia bucked the national inflation trend in October by recording a fifth consecutive decline in the consumer price index (CPI), according to Statistics Canada data released Wednesday. B.C.’s CPI fell 0.6% following a 1.2% decline in September. Nationally, the CPI rose 0.1% in October following a 0.9% decline in September. B.C. was the largest [...]

The current “jumble” of supplemental pension options is failing millions of Canadian workers and must be revamped into a coherent system that will allow them to build better retirement nest eggs, says Keith Ambachtsheer, one of the country’s leading authorities on pensions. Ambachtsheer, director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management at the University [...]

B.C. is proposing to increase the threshold for the B.C. HST new housing rebate from $400,000 to $525,000, Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced Thursday in a news release. “We heard the concerns from consumers and industry about how the HST might affect home buyers, and this increase will move the threshold to above the average [...]

Canadians are among the world’s most engaged employees, according to a global Right Management survey of workers in 15 industrialized countries. More than 40% of the 2,000 Canadians surveyed said they were engaged and committed to their jobs and their organizations, compared to 34% of global respondents to the survey. Being fairly rewarded for their [...]

Canadians are among the best prepared to handle a financial emergency, according to a global study of residents in 15 countries by research firm TNS. Roughly seven in 10 consumers in Canada, Italy and the Netherlands said they would be able to get their hands on $2,000 in 30 days in the event some unexpected [...]

When it comes to tax-friendly income, interest has always taken a back seat to Canadian dividends or capital gains. After all, dividends received from Canadian companies benefit from federal and provincial dividend tax credits and capital gains are only half-taxable. There are no such breaks for interest income. Click here to read the full article [...]

There are several changes proposed for the CPP retirement pension. The proposed changes will not affect anyone who is currently collecting the CPP retirement, disability or survivor benefits. It will also not affect anyone who starts to collect their pension prior to 2012. The proposed changes are included in Bill C-51, which passed first reading [...]

Despite a year of economic uncertainty and volatile stock markets, Canadians intend to maintain contributions to RRSPs this year, according to an Investor’s Group survey released Tuesday. More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) plan to contribute the same amount or more to their RRSP than they did last year. Of the 24% of Canadians who [...]

The RCMP is warning merchants to be aware of increased counterfeit and fraudulent activity this holiday season. It is launching a fraud prevention program in partnership with the Bank of Canada, Interac, various members of the Canadian Bankers Association and other law enforcement agencies aimed at helping merchants stay aware of the latest trends in [...]