The Drummond News

Not a total nerd, either

Not totally stupid

So I'm not totally stupid. But I am totally procrastinating. Assignment due in 96 minutes.

Myles

Here is Myles, up to the part where I have to stuff him. Apparently I did not move the half bag of fibrefill that was hanging around my basement in Ontario, so he will have to wait a few days. I thought in the meantime that I should explain why he is called Myles.

Myles is a character - one of the fictitious clients of the fictitious firm that we are supposed to be working for in CASB. Myles is representative of what bugs me about these assignments. We are supposed to be given realistic situations, to which we are to respond in a business-like manner, all the while demonstrating what we have learned about accounting and tax matters. Myles is a professional, a partner in his firm. His wife has recently started her own business, moving from her home into a commercial space. And Myles has just acquired all the shares of a private corporation, with locations in all the western provinces.

Now (I believe this occurred late in Module 2) Myles would like you to explain to him what a budget is and how it can be useful.

Um, excuse me? You've been operating your own business for several years, you've provided a significant chunk of change to your wife to assist with her business, and you've purchased a corporation operating several branches, and you haven't once looked at or discussed a budget for one of these businesses?

You see, they say the situations and clients are realistic, but really - not. And it's annoying and frustrating, and that's why my Bad Juju doll is going to be called Myles. When I get annoyed I can stick a pin into Myles and then just get on with my homework.

Fogged In

We are seriously fogged in here in the Lower Mainland this week. We've been shrouded in thick fog since yesterday, and it's supposed to continue through Thursday. I took this photo this morning of my office building. Can you see it? It's about 10 or 15 yards beyond that row of trees. I can make it out, but just barely, like a shadow.

It's eerie driving around in that fog, but strangely beautiful, too. In the evening, the lights glow softly. Odd shapes appear, and occasionally you pass through a wisp of fog that you can see, like gliding through a plume of smoke.

Bad CASB Juju

I think I need to knit one of these as a focus for my CASB annoyance. The latest annoyance? For the assignment this week, we are to consider a few transactions that have come to light at the end of April for a fictional company. The year end was March 31. The kicker? The audit report is dated April 15, 2005. Yes, two weeks after year end, the company was able to make all its adjusting entries, put together all its working papers, and the firm was able to complete all its field work. CASB likes to talk a lot about how it presents real world scenarios for us, to make our training oh-so-realistic. Well give me a break on this one.

Okay, I have a client that claims they can have all their year end adjustments done in a week, with full support. And I'm pretty sure they can do it - they are very organized, have two extremely competent accountants on staff, and have excellent controls in place. But even so, last year we started the audit two weeks after year end. We had two weeks of field work on site, with another visit for a single day a week later. There were one or two significant adjustments made by the company at the end of field work. So the earliest we could have dated the audit report was five weeks after year end. And this is one of my best clients, in terms of being well-prepared and having few exceptions turn up during the audit. A two-week audit date? I'm not buying it.

I'm off to join a knit-along and then go dig for some suitable yarn. I'm going to call him Myles.

Funniest thing I saw today

click

Found the link at Super Eggplant.

A quiet week at work - my scheduled audit was cancelled. I spent a bit of time surfing food blogs yesterday. I also quite enjoyed The Food Whore and Chocolate and Zucchini. I also printed off this recipe for pear tarlets which just looked sooo good. That one was linked from Chocolate and Zucchini, and it is her article and recipe. Doesn't it look delicious? Must add tart molds to the shopping list.

It's November

Aw, the Gaghans have been eliminated in the Amazing Race. Such a nice family, and they made the race a wonderful experience for their kids, always taking note of their surroundings. Poor little Carissa, blinking back the tears, had me weeping.

And I ran tonight - finally. I tried a week after my race and made it for 9 minutes, the next day for 4. My knee was too sore. So I've been trying to rest it for the last 3 weeks. It still bothers me a bit, but I figured the time had come to give it another go. I managed 20 minutes of running, in 5 minute intervals (alternating with 1 minute of walking). The knee bothered a bit, but only really in the last block. So hooray, I'm mobile again.