Tag: #FOWC

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T is for Taxes

1. True or False: Some parts of the world tax cow flatulence.

Nobody likes to pay taxes. Everybody hates tax collectors. In ancient Sumeria (as I noted in letter “C”), they had to press the taxes inside clay balls because they were “tampered” with, presumably by the tax collectors. Nowadays, the tax collectors–the IRS–has safeguards on top of security measures surrounding robust defenses against tampering. That’s a good thing for us. You might want to be more sympathetic towards the IRS. They’re safeguarding our money.

It’s True, cows are taxed extra in EU countries like Denmark and Ireland because their “expulsion” of methane gases are a significant contributor (some 18%) of greenhouses gases. Strange tax practices in history are a fascinating topic I covered before, in Tax the Peasants with this One Weird Trick!

Today, I’ll share a few fun facts about taxes in my annual post reminding you that the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program might be able to do your taxes for you, for free.

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R is for ROI (Return on Investment)

Graphic from JFitzgerald.com.

ROI is overrated.

Return on Investment (ROI) is one of the most widely used financial ratios, like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Current Ratio (CR), or Debt to Equity (DE). These things grow like weeds, once fledgling MBAs get hold of an HP 12-C calculator. Soon every conversation gets sprinkled with acronyms. Then, executives try to apply financial ratios to everything, and anyone who objects that you can’t put a value on everything is told to take a hike.

Net Profit means after subtracting the Cost of the Investment. Graphic from investinganswers.com.

Not Entirely Useless

ROI can be a useful measure, especially in making choices. Suppose you have a portfolio–that’s investor slang for “bunch of different”–investments that you made of differing amounts. You want to know which one has grown the most consistently over the last five years. An ROI comparison makes the numbers comparable.

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Q is for Qualified Opinion

Normally, I prefer facts over opinions and prefer the fact-giver to be qualified. However, when it comes to auditors, I do want opinions, but–oh boy–I want mine Unqualified.

The raging debate over audit opinions is one of the juiciest parts of accounting. Aside from the myriad types of Fraud (See letters “F” and “K”) that can happen, companies with good intentions still stretch their accounting practices a bit. Even when they’re large and public, with their financials in plain sight. Especially when they’re large and public, it seems. Just ask GM and Toshiba.

But let’s step back a minute. What does an auditor do and where does a Qualified Opinion come into the picture?

I’ve known plenty of auditors. They don’t always wear glasses.
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