Canadian Dollar Gains Against the U.S. Greenback

In the last four days, the Canadian dollar has gained over two cents compared to the U.S. dollar. Canadian exporters won't be happy with this gain but companies settling in U.S. funds for purchases will enjoy a bit of a foreign currency gain due to the increase. The increase has been due to higher commodity prices mainly in gold and oil. Since these two commodities are key Canadian resources, our dollar tends to be linked to their value. The value of these commodities are being spurred by actions from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada who are both buying up Treasury bonds to increase reserves thereby creating a pool of money to fund growth and recession fighting measures. Experts believe that such an act may spur sudden growth and a return to inflation. As a result, investors are moving to commodity items to guard against the effects of inflation since these items will be in demand and act as a hedge against inflation. As a result, keep your eye on the price of gold and oil to see where the Canadian dollar will head. Unfortunately, the roller coaster ride is not over yet.

Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

The Ontario government is a supporter of research and innovation. So much that they have a dedicated Ministry to promote companies and researchers. The Ministry of Research and Innovation is the branch of the Ontario government that administers a host of research and commercialization programs. A listing of the various programs can be found at http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/english/programs/MRI.asp. New programs and funds are being added on a regular basis so the site should be monitored. The website has RSS feeds so you can easily track changes via email or your RSS feeder.

Welcome to Virtual CFO

Well I finally did it. This is my first blog post - ever! This has been something that I've been thinking about for awhile but the hardest step is actually doing - thinking is easy.

Virtual CFO was a thought that I had to help owner-managed businesses. I've worked for 17 years helping small business owners to manage their businesses and have watched them grow. My vision for Virtual CFO is simple: Provide a place for business owners to get information that can help them structure and manage their business. Hopefully, the readers of my post will learn something and I'm sure I will also learn as I start this blog and go down this path.

My original training has been in the field of accounting but now I am more of a business advisor to my clients. As a Partner at SB Partners LLP in Burlington, Ontario (http://www.sbpartners.ca/), I work daily with small to medium sized business to help them reach their goals. I enjoy helping my clients and making a difference to them. This is why I decided to start this blog- to help others. In the end, the sharing of information will help us all grow and excel.