What happened in March

Early in the month, I began working on tax preparation such as Alberta tax rebate, GST, Non-resident withholding tax. Also, since last week, I have been working on investment tax credit summary. This report provides a detail of capital expenditure for the period to be reviewed by the owners. The cost of capital are not allowed to deduct from the net business income for the year; however, Income Tax Act (ITA) does permit the deduction of specified capital cost allowances (CCA) for capital acquired in the year and available for use.CCA is an allowable deduction for depreciable property such as building, equipment to be used for business purposes for capital acquired in the year and available for use. Capital is required to be classified into prescribed classes with prescribed CCA rates.

Also, there was a Field Level Risk Assessment (FLRA) meeting in our department. It is a tool in helping individuals and teams to identify hazards, assess the risks, and take action to control the risks. Field refers to the area where work is conducted such as shops, offices, and so on. Even though we are not working on-site; many of us do not realize what risks exist because we have been working our jobs in the same way, incidents are not common in our area, our concentration lapses, and we become desensitized to the job hazards. We can also apply FLRA to prevent an actual or potential incident on the job, at home, or in our community.

"Killer spicy noodle"

Besides work, we had some fun in our spare time. I volunteered to host a potluck dinner. It was a multicultural dinner because we brought our home-made dishes to share, such as Indian chicken Tandoori, chicken satay (kebab), Asian style fishballs, salad, appetizers and last but not least, my home style Malaysian curry laksa noodles. It was really hot and spicy, I myself couldn't stand the spiciness and so it came to be nicknamed as "killer spicy noodles".


There was one Wednesday night, we went to a local bar for wings and to watch a hockey game. That was the first time I had many different flavours of wings. Beer and wings, what a good combination! I must confess I overate; I felt sick from eating too much and ended up staying up all night. So, no more wings for me!!

On March 29th, we attended an event for students -- Syncrude Network Advisory Program (SNAP). The event kicked off with ice-breaking by asking questions, then it was followed by a great dinner and finally a team work project: top gun design game. This was a great opportunity for students and new graduates for meeting with other employees in the company within or outside their fields. I chose two mentors to meet - an accountant who has obtained her CMA designation, and a professional engineer. Hope to share more stories with you on the next posting.