From darren at DarrenDuncan.net Tue Feb 8 13:43:50 2005 From: darren at DarrenDuncan.net (Darren Duncan) Date: Tue Feb 8 13:44:12 2005 Subject: [VPM] RFC: paying Canadians with US dollars Message-ID: I have a question for those of you experienced in either being a contractor or in hiring contractors, particularly for technical or computer jobs such as software programmers. I am asking it from the context that I plan to hire contractors myself in the future, mainly for programming work. 1. How acceptable or normal is it for you, as a Canadian, to negotiate a contract, either on a per-hour basis or a per-job basis, denominated in American dollars, rather than in Canadian dollars? This is assuming that you are living more or less full time in Canada and your primary expenses are denominated in Canadian dollars; hence, your effective income would be variable depending on the currency exchange rates. To simplify this question, assume you have the choice as to whether any actual currency exchanging is being done by yourself or the other party, so you can factor this detail out of your answer. My reason for asking is that I am considering, with my new Victoria-based consumer software business, to try and do all accounting possible in terms of American dollars rather than Canadian dollars. I'm not sure how common this is, or whether it is even possible considering government rules, or whether it is the best choice. At one end, I am already constrained to operate in American dollars because my product sales prices are denominated in US dollars like all computer products are. Like with all other such products, the price that Canadians pay for mine will vary based on the exchange rate. A majority of customers will probably be Americans, due to their much greater relative population. My thinking is that if I denominate all my primary expenses, namely labour, in American dollars, then I will be fairly well insulated by exchange rate changes, since most in and out is in the same currency. At the same time, I expect that most people who work for me will be in Victoria (a few will live in other countries). Where possible, I will get all my main bank accounts and credit accounts to be US dollar denominated. Probably the main stuff I'll have to deal with in Canadian dollars is rent, utilities, and taxes. To mitigate losses from the currency conversion process, I would expect to have 2 main savings accounts, one US$ and one CDN$. All transactions involving either currency would draw from or deposit into the account of the same currency. Then any converting will only be done on an as-needed basis, between those two accounts, if one needs to be replenished from the other. Hence, as little converting as possible is done. 2. So have you heard of any Canadian businesses operating this way before? Anything to watch out for, such as government rules? 3. Would you be willing to accept such a fluctuating rate in your own pay, if you were in this position? Thanks in advance for any feedback. -- Darren Duncan From carl.constantine at gmail.com Wed Feb 9 08:56:36 2005 From: carl.constantine at gmail.com (Carl Constantine) Date: Wed Feb 9 08:56:48 2005 Subject: [VPM] RFC: paying Canadians with US dollars In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 13:43:50 -0800, Darren Duncan wrote: > I have a question for those of you experienced in either being a > contractor or in hiring contractors, particularly for technical or > computer jobs such as software programmers. I am asking it from the > context that I plan to hire contractors myself in the future, mainly > for programming work. > > 1. How acceptable or normal is it for you, as a Canadian, to > negotiate a contract, either on a per-hour basis or a per-job basis, > denominated in American dollars, rather than in Canadian dollars? I've done all of the above. Negotiated in Canadian and US dollars. I've usually done it project based as opposed to hourly as it's more affordable for the client and thus more likely to use you. Then you charge hourly for maintenance. > This is assuming that you are living more or less full time in Canada > and your primary expenses are denominated in Canadian dollars; hence, > your effective income would be variable depending on the currency > exchange rates. Correct, but that's what PayPal or similar sites are for ;-) > To simplify this question, assume you have the choice as to whether > any actual currency exchanging is being done by yourself or the other > party, so you can factor this detail out of your answer. > > My reason for asking is that I am considering, with my new > Victoria-based consumer software business, to try and do all > accounting possible in terms of American dollars rather than Canadian > dollars. I'm not sure how common this is, or whether it is even > possible considering government rules, or whether it is the best > choice. Get a good accountant or you'll run into trouble. Tony Charles-Roberts Moore Roberts & Co. 656-5547 tcr@mooreroberts.com and he's right out your way on Bevan Ave. Tell him Carl from Computer Troubleshooters sent you. Can I have him call you? (email me privately) > 2. So have you heard of any Canadian businesses operating this way > before? Anything to watch out for, such as government rules? Yep, I do it all the time. > 3. Would you be willing to accept such a fluctuating rate in your own > pay, if you were in this position? Usually it's in our favour until recently. But yes, I would. From Peter at PSDT.com Wed Feb 9 09:27:18 2005 From: Peter at PSDT.com (Peter Scott) Date: Wed Feb 9 09:27:16 2005 Subject: [VPM] Feb Perl Mongers meeting cancelled Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.2.20050209092623.0246ef10@shell2.webquarry.com> We haven't reached critical mass for the February meeting agenda, so I'm cancelling it. Brainstorm for March, folks. -- Peter Scott Pacific Systems Design Technologies http://www.perldebugged.com/ *** New! *** http://www.perlmedic.com/ From darren at DarrenDuncan.net Wed Feb 9 11:02:26 2005 From: darren at DarrenDuncan.net (Darren Duncan) Date: Wed Feb 9 11:02:47 2005 Subject: [VPM] Feb Perl Mongers meeting cancelled In-Reply-To: <6.1.2.0.2.20050209092623.0246ef10@shell2.webquarry.com> References: <6.1.2.0.2.20050209092623.0246ef10@shell2.webquarry.com> Message-ID: At 9:27 AM -0800 2/9/05, Peter Scott wrote: >We haven't reached critical mass for the February meeting agenda, so >I'm cancelling it. Brainstorm for March, folks. Acknowledged. I should also have something ready to present by March, concerning my projects, such that they actually work and are demonstrable. More details later. -- Darren Duncan From darren at DarrenDuncan.net Wed Feb 9 19:26:19 2005 From: darren at DarrenDuncan.net (Darren Duncan) Date: Wed Feb 9 19:26:38 2005 Subject: [VPM] Follow-up: RFC: paying Canadians with US dollars Message-ID: Thanks to all of you who responded to my query, either on a list or privately. These are the people I got replies from, in chronological order: - Peter Scott - Norm ([at]workingtools) - David Barker - Ken Murray - Bryan Stevenson - Vic Cromarty - Shelly Sherriff - Ian P Frazer - Suzanne Clydesdale (2 copies) - Philip Yuson - David Scott-Bigsby - Carl Constantine If your name is in the above list then you know I received your message safe and sound. If you replied and your name isn't in the list, I didn't get it. Below are a few points on what I plan to do on this topic, moving forward. Some (most) match plans I had in the past, and others were set this way as a result of your responses. - My business will be incorporated; maximum separation from my personal life. - I will retain a formally trained and experienced / good accountant and/or book keeper. - The selling list prices for my products and services will be fixed in American dollar values, but customers can also see list prices in other currencies, such as the Canadian dollar or the Euro, whose values are set by then-current USD exchange rates; any currency that is listed can be used for purchasing. Any non-locale-specific international advertising will quote in US dollars. - Wherever possible, all people that work for me or provide goods or services will do so as independent contractors and not employees. Most of these will be physically located in Victoria but some will be abroad; the main examples of the latter will be the owners of "free software" products that I make use of, where I pay them to support said products' further development. I expect that the accountants and lawyers and other such people will also be contractors. - All suppliers of the goods and contractor services that I use will be paid at individually negotiated rates (though I will have baselines in mind) and each supplier / contractor can choose what currency they want to be paid in. These arrangements will have to be re-negotiated at least once per year to account for any situation changes. - My core accounting and book-keeping details will be in terms of Canadian dollars. Other currencies will be used only for external transactions as required. - I am not concerned with having a regular rate of return. I simply need to be self-sustaining. I am by no means going to depend on certain exchange rates to be constant or be around certain levels. I won't be afraid to change my advertised prices on a regular basis as is appropriate for the market. - Custom House Currency was recommended to me for actual exchanges rather than using a bank; I can get wholesale rates they know I'm in Victoria. That said, I plan to buffer exchanges anyway, and only convert large amounts, which should mean I get a wholesale rate with nearly anyone. Thanks again for the replies. -- Darren Duncan From yf110 at victoria.tc.ca Wed Feb 9 21:44:15 2005 From: yf110 at victoria.tc.ca (Malcolm Dew-Jones) Date: Wed Feb 9 21:44:37 2005 Subject: [VPM] Follow-up: RFC: paying Canadians with US dollars In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 9 Feb 2005, Darren Duncan wrote: > > - Wherever possible, all people that work for me or provide goods or > services will do so as independent contractors and not employees. Just be sure that Revenue Canada agrees they are contractors. There are various criteria they use to determine if they are real contractors and not simply employees (in revenue canada's opinion) for whom you are avoiding paying benefits etc. Large companies typically require that contractors are themselves incorporated as they feel this provides the necessary arms length arrangement. That last paragraph is certainly not a legal requirement - in theory. Anyway, while speaking to accountants make sure you get the low down on the above issue. From jeremygwa at hotmail.com Fri Feb 11 22:07:10 2005 From: jeremygwa at hotmail.com (Jeremy Aiyadurai) Date: Fri Feb 11 22:08:11 2005 Subject: [VPM] test Message-ID: this is a test From jeremygwa at hotmail.com Fri Feb 11 22:13:29 2005 From: jeremygwa at hotmail.com (Jeremy Aiyadurai) Date: Fri Feb 11 22:14:09 2005 Subject: [VPM] Date::Calc limits Message-ID: as quoted in Date::Calc documentation: "These functions can only deal with dates in the range from 01-Jan-1970 00:00:00 GMT to 19-Jan-2038 03:14:07 GMT (the latter limit is only authoritative on 32 bit systems, however, and can (in principle, through a few code changes) be extended somewhat :-) on 64 bit systems)." does this mean, i would get extended functionality using a 64 bit processor (like athlon 64)? or do i need a 64 bit OS, or do i need both? also, how can the module be edited, to provide extended functionality, yet still work today with todays requirements? thanks in advance for your help, regards, Jeremy A. From jeremygwa at hotmail.com Fri Feb 11 22:19:07 2005 From: jeremygwa at hotmail.com (Jeremy Aiyadurai) Date: Fri Feb 11 22:20:11 2005 Subject: [VPM] ? Message-ID: hey all, I think i may have sent some files in one email or another, recently, by accident. hotmail has been acting up. please let me know, cheers, Jeremy A. From darren at DarrenDuncan.net Fri Feb 11 23:12:02 2005 From: darren at DarrenDuncan.net (Darren Duncan) Date: Fri Feb 11 23:12:10 2005 Subject: [VPM] Date::Calc limits In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: At 10:13 PM -0800 2/11/05, Jeremy Aiyadurai wrote: >as quoted in Date::Calc documentation: > >"These functions can only deal with dates in the range from >01-Jan-1970 00:00:00 GMT to 19-Jan-2038 03:14:07 GMT (the latter >limit is only authoritative on 32 bit systems, however, and can (in >principle, through a few code changes) be extended somewhat :-) on >64 bit systems)." > >does this mean, i would get extended functionality using a 64 bit >processor (like athlon 64)? or do i need a 64 bit OS, or do i need >both? A partial answer to your question is "64 bit operating system". Some operating systems internally handle dates in 64 bits; eg: I heard Windows 2000 did this; I'm not sure about which others. On the other hand, it is perfectly possible for an application program or library to handle 64 bit dates without needing OS or CPU support for it. Dates are just generic data anyway. In any event, this is a software matter and not a hardware matter. >also, how can the module be edited, to provide extended >functionality, yet still work today with todays requirements? I suggest you talk to the author of the Date::Calc module about that; the author knows best. -- Darren Duncan From darren at DarrenDuncan.net Thu Feb 17 13:57:21 2005 From: darren at DarrenDuncan.net (Darren Duncan) Date: Thu Feb 17 13:57:42 2005 Subject: [VPM] high paying Perl job near Los Angeles CA Message-ID: Here's another job posting I got sent through my web site today. Taking it would probably mean you move away from our local community, but what the hey. -- Darren Duncan ------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:43:42 -0800 From: gary kravetz/NCC To: Darren Duncan Subject: Website of Darren Duncan -- Private Mail Message -------------------------------------------------- This e-mail was sent at 2005-02-17 20:43:42 UTC by the web site "Website of Darren Duncan", which is located at "http://www.darrenduncan.net/default.pl". It is the result of a form submission from a site visitor, "gary kravetz/NCC" . From: 64.4.143.50 64.4.143.50. The visitor also requested a copy be sent to them. -------------------------------------------------- Q: Your Message Are you interested in a long term job paying up to $150K in E Ventura, CA County(near Los Angeles county, CA) Please respond with your resume & availablity if you are interested & qualified. 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