OTTAWA - Less than a week after the Conservatives hailed Sen. Mike Duffy's "leadership" in repaying $90,000 in improper housing expenses, it turns out the office of an entirely different leader made the bill go away. Stephen Harper's chief of staff Nigel Wright personally covered Duffy's repayment, the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday — a transaction one insider described as a gift between friends that occurred without Harper's knowledge.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Visa Inc. said Wednesday that its net income slipped nearly 2 per cent in the first three months of this year from the year before, when the company benefited from an adjustment to its income tax provision. Even so, the payments processing company's latest results trumped Wall Street's estimates. It also raised its fiscal 2013 earnings-growth forecast from high-teens to around 20 per cent, citing a more certain revenue outlook and earlier-than-planned share buybacks.

Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI) reported Tuesday a drop in operating profit in the first quarter as it cited severance costs and an increase in depreciation and amortization expenses. The global news and information company said the underlying operating profit in the three months ended March 31 was $462 million, with adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share. That compared with underlying operating profit of US$497 million, or 39 cents per share, in the same 2012 period.

British lawmakers warned Friday that top accountancy firms are gaining inside knowledge on tax loopholes by seconding staff to consult the government, and urged the practice to be banned. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said it was "very concerned" at the "inappropriate" way employees from the so-called Big Four accountancy firms -- Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers -- advise the government on tax legislation. Committee chairman Margaret Hodge described the practice as a "ridiculous conflict of interest" which should be banned.