Keep them separated

Very recently, I was having dinner with the family and I noticed something that my daughter was doing that reminded me of what I did when I was a young lad.
Each item on the plate was kept separate from one another. The veggies could not touch the mashed potatoes and the meatballs were put in a corner of the plate.

Then, something else happened... My daughter first ate the veggies. Then she focused on the meatballs. Finally she had some of the mashed potatoes. Nothing was eaten together (except for the ketchup that goes with almost everything).

It would seem that many children and even teens prefer to have each item separated and not mixed. Not sure how they would eat a hearty stew.

I tend to enjoy the sides first, having some salad and the carbs which then leads to the main event of the protein. 

Taste and flavor are not the only preferences when it comes to food. The plating of food and the order in which the foods is eaten is also important.

It is also interesting to note the differences between an audit initiated by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) versus valuation audits undertaken by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

CRA looks at a fiscal year from a total revenue perspective whereas CBSA reviews are transactional based. This could be very similar to having a dish where all the proteins, carbs and vegies are mixed together versus keeping everything separated.

One of the challenges with CBSA valuation audits is to identify how the payment was allocated with respect to the imported goods. One best practice is to have clear written agreements in place to justify what each payment is allocated towards. You can even define this as having a plate with sections in it and each section holds a different food item ensuring that they are separated.

If all payment records are mixed into one bucket, then eventually it will become exponentially more difficult to untangle and allocate the payments. This means that CBSA could define the entire basket of payments as cost of goods, which are dutiable.

Record keeping for CBSA purposes should be initiated utilizing practices that can enable a corporation the ability to identify what each payment is for and have justifiable and consistent documentation to support the payment. By keeping payments separated, and defined in specific sections of the general ledger, the ability to provide concise and accurate information to CBSA about payments will hopefully result in a positive compliant outcome to the audit process.

Some like to mix their foods together. Others like to keep everything separated.

CRA looks at the whole big picture. CBSA reviews on a transactional basis.

Keep them separated!