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In August, electric vehicles accounted for a genuinely staggering 94.3% share of new car sales in Norway, as the nation’s road users continue to accelerate ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to EV adoption.

There were almost 10,500 electric vehicle sales in the Scandi nation last month, compared to just 634 non-EV sales (including petrol, diesel, and hybrid models), according to the OFV, Norway’s national Road Federation. While electric vehicles have made up the majority of new car sales each year since 2020, the 94% monthly figure marks a new high even by their standards, with the Norwegian government aiming to reach a point in 2025 when every new car sold is electric or hydrogen.

Gas out

The adoption has been a long time in the making — since the 1990s, successive governments have introduced a range of policy measures and incentives to get Norwegian nationals onboard with the EV surge. For example, Norway’s electric vehicle drivers have benefitted from perks like free parking, various tax exemptions, cheaper toll fees, the use of bus lanes, and much more besides over the years. It helps that the country is one of the wealthiest on Earth, in part — somewhat ironically — thanks to its huge oil reserves, which have given it a gargantuan wealth fund.

While many of the benefits have been gradually repealed as adoption increased more recently, the figures suggest that Norway could be well on the way to reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by next year, a full decade ahead of the EU goal.

For decades, the accountant stereotype has conjured up depressing images of white-collar workers, slouched in office stalls, painstakingly crunching numbers on a spreadsheet till it’s quittin’ time.

Historically, the long-term financial stability afforded to accountants was enough to offset its somewhat unglamorous reputation. Today, though, that appeal isn’t resonating with Gen Z, according to new reporting from Business Insider.

Indeed, America is facing an accountant shortage, and it’s starting at college. Data released by the AICPA last October found that the number of students who’d earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in the 2021-22 school year was just 47,067 — down ~8% from the year prior, marking the 6th consecutive year of decline — while the number of students who’d graduated with a master’s in the subject fell to 18,238, a 21% drop from its peak, recorded just 4 years earlier.

Sum people

Furthermore, only a fraction of these graduates actually go on to become accountants: post-master’s degree, one must pass a further four 4-hour CPA exams within an 18-month period, and spend a year working with a licensed CPA, before receiving the official title.

A lack of new talent entering the industry is especially problematic because there’s a huge wave of professionals that are set to close their books for good, with the AICPA estimating that ~75% of the CPA workforce reached retirement age in 2020.

To address the issue, the AICPA dropped its opposition to calls that would cut the amount of education needed to become a CPA, and companies like the ‘Big 4’ firms are promoting programs with built-in master’s-degree equivalents to encourage applications.

One obvious way to make the profession more appealing? A bigger, better number. According to the BLS, the median salary for accountants and auditors is ~$80K — far lower than other jobs in the sector, such as financial analysts (~$100K) and financial managers (~$156K).

In recent years an increasing number of companies have flirted with, dated, and even fully married themselves to the concept of “dynamic pricing”.

The prices they are a-changin'

The idea is hardly new. Indeed, technically all prices are dynamic because companies eventually update them (except the Costco hot dog, of course). But here we’re referring to when prices fluctuate quickly or in real-time to changes in demand — a concept that’s increasingly beloved by company execs.

Uber is one of the most famous advocates of the system. Try getting a ride on a busy Saturday night and you’ve likely experienced “surge pricing” on the ride-hailing app, which automatically adjusts the fare depending on how many people want a cab. Airlines and hotels have also been using dynamic pricing for years to carefully extract every dollar they can from their limited inventory of seats and rooms. Even Coca-Cola has toyed with the idea, with its CEO suggesting a temperature-sensitive vending machine that would raise prices when it was hot back in the early 2000s.

Wendy’s made headlines earlier this year when it touted plans to experiment with dynamic menu pricing... a suggestion that received a wave of backlash. Walmart announced in June that it would be rolling out digital labels for its shelves, which would allow it to change prices more quickly, creating similar concerns about the potential for real-time price changes, although a Walmart spokesperson told Fast Company that the new program would not be used for dynamic pricing.

But, most recently, Ticketmaster has again been in the firing line for its dynamic pricing mechanism in the UK, after Oasis reunion tour tickets shot up during a day of heavy demand, prompting a government review.

Surge protectors

Given that the ability to change prices is so fundamental to how our economy functions, banning the practice feels impossible without getting into a very boring argument about “how” dynamic prices are allowed to be.

However, companies should take heed of how not to do dynamic pricing. Lesson one: don’t change prices after the fact. People can live with paying more, but, if you quote them ~$190 and then by the time they reach the checkout the price is $460+, you will have a lot of people looking, and shouting, back in anger.

Off the charts: Which states are leading the way in remote work? [Answer below].

Answer here.

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more