Here’s our Plain English guide to profit and loss and what this report reveals about your finances.

What is profit and loss?

Your profit and loss statement is commonly called your ‘P&L’. It’s also sometimes referred to as your income statement or statement of earnings.

Your P&L is a breakdown of your company’s revenue (money coming into the company as sales and other income) and your expenditure (direct costs, overheads, expenses and other costs).

As a business, you obviously want to turn a profit and make money. Keeping a close eye on your P&L allows you to track your revenues and expenses over a set period, and look for ways to boost your profitability as a business.

How does profit and loss affect your business?

Being in control of your financial management is hugely important for any business. Your P&L is one of the main ways to track and analyse this financial performance.

To manage your P&L effectively, it’s important to focus on:

• Revenue management – to keep your revenue (income) healthy, you need to be proactive about generating sales and monitoring your revenue streams. This helps keep your income steady and stable, while also identifying areas for growth and improvement.
• Expense control – tracking and monitoring your operating expenses helps you spot where spending efficiencies could be made. Whether it’s overhead costs or inventory overspending, your P&L helps you spot unnecessary costs and boost profits.
• Cost analysis – analysing your business costs can help you spot the opportunities for saving money. Whether it’s agreeing a discount for buying in bulk, or switching to a new supplier with cheaper rates, there are plenty of ways to cut costs and be more profitable.
• Monitoring gross margin – reviewing the company’s gross margins helps you assess the profitability of each product or service. By pushing up prices, or cutting your production costs, you can boost those margins to drive up profits.
• Financial reporting – preparing regular profit and loss statements is key to good financial management. Reviewing your P&L helps you assess the overall financial performance of the company and make better-informed decisions.

How can our firm help you with managing your P&L?

When you’re in control of your P&L, you have a tighter hold on the reins of your profitability.

As your adviser, we’ll help you run regular P&L reports as part of a monthly or quarterly package of management information. We can help you track, review and analyse your revenue and expenses to spot the best opportunities for boosting the company’s profits.

If you’d like to know more about the impact of profit and loss, we’ll be happy to explain.

Get in touch to chat about managing your P&L.

We’re stoked to share the exciting news that Sidekick has been chosen as a finalist for the BSI People Skills Ltd Business Culture Excellence Award! This remarkable achievement is a tribute to our extraordinary Sidekick team and the culture they’ve fostered as a collective effort. Thank you to our dedicated team members and everyone who has contributed to our remarkable journey.

And now we need your help to secure the People’s Choice award. Please vote for our video on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn by liking, commenting, or sharing.

Facebook – https://facebook.com/bsipeopleskills/videos/361450542983714

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyueApnIL0-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cathy-sheppard-bab91b30_cultureexcellence-teamwork-peoplematter-activity-7122010991957053440-a-Cr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Every employee in NZ must have a written employment agreement, whether they are full-time, part-time or casual.

As the fundamental legal document between an employer and an employee, the employment agreement sets out the terms and conditions of employment, establishes entitlements and expectations, and provides a reference if there are any issues down the track.

While they’re not hard to get right, there are some common errors that every business wants to avoid:

• Not having an agreement at all – If you don’t have a written employment agreement for every employee, you could be fined.
• Not getting the right type of agreement – If your employee’s agreement doesn’t match the reality of their work, you could face an employment dispute or other costs, including outstanding wages, holiday pay, or PAYE tax. Find out more about employment types at business.govt.nz.
• Not complying with employment legislation – All employment agreements must have a number of basic clauses, including the names of the employer and employee, what the nature of the work is, where it is, the agreed hours, and the salary or wage rate. Not having these clauses could open you up to legal disputes and fines.
• Shortchanging workers’ rights – Even if the employment agreement doesn’t comply with an employee’s basic rights, such as minimum wage rates, paid annual and public holidays, paid rest and unpaid meal breaks, the minimum rights are still legally binding.
• Not following the provisions – If you fail to adhere to the employment agreement’s provisions or act in good faith, you could face personal grievance claims from employees or fines by the Labour Inspectorate.

Remember, the employment agreement is the basis of the employment relationship, so having a watertight agreement will get you off to a good start and provide an honest foundation to build on.

This article will make sure you don’t fall into the common traps when creating employment agreements.

Being the boss means you get to make all the big decisions about your business – including how much to pay yourself in wages, salary or drawings.

As the owner, you might need to underpay yourself in the early stages of building your business, so you can reinvest the profits. But your time is valuable – and you need enough money to pay the bills. So how can you find the right level of pay? It has to be enough to keep the mortgage paid, while also building a thriving business.

If you’re trying to decide how much to pay yourself, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What can the business afford? – You need to leave enough cash in the business to keep it ticking along, pay your basic costs, and meet your tax obligations. Once you’ve considered all those outgoings, how much does that leave you as a potential salary? We can help you work out what that number is, so you can establish a sustainable rate of pay.
• What’s the market rate for your role? – What would you have to pay someone to do the work you’re undertaking in this business? Maybe you wouldn’t actually be able to find anyone to work the same long hours, but if you were hiring someone with your experience, to do the same sort of work for 40 hours a week, what would they expect to be paid? That number is a good starting point for thinking about your own salary or drawings. If you’re being underpaid, it’s time to think about ways to grow your profits. If you’re being overpaid, congratulations on building a highly profitable business!
• Could reinvesting profits grow your income faster? – You can take all the profits out of your business, which should give you a strong and sustainable income. Or, could you reinvest your profits and grow the business faster, leading to a higher income in the long-term? You might choose to spend some of your profits on advertising, a better website, or developing a new offering, for example. Or you could pay for assistance in some area of the business. If the investment leads to higher growth, it might be well worthwhile.

We’ll help you run the numbers

We can help you figure out how much your business can afford to pay you, analyse the potential gains of a business investment, or weigh up the pros and cons of hiring someone to help you.

Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Running a busy and successful business means you often don’t have the time to step back and work ON the business. This can be a challenge if your aim is to grow and scale the company.

As experienced professional business advisers, we know the value of taking the time to ask yourself some pertinent questions. Holding yourself and the business to account is something we can help with. And there’s never a bad time to pose a few questions and gauge where you’re at with your planning, strategy, financial management and personal goals as an entrepreneur.

We’ve pulled together 10 hot questions to ask yourself as a business owner.

1. Can you explain why a customer should choose your brand over another?

Knowing your value to a customer is vital if you’re going to market your offering in the most effective way. Think about why your brand stands out in the marketplace, and what opportunities and threats exist. This is the fastest way to tailor your brand to meet customer expectations.

We can help you by running a SWOT-based analysis of your business.

2. How happy is your workforce?

Your people are such a vital asset, but they won’t work well if they’re dissatisfied and disengaged from your business values. Ask yourself, are your employees motivated and engaged by your mission? Is there anything you can do to boost this engagement?

We can review your people strategy and the staff benefits you offer to your employees.

3. Are you meeting your cashflow goals?

Are there specific costs or inefficiencies that are holding you back from achieving a positive cashflow position? Ask yourself if your financial management is up to scratch. Identify your failings and tighten up your cash process.

We can review your cash management and look for efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities.

4. What keeps you awake at night?

It’s a stressful role being the boss, and there’s likely to be a lot playing on your mind. Consider whether there are any recurring business issues that are holding you back, or unexpected pitfalls that have appeared along the course of the business journey.

We can offer you seasoned advice whatever the issue, with resolutions to ease your worries.

5. Are you embracing everything that tech and AI has to offer?

Technology is moving fast with AI solutions and digital systems now an integral part of many business models. But are you doing enough to bring your business into the digital age? Are there tasks could you automate, or processes you could streamline?

We can suggest a suite of apps, software tools and digital solutions to boost your business.

6. Is growth part of your business strategy?

Not all businesses are focused on growth, but outlining your key goals around growth is an essential part of your business strategy. Ask yourself whether you want to scale at speed, or grow organically. Or whether you’re happy to be a boutique business that keeps things small.

We’ll help you define your growth goals and build a strategy that aims for success.

7. Do you have the numbers you need at your fingertips?

So much of what you do as a business is driven by data. But are you getting the overview you need of your important business metrics and key financial numbers? Think about where you need detailed data and metrics, and how this could put you in better control of the company.

We can help you expand your reporting and management information, so you have a better eye on performance, spending, cashflow and sales targets etc.

8. Have you identified your ideal customer?

Identifying your ideal customer is something every startup and new business should do. But when was the last time you updated your ideal customer outline? Think about who you’re selling to, how this audience has evolved and whether they are still the right customer to target.

We can run detailed customer profiles to help you pinpoint the best customers to target.

9. Have you thought about where your business will be in five years?

When the business is busy, the temptation is to focus on the now and to put your energy into fighting the most pressing fires. But without a forward-looking focus, you can lack direction. Ask yourself where you want to be in five years and how you plan to achieve these goals.

We’ll help you create a detailed five-year plan, to give your journey more impetus and direction.

10. Are you planning for your own financial future?

You obviously spend a lot of your time thinking about your business – but how much time have you spent considering your personal financial future? Think about your life goals and how you plan to fund them, and where this money is likely to come from.

We can advise you on wealth planning, tax planning and the advantages of good all-year-round financial management.

Talk to us about running a health check for your business

If these questions have got you thinking about your business efficiency and growth plans, that’s a good thing. If you’d like to take this process further, we’d advise running a detailed health check for your business and your personal finances.

Book a meeting with us to talk through your goals, aspirations, challenges and strategy, so we can help you take the next step in your journey to entrepreneurial success.

Get in touch to book a health check.

We don’t yet know exactly how the new National-led coalition government will be formed. But we do know that National pledged to make some major changes to tax if it came into power. Here are some of the changes that could affect you:

Tweaks to tax brackets

National has proposed changes to tax brackets, designed to adjust for inflation and boost incomes:

Restored interest deductibility on rentals and a two-year bright line test

On investment properties, National has said it will gradually reinstate 100% interest deductibility. This will happen in increments over the next three years. The bright line test, which is currently set at 10 years, would be reduced to two years.

FamilyBoost and Working for Families

FamilyBoost is a new initiative that would provide a rebate for childcare costs of up to $150 a fortnight, reducing for higher incomes.

National has also proposed an increase to the existing Working for Families in-work tax credit. Together with the new tax brackets, National says a couple with young children, with a household income of $120,000, would have up to $250 a fortnight more in hand.

No more clean car discounts

National says the clean car rebate and feebate system will be scrapped at the end of 2023. Instead, the party plans to support the transition to EVs by expanding the public charger network, adding 10,000 extra charging stations by 2030.

You can read more about National’s tax plan here.

ACT and NZ First may yet have their say on taxes

ACT has its own tax plan which includes a two-bracket income tax system, and the party will have an influence on the final decisions regarding tax brackets and rates. It’s not yet clear whether National and ACT will need to strike a deal with New Zealand First, but if they do it may mean further negotiations on tax changes.

We’ll keep you posted on the changes that will impact you

We will be watching closely as the new Government makes decisions on taxes – and we’ll keep you updated. If you have questions about what new taxes could mean for you, your trust, or your business, we’re here to help.

Drop us a note or give us a call, we’d love to hear from you.

As a manufacturing or product-based business, efficient stock management is a big part of running a smooth operation. But the way we manage stock and inventory has changed radically in the past decade, in no small part due to the evolution of inventory technology.

With cloud-based inventory management systems now available for even the smallest business, and direct integration with your accounting and finance systems, there’s no excuse for not being in control of your inventory and stock purchasing.

But with the ups and downs of the global supply chain in 2023, what can you do to get more from your stock, your inventory systems and the capital locked up in these stock assets?

New ways to enhance your inventory management

With today’s inventory management solutions, it’s never been so easy to have complete oversight of your stock levels, popular products and restocking information. Data is king and the more information you have at your fingertips, the easier your stock management will be.

Let’s take a look at some important ways to get more from your inventory management:

• Use the latest inventory management systems – when you use cloud-based inventory management software you get the benefits of real-time tracking, accurate forecasting and seamless inventory control. This gives your operational efficiency a boost, reduces errors and optimises your stock levels, all of which can make your business more efficient, productive and profitable.
• Integrate your inventory app with your finance and business platforms – by integrating inventory management tools with your finance and business platforms, you streamline your workflows, automate key processes and synchronise your stock data. With all this info at your fingertips, you can make better business decisions, cut down the time-consuming manual tasks and enhance the performance of the business.
• Keep your stock management lean and agile – embracing lean stock management means only producing or ordering in the stock you actually need. This helps you to optimise your inventory levels, reduce carrying costs, minimise wastage, avoid stockouts and align supply with genuine customer demand. This cuts unnecessary waste and spending and makes your stock operations far more effective and profitable as a result.
• Sell off your surplus stock to free up cash – if you have stock sitting idle, why not sell this dead stock at a discount to turn these assets into cash? Your inventory management software can quickly identify surplus stock, allowing you to run targeted sales strategies such as discounts, marketing campaigns or customer events to liquidate excess stock. This is a fast way to generate additional revenue and boost your current cashflow.
• Reevaluate how big your warehouse capabilities need to be – could you move to a smaller warehouse facility to save cash and be more effective? The data you get from your inventory management software gives you deep insights into your stock movement. This gives you the evidence you need to decide whether downsizing could reduce overhead costs, enhance your operational efficiency and improve profitability.

Talk to us about getting in control of your inventory

Being the master of your inventory and stock management is an incredibly valuable skill for any product-based business. If you want to get in complete control of your inventory, switching to a modern cloud-based inventory management solution is an investment you won’t regret.

We’ll advise you on the best inventory software tools and how they integrate with your accounting and business platforms. We’ll also share the best tips on how to improve your operational efficiency, stock management and overall revenue generation.

Get in touch to upgrade your inventory tools.

Keeping your operational expenses under control, while also remaining efficient and meeting customer demand can be a challenge – one that can catch out many new business owners.

This is why running your enterprise using a lean business model is such a good idea. By keeping operations, stock and processes to a minimum, you reduce your outgoings, speed up efficiency and improve your cash position. But how does the lean model work?

5 core elements of a lean business model

In essence, a lean business model aims to eliminate waste in your operational and product manufacturing processes, while still allowing you to meet your customers’ needs.

Originally a methodology that came from the Toyota Motor Company in the 20th century, the aim of lean manufacturing is to cut back the processes to the bare minimum. This helps you streamline the production of goods, cut your operational expenses and still meet the demands of your customers – running the whole organisation in a lean, efficient and profitable manner.

Some core element of a lean model include:

1. Cost efficiency – cutting waste is central to the lean methodology. Applying lean allows you to reduce waste in the manufacturing process and minimise any unnecessary spending. This allows you to optimise your resources and allocate funds strategically.
2. Increased agility – with a lean approach in place, it’s far easier for the business to be both agile and flexible. This makes it easier to respond quickly to market changes, customer needs and emerging opportunities you spot in your sector.
3. Enhanced customer focus – promoting value is another core element of lean. By eliminating non-value-added activities, you can prioritise customer satisfaction and deliver tailored products or services that meet your customers’ exact needs.
4. Streamlined processes – lean methodologies streamline your workflows, reduce bottlenecks and enhance your overall operational efficiency. This all leads to improved productivity and shorter lead times, helping you quickly deliver your product to market.
5. Sustainable growth – running a lean business model promotes long-term sustainability. There’s a continuous focus on improvement, adaptability and financial stability, all of which helps to make you exceptionally competitive and ready to grow at pace.

Talk to us about implementing a lean strategy

If you want to turn your manufacturing business into a cost-effective, scalable enterprise, moving to a lean business is a big step in the right direction.

Talk to us about your current production and operational strategies. Let’s see how switching to a lean methodology will set you on the path to a more efficient and profitable future.

Get in touch to talk about lean strategies.

Growth doesn’t need to mean more risk, more hours, and more headaches.

It may be as simple as identifying where the opportunities for growth are in your business and industry. Once you’ve done this you can establish what you and your team are going to have to do in order to maximise these opportunities, and how you will navigate the likely obstacles.

Here are a couple of tips to get you thinking about growth:

1. Do an audit to document your growth over time. Analyse all the information you have to understand how you got to where you are right now. This will help you to plan for future growth.
2. Next, put a one-page plan together with the big objectives and what you’ll realistically need to do in order to achieve them. (identify the tasks and people)
3. Establish some key performance indicators to keep the momentum up and visit these regularly to ensure you’re on track.

As a business owner, you can get bogged down in the demands of day-to-day business. Taking time out of the business can give you some much-needed perspective. We can help build your business plan and identify the steps you’ll need to achieve it.

Business growth can be perceived as something scary, but when you have a plan and it’s done right, it can be very motivating and rewarding.

With a bit of planning, the right systems, people, and resources, there is a tremendous opportunity to grow and scale your business to the next level to hit your growth targets.

We can help you get started. Contact your local Sidekick office today and we can help you ith your business plan for 2023!!!

Incurring expenses are an unavoidable fact of running a business. But which expenses can you claim tax deductions against and which don’t meet the tax-free criteria?

Here’s our lowdown on which expenses you can claim against tax.

Which business expenses can you claim deductions against?

If your business expense is directly related to earning your assessable income then you should be able to claim a tax deduction against this particular cost.

For example, everyday business expenses that you may be eligible for include:

• vehicle expenses, transport costs, and travel for business purposes
• rent paid on business premises
• depreciation on items like computers and office furniture
• interest on borrowing money for the business
• some insurance premiums
• work-related journals and magazines
• membership of professional associations
• home office expenses
• work-related mobile phones and phone bills
• stationery
• work uniforms
• tax agent’s fees.

This is good news for your operational spending, your tax costs, and your ongoing cash flow position. The more deductions you can claim, the smaller your tax bill will be. The amount of a deduction (and when you can claim it) will vary, based on the type of expenses you’re claiming. You can find out more on the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) website here.

On the whole, though, there are three basic rules for checking that your expense claim is a valid business deduction – and that it won’t be challenged by the IRD.

1. The expense must have been for your business, available as an allowable deduction, and not for private use.
2. If the expense is for a mix of business and private use, you can only claim the portion that is used for your business.
3. You must have records to prove that the expense was incurred.

Which business expenses can you NOT claim?

As we’ve explained, you can claim a deduction against most business expenses that are incurred as part of your day-to-day revenue-generation activities. But there are some business expenses you cannot claim against tax.

These non-tax-deductible expenses include:

• The principal portion of loan repayments.
• Speeding tickets or parking fines relating to your own or business vehicles.
• Any penalties you’ve incurred from the IRD relating to late filings or late payments.
• Purchases of new equipment, machinery, or plant, although it’s possible that these assets may be depreciated over time.
• Insurance premiums for life insurance, accident insurance, personal sickness, and mortgage protection insurance.
• Any costs you’ve incurred in the initial stages of setting up your business.
• Most clothing, footwear, and eyewear are not deductible. But if the clothing is required for the role, i.e. uniforms or safety boots etc, then it may be tax deductible.
• Legal costs relating to any capital acquisitions you make

Talk to us about reducing your business expenses

This isn’t an exhaustive list of tax-deductible expenses. There will be various ways to claim your operational expenses against the relevant reliefs and incentives offered by the IRD.

If you’re looking to cut back your costs and improve your tax efficiency, we can help. Talk to us about your regular operational expenses and tax costs and we’ll work with you to find the important reliefs, incentives, and allowances that can be claimed.

Get in touch to start reducing your expenses.

Consumers and customers want to know that their food choices support a sustainable future. The Co-operative Difference has been created by Fonterra to help farmers know what is expected of them, both today and in the future. It is a way of recognising and rewarding those farmers that produce high-quality milk in a more sustainable way. This is how Fonterra can remain globally competitive.

From June 2021, a portion of the milk payment is influenced by a supplier’s progress under Fonterra’s “next steps”. Suppliers can get up to 10 cents per kg of milk solids premium for their milk.

There are three levels of achievement.

1. Te Putake – The start of the journey focus is on looking after the people, animals, environment, and Co-op.

• People – Complete Dairy NZ Workplace 360 assessment, achieving 100% on the foundation level. If they do not employ staff, then there is a smaller set of questions around farmers and visitors’ safety.
• Animals – Must have Animal Wellbeing Plan developed with their veterinarian covering specific topics.
• Environment – Must have a Farm Environment Plan in place with 3 out of 5 key practices being achieved.
• Co-op – To achieve this, farmers need to keep full and accurate Farm Dairy Records and submit them online by 30 June each year.

Once achievements are gained in the focus areas, farmers will then receive 7 cents per kgMS on all milk supplied during the season.

2. Te Puku – The mid-point This is all about the quality of the milk supplied. Milk quality excellence must be achieved on at least 30 days during the season. Farmers will receive an additional 3 cents per kgMS on all milk supplied during the season.

3. Te Tihi – The summit This celebrates those suppliers that consistently deliver highest quality milk. To achieve Te Tihi, the milk supplied to Fonterra must be of an excellent standard for 90% of the days. There is no additional payment for this.

Accounting Treatment

This payment will be on the milk statement and will need to be treated the same as the rest of the milk payment. But we do need to be careful if completin budgets or tax forecasts for the year to find out if they are receiving this additional payment.From our experience, most farmers were last year still working towards getting these steps in place.The payment is made in the final retro payment for the season and would have been received in late September. As many farmers are still working their way through the requirements, the amount received by most farmers won’t have been significant.Other farmers have done their own cost benefit analysis and have decided that the additional 10 cents of the Co-operative Difference is not worth the effort, especially while the current Fonterra pay-out is looking to be $9.15 ($9.25 if the $0.10 premium is added). For many, an additional 1% payment isn’t worth the additional work.Although the Co-operative Difference payment of 10 cents isn’t significant, it opens the door for Fonterra to increase the amount in future as they look to actively encourage farmers to meet these targets.It will also depend on whether Fonterra can monetise this added value.

Keeping on top of the financial management of your business can be hard work. It’s possible to have a profitable business that is struggling to find the cash flow to pay expenses and fund growth. Likewise, you could have positive cash flow but are not turning a profit, particularly if you are scaling.

Turning a profit is at the heart of running any successful company But without an even and predictable flow of cash into the company, you can’t cover your overheads, you can’t pay your employees and you can’t run your day-to-day operations – let alone think about expanding and growing the business.

In the end, you need both. But if you’re going to be in control of your financial destiny, it’s important to get your head around the important process of cash flow management.

Let’s look at some of the key things to understand about your finances:

• Profit is a by-product of a successful business – as the owner, you want to make profits, but profitability isn’t the only goal. A business can easily be profitable, but also be highly unstable in the longer term. What you want is stability and consistent revenues.
• Cashflow keeps your business alive – good revenues (income) serve to bring cash into the business. Without cash to cover your operating expenses, you have no means to keep the lights on in the business. So cash really is king!
• Know your cost base and overheads – the flipside of your cash flow position is your costs. In an ideal world, you want more cash inflows than cash outflows, so it’s important to know your expenses and costs and to manage them carefully.
• Be proactive about spend management and easing expenditure – if you can take action that reduces your spending, that is hugely positive for your cash flow position. Choose cheaper suppliers, negotiate better deals and bring that cost base down.
• Drive more revenue, through increased sales and marketing activity – if you can increase your revenues, you also boost your cash flow. So it’s important to be proactive about running targeted sales and marketing campaigns to increase your sales.
• Keep the cash flowing and the profits take care of themselves – if you achieve the ideal cash flow position, the company sits on solid financial foundations, the cash is there for investment and the business can grow. It’s that simple.

Talk to us about improving your cashflow management

Whether you’re new to running a business, or a seasoned owner who needs some financial support, we can give you the cash flow advice you need.

We’ll review your finances, delve down into your cash flow, and will come up with key ways for you to increase your cash income and reduce your cash expenses. It only takes a few small changes to achieve a far better cash flow position for your business – helping you maintain positive cash flow AND generate profits.

Rewarding your team with vouchers or trips? Providing a car or a gym membership? FBT can be tricky, so make sure you’re calculating the true cost of employee perks.

What is fringe benefit tax?

Fringe benefit tax, or FBT, is a way of taxing employee benefits. It’s designed to make sure people are paying tax on all types of income, including perks.

The single-rate FBT is 63.93%. The short form alternate rate is 49.25%. There are four options for calculating FBT, and you can read about FBT rates in more detail here on the Inland Revenue website.

Does your business need to pay FBT?

Fringe Benefit Tax may apply if you provide perks for any of your employees.

These might include a car they can drive for personal use, or personal travel, or a gym membership, for instance. Deductible entertainment expenses are also subject to FBT – vouchers for hitting sales targets, for instance. Low-interest loans and some types of contributions to funds or insurance policies may also be liable for FBT.

Paying tax on these fringe benefits can change the overall cost of employee perks, so you should take FBT into account when you calculate the true price of perks. Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

What about public transport?

From 1 April 2023 certain public transport benefits may be exempt. They need to be provided mainly for the purpose of the employee travelling between work and home and be one of the exempt transport options. This means your business can now provide public transport passes for employees and no longer need to pay FBT on these costs.

What should you do?

If your business provides any perks to team members, give us a call or send us an email. We can help you understand the complete costs of those perks in the upcoming tax year and explain how the different options might work for your company.

Founding, building and growing your own small business is a hugely rewarding experience for many entrepreneurs. But the road ahead isn’t always smooth.

There are common challenges that crop up and ongoing issues that need to be factored into your business plan, your strategy and your own personal thinking.

So, what can you do to beat these challenges and make the journey as frictionless as possible?

5 proactive ways to overcome your business challenges

We’d all love to know what lies around the corner when it comes to the future path of your business. The truth is that every business journey is unique. But there are common challenges that every owner-manager or CEO will be faced with – and being prepared for these hurdles is the best way to leap over them and take each challenge in your stride.

We’ve highlighted five common challenges and the simple ways to overcome them:

• Uncertainty: No-one has a crystal ball to know exactly what’s coming around the corner. But there are ways to be prepared for some unknown circumstances. You can’t fully predict the main external threats like government policy, economic conditions or freak weather conditions. But you CAN use forecasting and scenario-planning tools to build up contingency plans so you have a Plan A, Plan B and even a Plan C. With forecasts of your business data, finances and industry trends, you can be ready to react, pivot and take positive action.
• Competition: Small businesses often face stiff competition from larger, more established companies. To stay ahead of the curve, it’s important to be nimble and agile. It’s also vital to find your niche and to know precisely why your customers value your offering. By ploughing a unique furrow and keeping your customers happy, you can give yourself an edge over larger, slower-moving corporate-size competitors.
• Access to capital: It can be a struggle to secure funding as a startup, particularly if you have limited financial resources or a poor credit history. Having a detailed funding strategy is a crucial way to overcome this problem. Keep your finances in order and make sure you have in-depth financial reports to show banks, lenders and investors. It’s also helpful to focus on paying suppliers on time, keeping debt levels under control and ensuring your cashflow is in a positive position. These are all excellent ways to improve your business credit rating and show you’re a stable, risk-free prospect for lenders.
• Hiring and retaining employees: Attracting and retaining talented employees is difficult, especially during the ongoing talent shortage. Offering competitive salaries or benefits packages can be one way to attract people. But it’s also important to think about your brand reputation, your sustainability credentials and your CSR policy – all things that Millenial and Gen Z workers value alongside decent pay and benefits packages. Employees want to be proud of where they work, so make your company a progressive, satisfying and rewarding place to work.
• Keeping up with technology: Business technology is evolving at a rapid pace. It can be daunting keeping up with all the available apps, tools and software solutions that are aimed at your business. The trick is to be informed but selective about the apps you use. Start with the operational and financial needs of the business and look for apps that can automate, improve efficiency or provide improved data and management information. Talk to other business owners and your profressional network to find out what the essential apps are in your industry. And do your research and homework before you choose any software solution to add to your app stack.

Talk to us about being an agile small business

Looking to the horizon for the upcoming pitfalls is essential as an ambitious and informed business owner. As your adviser, we can help you generate the most informative management information, to keep you agile and ready for what lies around the corner.

We’re also on hand to discuss your ongoing strategy, how to react to upcoming risks and the best ways to access capital and manage your company’s finances.

Arrange a meeting and let’s see what the future may bring for your business.

Being a business owner can be stressful. When the buck stops with you, it can be easy to let the pressure mount up and to discount your own wellbeing.

But taking care of your own mental health is equally as important as taking care of the business – research showed that 53% of business owners suffer from stress and anxiety relating to the running of their business So, what can you do to take care of your own mental health and work mindfulness into your usual life routines?

Ways to nurture your wellbeing as an entrepreneur

Looking after your mental health is as important as looking after your balance sheet. That’s the reality. So, having an improved focus on rest, wellbeing and talking about your struggles is a big part of moving towards becoming a better business leader.

For example:

• Don’t overwork yourself – it’s tempting to work every hour that’s available, in an attempt to meet your goals. But working yourself into the ground is, ultimately, a destructive thing to do. If you’re tired and burnt out then you’re in no position to lead the company. Try to stick to set working hours, and avoid working 60-hour weeks wherever possible. Sleep, rest and downtime are vital.
• Schedule time for non-work-related activities – make sure you have time blocked out for things that aren’t work. That might be a walk in the countryside, time with your kids, or a game of tennis. The aim is to take yourself away from the stresses of the business and to give yourself a broader life outside the company. It’s a chance to have fun, to relax or to be someone who isn’t just ‘the boss’
• Take up an activity that promotes wellbeing – there are plenty of pastimes that can help you bring down your anxiety levels and bring you to a calmer place. Yoga is a good way to stay fit, but also an excellent form of relaxation. Equally, finding time for meditation helps you to empty your mind of business concerns and allow yourself to become more grounded and calm. Even something as traditional as a fishing trip could help you to chill out and relax, away from a screen.
• Talk about your worries, concerns and anxiety – if business-related stress is building up, the worst thing you can do is keep it all bottled up. It’s beneficial to open up and talk about this anxiety. This could be with a partner, a fellow entrepreneur, your accountant or even a professional counselor. Be transparent about your state of mind and you’ll find people are more than willing to listen, understand and offer some support.

Talk to us about your business worries

As your accountant and adviser, we’re in the perfect position to help you open up about your business worries. We know your business and your sector inside out, and we know the common threats, challenges and goals that will be on your mind.

Come and talk to us about your business worries and let us take some of the weight off your shoulders. A chat can be the start of a whole new way of thinking about your own wellbeing.

Keeping on top of your accounts is a big part of running a successful and profitable business. But you don’t want to spend ALL your time dealing with accounting tasks, especially when that time could be spent building customer relationships, or developing new products etc.

So, how do you keep your finances in check, while also spending less time on your accounts?

1. Bringing your accounting into the digital age

Switching to cloud accounting can be a revolutionary step for many business owners, especially when you look at the ways you can streamline and automate the basic accounting tasks. By using accounting platforms like Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB or Sage, you get all the basics of small business financial management, but with the benefits of smart automation.

With most modern cloud accounting software, you can:

• Automate the scanning and digitisation of your expenses and receipts
• Automatically reconcile your bank transactions with your invoices and bills
• Connect your accounts to other time-saving apps for mileage claims or staff expenses.

2. Getting paid faster and with less admin

With a cloud accounting platform driving your business, you also make it easier to send out e-invoices and get paid faster and more effectively. Improving your payment times and cash collection can make a huge difference to your cashflow position, and also sets the right expectations with your customers – making it clear that you require to be made on time.

Using the invoicing function in your business software, you can:

• Quickly send out electronic invoices as soon as a job is completed
• Set up automated invoices to be sent out at pre-agreed points in a project
• Include payment buttons on your invoice, so customers can pay via PayPal or card
• Remove the barriers to payment and speed up payment times.

3. Getting a better overview of your important numbers

Using cloud accounting isn’t just about automating the time-consuming financial admin tasks. By recording and tracking all the financial and non-financial data flowing through your system, your accounting platform can actually provide you with a goldmine of useful real-time information.

With cloud accounting providing your reporting, you can

• Access totally up-to-date real-time information, to improve your decision-making
• Track your performance against targets to see how well the business is performing
• Monitor spending and budgets to keep your cashflow under control
• Understand your return on investment when it comes to sales and marketing activity
• See how promotion has driven sales but reduced your profit, due to discounting.

Talk to us about setting up a more productive kind of accounting

If you want complete control of your finances and business decision-making, updating your accounting software and processes will be key to achieving that goal.

We can help you decide which accounting software is most suited to your business, and how to maximise the benefits you get from automation and real-time data.

Get in touch to talk through updating your accounting.

When your managers and employees have their own budgets to utilise and spend, it’s important to keep in control of these staff expenses.

It used to be standard practice to have a firm-wide company credit card that staff could use to make ad-hoc and recurring payments. But a company card can easily be misused and doesn’t help you keep your spending in check.

Today’s expense management systems, like Soldo, Pleo or Weel, all give you far greater control over your staff spending – with additional benefits that streamline your expenses process

The benefits of a cloud-based expenses management system

The evolution of cloud accounting and fintech software has led to a significant leap forward in the control your business can have over its staff expenses.

Expense management solutions are now fully digital platforms. Your team has flexible ways to pay for expenses and operational costs, with a greater level of control over how much is spent, who spends it and how these costs track against the company’s main cashflow position.

With a modern expense management app, you can:

• Use virtual debit cards to pay for expenses – team members can be issued with virtual cards that are quick to set up, use and cancel, if necessary. Having multiple virtual cards helps you keep track of specific spending and allows employees to make payments directly from their phone or tablet.
• Align each card number to a specific budget or cost centre – each card number is linked to a defined budget, branch or cost centre. Instead of having one card that all staff spending is dumped onto, you have a defined card for each budget. This helps you track that person’s or department’s spending and produce drilled-down management information about their spending and outgoings.
• Set card limits, so staff can’t overspend – each card can be given an agreed spending limit, to reign in overspending and casual use of the card without prior approval. Managers can approve spending prior to a payment being made, with full transparency over where the money is going and the agreed amount that can be spent.
• Integrate your expenses system with your cloud accounting platform – if your accounting software has a suitable API, you can connect your expense platform to your digital accounts. This automates the whole process of recording, tracking and reconciling your outgoing transactions, saving you hours of data entry and admin time.
• Get deep reporting on all expenditure – tracking all your staff spending through the one platform means you have unprecedented access to data and reporting. This gives you the ability to track each department or branch and follow a clear breadcrumb trail for all outgoing costs and staff expenses.

Talk to us about getting in control of your staff expenses

Spiralling staff expenses can have a profoundly negative impact on your cashflow. But with a cloud-based expenses management system in place, you’re in full control of every transaction, every cost and the overriding impact on your cash position.

Talk to us about which expense management platform is right for your business, and the best way to integrate your chosen app with your main finance system.

Here are ten ways to make sure that you continue to drive through each business quarter with purpose, vision and the courage to super-charge your business.

1. Eliminate distractions: Time is the scarcest resource and biggest killer for most businesses. When we get busy we can also get distracted and focus too much time and energy on the wrong things. Be brave – slash standard meeting times, reduce unnecessary admin and delegate roles and responsibilities.

2. Say goodbye to bad customers: If possible in your business, get rid of ten time-wasters, bad payers, or customers who cause you pain. You will feel instant relief and spend your time better elsewhere.

3. Invest More: Having freed up time and headspace from deploying points one and two above, make sure you ring-fence time, key people, and money for some of the initiatives below. Redeploy with passion!

4. Get a Plan: You don’t go on a journey without a map or any idea of where you’re headed – so why fly blind with your business? Have a planning process, create a kick-arse plan – and execute. We can help you get started.

5. Surround yourself with positivity: Make sure the people in your business understand and share your vision. Bring them onboard, listen to them and give them ownership. Don’t let people who don’t get it, or don’t care, be a millstone around your neck. If they’re not right, do them a favour and free up their futures.

6. Use Technology: Technology can help you decrease admin, improve comms, improve reporting and accountability. Whether it’s for team communication or cloud accounting, slash paper and automate where possible.

7. Keep on top of the numbers: Do you have enough information to monitor business cashflow and see emerging trends? We can help you identify the metrics to track on a regular basis, in order to run your business efficiently.

8. Be Different: Break the mould and position yourself to attract ambitious, growing and engaged clients, and employees.

9. Deploy Marketing: Create a simple marketing plan to increase reach and penetration. Set aside a budget to treat this seriously. Start by making sure you really understand your customers. Existing customers are prospects too, keeping them happy is your first step. The more you know about them, the easier it will be to attract more of the same.

10. Take a break: Don’t underestimate the time you have away from your business. It can allow you to come back refreshed with new enthusiasm and inspiration for the way forward.

How will the latest Budget affect your business and your household?

Here are some of the changes most likely to have an impact on Kiwi business owners.

Extended free childcare hours

If you have young children, or your team members do, the extension of the ECE subsidy to include two-year-olds will be welcome news. This should make it easier for some parents or grandparents to re-enter the work force. Businesses in this sector will also feel the benefits.

Higher trustee tax rate

The trustee tax rate is now aligned with the tax rate for the highest income bracket, at 39%, up from its previous rate of 33%. This may mean a higher tax burden for trusts, but it might also take some of the accounting complexity out of trusts.

Fuel tax is reinstated, more EV infrastructure

The 25c per litre fuel excise duty was reduced last year, but it will be reinstated on 30 June. This is likely to have an immediate effect on petrol and diesel prices, which may increase your personal and business transport costs. For EV owners the news is more positive; a $120 million investment in EV charging infrastructure will make it easier to charge up as you drive around New Zealand. The government has also announced that public transport will be free for children under 13 years old and half price for under 25s.

Boost for construction and peripheral industries

The extended Warmer Kiwi Homes programme will help make more homes warm and dry, and provide a workstream for businesses in this sector. Those in building and construction will also welcome the investment into 3,000 new homes and new infrastructure.

Extended free apprenticeship scheme

The Apprenticeship Boost programme will enable around 30,000 apprentices to keep receiving support. If your business can participate, this may help you find young workers and help them train.

Investment in tourism, horticulture and the digital sector

For businesses involved in one of these sectors, there is investment designed to support economic resilience. Industry Transformation Plans will include training in digital skills and accreditation for tourism employers. There is a 20% rebate for the game-development sector to help grow and protect New Zealand’s domestic game-development sector. This will be available for eligible businesses who spend a minimum of $250,000 each year.

Free prescriptions

All Kiwis can now get free prescriptions – and that $5 saving all adds up for you and your employees.

No longer forecasting a recession

Treasury is now forecasting slight growth in the economy for the first quarter of 2023, an improved outlook compared to the previous recessionary forecast. That’s no guarantee, but avoiding a recession would give consumers and businesses more confidence heading into winter.

Questions about how this could impact you?

If you want to read the full budget summary you can find it here. You might wondering about how the new trust tax rate, or the Apprenticeship Boost scheme, or anything else in the Budget, will affect your business or finances.

If you have any questions, do get in touch – drop us a note or give us a call and we’ll be happy to advise you.

Are you considering selling any large assets? Maybe a property, a piece of land, or a business or personal asset? Before you do, we urge you to call us first.

As you may already know, the New Zealand government has introduced the brightline test, which taxes any gains from the sale of residential properties sold within a certain timeframe. Unfortunately, some clients have been left with huge tax bills from this test when selling houses. And to make matters worse, some of these people were unable to shift their properties into other holding entities without facing even larger tax bills.

Additionally, some clients have sold vehicle assets because they were struggling with cash flow, only to find out that they owed more money on that specific asset than they received from the sale. This caused them to lose the asset under value and have to find cash to clear the debts.

We understand that busy business owners can easily lose track of the details, and that’s where we come in. Our team has the professional know-how to help you avoid these costly mistakes. By calling us before you sell any large items, we can provide you with quick and easy answers about tax laws that may save you a fortune in the long run.

If the situation requires a deeper dive, we may charge a small fee. But this could ultimately save you tens of thousands of dollars! So, before you make any moves, give us a call. We are capable, supporting, and caring, and we are here to help you navigate the complexities of tax laws.

Remember, a quick call could save you a fortune. Don’t hesitate to contact us today.

Although the housing provided by farmers to their contract or sharemilker is the same as employees, the accounting differences are substantial. The key reason for the difference in accounting treatment is that sharemilkers and contract milkers are independent contractors rather than employees.

In this article, we will use the term ‘sharemilker’ to cover both sharemilkers and contract milkers. Section CE 1(b) of the Income Tax Act 2007 details that the market value of accommodation received is to be included as part of a total remuneration package. This applies to employees only. As sharemilkers are not employees, this section does not apply. Under the Sharemilking Agreement Order 2011 (Lower Order Sharemilking) sharemilkers are provided a free house for their own use and also housing for their own employees. This is considered part of the infrastructure of the business, the same as any other building, e.g. cowshed or calf sheds. There is no formal statutory agreements for 50/50 Sharemilking Agreements or for contract milkers, but similar accommodation clauses generally apply. The free house supplied to the sharemilker is treated as being rent free, and no adjustment is made for tax purposes by either the owner or the sharemilker. This is because the sharemilker is an independent person or entity (such as a Partnership, Trust or Company) rather than an employee. Occasionally, we see situations where a farm owner is taking on contract milkers for the first time and they look to include the house at a market value as part of the remuneration. This is generally due to a misunderstanding as they look to apply the same rules as they had to previous employees. Although the approach is wrong, it does show that Inland Revenue’s and MBIE’s message on accommodation at market value has gotten through.

The situation is different for the employees of the sharemilker. If the sharemilker provides their employees with a house, the deemed market value of the house is caught within the definition of monetary remuneration. The market value of the rental is included as part of their salary package and PAYE must therefore be deducted. Market value will be determined by market rental rates in the region. The sharemilker is the landlord and is responsible for conducting property inspections and for any damage from tenants.

Keeping up-to-date records of your business transactions isn’t the most glamorous part of being an entrepreneur, that’s for sure. But, in reality, having accurate and up-to-date bookkeeping is actually one of the core ways to keep your finances (and your business) under control

Digital bookkeeping is the future of your finance

The digital age has revolutionized the way many business owners carry out their bookkeeping. From digital accounting to real-time data, the modern bookkeeper is now equipped with the tools and resources to make the job easier, more efficient and (crucially) less time-consuming.

When your bookkeeping goes digital, that means:

• Your data entry process gets automated – receipts, invoices and other supporting documents can all be scanned using OCR software. This gives you a digital copy of the paperwork, but also digitises the data and pulls it into your online ledgers. There’s no need for tedious manual data entry, and you also reduce the chances of human error.
• Your digital records are available 24/7 in the cloud – instead of searching through messy hard drives or dusty filing cabinets, all your financial documentation is available at the press of a button. You can pull up the documents you need at any time of day, from any location with internet access. And everything is safely encrypted and backed up.
• Your tax returns can be filed digitally – with all your bookkeeping data saved and accessed via your cloud bookkeeping/accounting software, your tax returns become a lot more straightforward. Whether it’s quarterly GST/VAT returns or annual corporation tax returns, you have all the data the tax office needs, ready to send in a digital format.
• Your finance data goes real-time – scanning and digitising your receipts at the time you make the transaction doesn’t just keep your records up to date. It also gives you real-time data on all your income, expenditure and operational costs. Instead of working with management information that’s months out of date, you have informative real-time data on which to base all your big business decisions.
• You’re 100% in control of your finances – by embracing the benefits of digital bookkeeping, you kick your finances into shape. You and your finance team have accurate real-time records of all income and outgoings, and can stay in complete control of the financial management of the business. Your accounts are in tip-top shape and you’re ready to file your tax returns at every significant period throughout the year.

Talk to us about switching to digital bookkeeping

If you want to transform your bookkeeping, now’s the ideal time to go digital.

Talk to our team and find out what bookkeeping or accounting software is right for your business.

Once you see the efficiency, accuracy and long-term benefits of digital bookkeeping, you’ll understand why going digital is a no-brainer, whatever type of business you run.

Remote work has become an increasingly popular way of working in recent years. Many companies now offer their employees the ability to work from home or other external locations. This is a giant shift for many companies and their workforces – so, to get the best from remote working its worthwhile reassessing your people strategy.

Investing in your people and your remote strategy

Maximising this new remote-working strategy can lead to increased employee engagement, as well as a reduced spend on rent, building management and all the other costs associated with running a traditional 9-5 office space.

To make remote working deliver on these benefits:

• Offer the best remote-working tools – provide your people with the tools and resources they need to be successful and productive when working remotely. This could mean buying suitable desks, comfortable office chairs and headsets for your remote workers. You’ll also need team software, such as Microsoft Teams, to stay connected.
• Focus on creating a team spirit – Make sure everyone in your team feels connected, in the loop and able to contribute. Having a regular online ‘team huddle’ each week, or even every morning, helps to build bonds and nurture a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Make sure remote staff feel included – It’s very easy for an ‘us and them’ dynamic to appear between your remote staff and office-based staff, which can be extremely destructive. A clear flexible-working policy or hybrid work strategy can help, as well as bringing everyone into the office at some point, so you maintain relationships and get some face-to-face time.
• Track performance data for your remote workers – remote workers have the potential to be more productive than office workers. But there’s also the possibility for some workers to lag behind and become demotivated. By tracking performance and productivity, you can see how well remote staff are actually working – and where there may be a need to offer incentives, bonuses and benefits to boost productivity.
• Cut costs and boost performance – with the right investment and strategy, embracing remote and hybrid working can transform the future of your business. Not only can you engage more closely with the needs of your staff, you can also boost performance while also reducing your spend on office space and provisions.

Today’s workforce is a mix of different generations, with some workers that love the structure of a 9-5 office day, and some who yearn for a more flexible remote-working lifestyle. Keeping your people happy, while also embracing a remote strategy, is a key challenge for today’s business owners.

No more piles of receipts and invoices required!

Dealing with GST invoices is now much simpler. Inland Revenue’s new rules, from 1 April, 2023 aim to modernise your record-keeping systems, which means you’ll be able to get closer to a completely paperless business.

Physical paperwork or PDFs no longer required

From April, you no longer need to keep a physical copy of a tax invoice, a credit note or a debit note. Your taxable information supply can be digital – included in your accounting software, in your transaction records or in contractual information.

New wording – you no longer need to label your invoices as ‘Tax invoice’. The new wording is ‘taxable supply information’, but you don’t need to specify that on any invoices. It’s just the Inland Revenue’s way of explaining that certain information needs to be included on the documentation – you don’t need to make any alterations.

The changes were necessary to make e-invoicing legal, so without any actual paperwork or even a PDF moving around, your system-to-system invoices are still valid.

We’re here to help

If you’re not sure which records you need to keep, just give us a call or drop us a note. We can chat with you about how these changes might impact your business, and how you can use e-invoicing to reduce your risk of invoice fraud. Get in touch!

Having proper control of your business finances is a big advantage. It helps you make well-informed business decisions and keeps your organisation profitable.

With so many digital tools for managing your bookkeeping, accounting and management reporting, it’s never been easier to manage, track and forecast your financial position.

But what are the main tools you need? And how do you set up your financial systems, apps, processes and reporting to put yourself back in the finance driving seat?

1. Bring your bookkeeping into the digital age

Digital bookkeeping apps are a great way to digitize your receipts, records and source documents. This not only saves a lot of time at year-end, it also makes it much easier for you to keep track of your company’s finances and accounting. Keeping your receipts in a box to manually enter at period-end is no longer enough. Take the next step and digitize your receipts at source, so you have up-to-date digital records and copies of source documents.

Optical character recognition (OCR) software, like Dext Prepare or Auto Entry, scans the receipt, converts it into a digital format and stores it in the cloud.

2. Do your accounting in the cloud

Cloud accounting is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that helps you carry out all your main accounting and financial management online, without having to install any software.

Cloud accounting providers, like Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB or Sage, design their accounting platforms to take the pain and hassle of business accounting. You get all the tools and features you need to work on your accounting tasks. And your platform provider will also take care of all the data storage, backups and security of your data.

A good cloud accounting platform does more than just save your hard drive space. It also provides you with tools and dashboards that improve your access to management information, financial reporting, forecasting and projections, performance tracking and more.

3. Use the latest in expense management tools

Expense management can be a time-consuming and tedious job. But it’s also a vital task that helps you ensure you’re spending company money wisely and not overspending. If employees start going over their budget limits, this can be a costly mistake for the company and your cashflow.

Expense management tools, such as Soldo, Weel or Pleo, help you manage staff spending by giving employees virtual cards that are linked to a specific budget, account and code. This helps you track their expenses easily and make sure they’re staying within their budgeted limits. These platforms also give you detailed reporting and analytics, so you can see where money is being spent, and where savings can be made.

4. Make it easy to accept digital payments

The problem of slow payment is one of the most frustrating things for small businesses. If your customers don’t pay on time, this can result in a loss of revenue, poor cashflow and an inability to cover your basic costs and overheads. To resolve this issue, many companies have begun to switch to digital payment platforms that make it simpler, faster and easier to collect payment.

Payment platforms, like PayPal, Square or Stripe offer faster payment times and more control over the customer experience. Some platforms even integrate with your cloud accounting, so you get automatic bank reconciliations.

5. Embrace the latest in digital reporting and forecasting

With digital accounting changing so rapidly in recent years, there’s never been a better time to embrace the benefits of the latest in digital reporting and forecasting.

Economic conditions are hard to predict. So it’s crucial to be able to quickly analyze data, check your performance and make predictions about how your company will fare in the coming months. When you use cloud solutions for financial reporting and key metrics, you’ll be able to monitor trends in real-time while having access to the data anytime, anywhere.

Having this information at your fingertips helps you make informed decisions faster than ever before – and that translates that into more sales, increased business growth and bigger profits.

Talk to us about updating your financial systems

If you’re looking to give your finances a touch of digital magic, please do come and talk to us.

We can walk you through the best cloud platforms, fintech apps and business tools to add to your app stack – so you’re ready to make the most of a digital approach to your finances

Get in touch to find out how we can help you supercharge your finances!!!

Here’s our top 5 tips to get ready for the summer holidays. Taking these points into consideration will help you and your business get some well deserved time off

Tip #1 – Make sure you’re financially secure heading towards Christmas

December can be an expensive month. Christmas gifts, events (although maybe not as many this year), bonuses, and for many businesses, a period of closure over the holidays. December is not only an especially expensive month, but it’s a month with less business days. This can create a tricky dynamic between bills and income, which takes a bit of strategy and knowhow to manage. Make sure you have enough cash to cover any unexpected bills and to keep the business comfortably ticking over during the holidays.

Tip #2 – Get your Roster and Pay organised

Having your roster and pay sorted for the period over Christmas is vital. Load wages before you go on your break so you don’t forget, and make sure you know if there are are 3 or 5 payrun periods between now and the 20th February because that’s when you’ll have collected all the money for these often light billing months.

Tip #3 – Get your Tax sorted

There are a number of important Tax dates in early January, and it’s best to be aware of those before the Christmas break so you can plan your finances accordingly. The January tax dates are below:

• Jan 15th – GST return & payment due (for period ending November 30th)
• Jan 15th – Provisional tax for March balance dates
• Jan 20th – Quarterly FBT return and payment due
• Jan 28th – GST return & payment due (for period ending December 31st)

If you can get the payment for these dates sorted before Christmas, it means when you return to work in January you can focus on catching on missed time instead of worrying about sorting Tax.

Tip #4 – Send your invoices out on time

This year is unique. Because of Covid-19 and the traffic light alert system, it’s likely there won’t be as many end of year events as usual. Fewer big gatherings mean most of us will have a bit more time at our desks this December, which provides a unique opportunity to get a full month’s work out of December and properly get on top of things. Pick and choose your networking and marketing this month, and utilise this extra time to build a list of who your key relationships will be next year.

Tip #5 – Collect as much money as you can before Christmas

Collecting as much money as possible before Christmas is a great way to head into the holidays in a strong financial position. Following up on unpaid invoices and sending out December invoices promptly is a good way to make sure you get a solid influx of money before you head away on holiday.

We hope this article has been useful, next year we’ll be sharing something similar to help you kickstart 2022! If you need our help or want to discuss any of these point further, book in a meeting here. We’d love to get together for a no cost catch-up and discuss how we can help reduce your stress levels at this busy time of year. 

WHAT IS SIDEKICK?