Blog

Back to Blog

Slow payers cost you real money

Like any relationship, timely communication between creditors and debtors goes a long way to avoiding trouble. One of those tools for small businesses is the financial web. The financial web describes the growing electronic connectivity between small business, accountants and financial institutions, particularly when coupled with cloud computing. The continued expansion of the financial web helps small businesses make smarter decisions, improve cashflow, get paid faster and access capital quickl...

The 10 ways to lift your margin

Improvements can always be made at the margin. Small tweaks to your processes or systems can make a massive difference to the end result. It’s the same with your business margin - a 1% increase in your gross margin on $500,000 of sales is an extra $5,000 on your bottom line.The best part about improving your margin is that you increase your profit without needing to lift your sales....

Talk to us now about Provisional Tax

The final provisional tax payment for the 2020/21 financial year will be due on May 7. Cashflow issues? If you’re worried about paying your provisional tax, it’s important to work with us and Inland Revenue (IR) to find a solution. You may be able to use: Instalments – we can work out a payment plan on your behalf with IR.Tax pooling – once it’s set up, tax pooling lets you manage provisional payments effectivelyCovid relief – re-estimations of provisional tax, removin...

How to create a cash flow forecast for your business

A cash flow forecast is an important tool for business planning. And right now, understanding the cash coming in and going out of your business is vital.A cash flow forecast will show you how long your business can continue to survive on current sales levels, by showing you how much money you’ll have in the bank at the end of a period.It will give you an understanding of what the revenue drivers are in your business, and give you visibility of your expenses and the things you can control. Havi...

Tax shake-up targets property investors

A surprise move to change tax deductibility on rental properties has come as a shock to property investors. Owners of investment properties can no longer offset loan interest payments against rental income when calculating how much tax they have to pay. This will apply to all investment properties - for existing rentals it will be gradually introduced over four years.This will have an impact on you if:You own a rental property.You own an Airbnb or family holiday house.You are about to buy, or yo...

Six things you should know before the end of the financial year

We’d like to highlight a number of changes that have come in since COVID-19 hit so you can sail as smoothly as possible into the new financial year....

The minimum wage increases on 1 April 2021

From April 1 2021, the adult minimum wage will increase from the current rate of $18.90 per hour to $20 per hour. There are 3 types of minimum wage — adult, starting-out and training. The adult minimum wage - applies to employees aged 16 years or older. The starting out minimum wage - applies to workers who are: 16 and 17 years old and have been with their current employer for less than 6 months18 and 19 years old:have been paid a benefit for 6 months or morehaven’t worked for ...

Making data meaningful in your business

Raw data describes the facts and figures that a business processes every day. Over time, every business hoards a certain amount of data and it only becomes meaningful to a business after it has been processed to add context, relevance and purpose.For example, in a restaurant, every order will be recorded. However, a restaurant won't learn much by looking at each one in isolation. However, analysis of the orders will reveal trends and patterns, such as peak dining days or biggest-selling menu or ...

Staff Spotlight - Tania Brockelsby

...

Thinking of Buying a Business? Things to Consider

Buying an existing business can be a great way to get started as a business owner, or to expand operations if you are already running a business successfully.Established businesses have already done the hard work of setting up a business, so you can get up and running on day one without a lengthy formation process....

COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment & Other Support

On 8 February 2020 the Government announced a new COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment (STAP) to support employers and self-employed workers. The STAP is available from 9 February 2020, through Work and Income, to employers for employees, and self-employed workers, who: need to miss work to stay at home while waiting on a COVID-19 test result, andcannot work from home. The STAP is a one-off payment of $350. GST is not payable on the STAP. For self-employed workers the STAP is considered income, s...

Tenancy Laws are changing in NZ

New legislation in NZ tenancy law brings in a number of changes for landlords and tenants. Below are some of the changes: Increasing rent - From 12 August 2020, rent increases are limited to once every 12 months. This is a change from once every 180 days (six months). Required notice periods are changing - If the landlord or a family member is moving in, the notice period is 63 days notice and if the property is being sold, landlords must give 90 days. Ending periodic tenancies - ...

Who are your competitors? And what do you know about them?

Whatever your sector, niche or marketplace, there’s almost certainly going to be other competitors in that space – but do you know who they are and what threat they pose?Are you the only provider of your specialism, or are you one of many companies that are all vying for the same customers? Knowing who those companies are, how they compare and what their competitive advantages may be is a vital piece of business intelligence for you.So, how do you start this process of identifying ...

Introduction to the new tax rate of 39%

From 1 April 2021, a new personal tax rate of 39% will apply to income above $180,000. As you might expect, a number of other employment related taxes have also been increased to align with the new tax rate. These include: A new tax code (SA) for secondary employment earnings for an employee whose total PAYE income payments are more than $180,000.A new Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) rate of 63.93% for all-inclusive pay above $129,6­­­81 and the single rate and pooling of non-attributed fr...

Welcome to 2021!

What a year 2020 was… none of us saw that coming! We hope you had a well-deserved, relaxing break! While there’s a lot of uncertainty about what 2021 will bring, we can take our 2020 learnings and plan for a better 2021. As a firm, we learned just how agile our team is. From having to wear the ‘Teacher’ hat to meetings via Zoom… although further apart physically, we grew closer than ever; with each other and with many of our clients. We hope your experience was similarly posi...

Planning for seasonal dips in income

Seasonal dips in income can be highly challenging when you’re a small business. But there are proactive ways to predict, plan for and overcome these dips in revenue.The key to dealing with seasonal dips is to know when they’re most likely to occur, and to have measures in place to spread your income and revenue pipeline over the course of the year....

Upcoming tax deadlines

Are you ready for upcoming tax obligations? Review your cashflow forecast for December-January, especially if you are impacted by seasonal revenue.Both November and December GST are due for payment in January as well as provisional tax.If you are concerned you may not be able to pay the tax due, let us know and let’s look at your options.7 December - PAYE - Large employers’ payment due. File employment information within two working days after payday.21 December - PAYE - Small and ...

Top tips for building a strong company culture

Like it or not, all companies have a culture. Culture is built around the values, goals, attitudes and practices of a company. It's the way that people feel feel about the work they do, the values they believe in, where they see the company going and what they're doing to get it there.  While it might be easy to define culture in nice words, it can be much harder to grab hold of in daily business, especially when times get tough. A strong company culture is a driving force, underpinning a s...

Have you got a strategy for a financially stress free holiday period?

Holiday breaks are a time to spend with family, friends & have a chance to recharge for the year ahead. But, for a business owner this time can be stressful without careful cash flow planning. Even if you do continue to operate through the holiday shutdown season, your customers' financial behavior may not remain the same.It can be pretty disappointing to work hard all year only to find that once you have paid staff, overheads and creditors, you have little or nothing left in the bank to cover y...

New payment options at Shelley Tweedy & Associates

We know that times are tough so we are excited to let you know that we have recently partnered with SmartAR to provide you with more convenient and flexible ways to pay your accounting fees.  SmartAR allows us to process payments by credit card*, internet banking and POLi.  This is a secure platform, accessible 24/7 from anywhere with an internet connection.  Head to our website to pay by credit card, internet banking or POLi. Look for the 'Pay Now' option in the main menu, follow...

The Fundamentals of a Business Budget

A business budget is one of the essential tools in managing your business finances and actively building your business.A budget shows what you plan to do with your cash over the next year.For a complete picture of your business health, you need to review the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, the cash flow forecast and the budget. Taken together, these reports allow you to make informed business decisions and monitor performance....

Staff Spotlight - Kirsty Johnson

...

Risk & Reward - The Bright-line Test

In the age of data, Inland Revenue has access to more information than ever before. That means they are watching property sales closely to ensure that tax payers include any property sales caught by the bright-line test in their tax returns. We have recently been notified by the Inland Revenue that they believe several of our clients property sales meet the bright-line rules. And so with this in mind, we thought it timely to review the bright-line rules....

Changes to the Small Business Cash Flow (loan) Scheme

The Government has recently announced changes to the Small Business Cash Flow (loan) Scheme.  Under the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme, “viable” businesses can get a $10,000 loan. The size of the loan can be extended by $1800 for every full-time equivalent employee the business has, up to 50 employees. Initially available to 31 December 2020, business will now be able to apply for the loan up until 31 December 2023. The interest free period on the loan has been extended from one ye...

Building a Better Business in 10 Steps

You’re in business, congratulations, that takes courage and commitment.It’s not easy, and at times you might question why you’re even doing it, particularly after the impact Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns had on business.But you’re here because you had a vision. You decided being in business was a better way to achieve that vision than working for someone else. And, you’re right; you just have to work on it.It's likely that you're an expert at what you do… maybe you’re ...