Hugh's Views
Big Changes to Provisional Tax
Xero Partner
Communicate & Grow
BAS Client Survey
Congratulations to
Just a little reminder
Hang on to those Great Team Members
BAS Annual Golf Day
Christmas Hours
Disclaimer
HUGH'S VIEWS
2007 has gone and at times I wonder just quite where it went to. It has been an eventful year both in and out of the office, but we have been pretty happy with the way we have dealt with the workflow this year.
Planning for 2008 has already commenced in our office and this has been affected by a number of factors.
Leo Hulme left our employment in the middle of November to take up a position as an Accountant with a local business. We wish Leo well in his new job. His departure has meant we have had to look at how we are going to provide service to the clients he was responsible for.
I am trying to rearrange some of my work commitments so I can spend more time increasing our involvement in business development and coaching work.
We will be making some major announcements towards the end of March 2008 as to how we intend to progress the practice moving forward. These are largely to do with my plans for succession and should not have any major effect on our clients existing relationships.
Over the past few months I have been able to enjoy hosting some of my clients who I have been working with for 25 years plus. So far I have been able to spend time with five couples, and I know that I have at least another three to four to catch up on. This has been quite a rewarding experience as some stories from the past have surfaced and in particular the way each of these business’s have progressed. The fact that we have had these long relationships I hope means we have been doing some things right at least some of the time.
This thought has been reinforced by a really good response to our client questionnaire sent out in October. We received 80-odd responses from about 200 sent out. Percentage-wise this is a very good result as generally a 10%-20% response rate is considered acceptable. Ours was around the 40% which we are very pleased with. We received some very positive comments both as a firm but also for Patti, Sue, Maxine and Kathryn who probably have the most contact with our clients.
We are not perfect by any means and will be looking at the issues that were raised so we can do some work on these in the next year. Thank you to those who participated and those who commented.
On behalf of us all here at Business & Accounting Solutions we wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas break and trust that you will take the opportunity to refresh your enthusiasm for work and for life in general. We are certainly going to maximise the holiday period, but as usual someone will be on hand to take care of those little things that tend to pop up when least expected.
All the best for Christmas and the New Year – we all look forward to working with you in 2008.
BIG CHANGES TO PROVISIONAL TAX - by Mark Tait
New rules will be in place next year which will change the dates on which provisional tax is paid, and may also change the way your provisional tax is calculated.
Currently provisional tax is due on the 7 th day of the 4 th , 8 th , and 12 th months of your tax year. For 31 March balance dates this means provisional tax is due on 7 July, 7 November, and 7 March.
This system has been in place for quite some time now and seemed to me to be working just fine. However, the IRD, in their wisdom, have decided that a change was required. These changes have been trumpeted as making compliance much easier for small businesses. I certainly don’t agree that things have been made easier, but it’s something we have to live with.
Firstly, provisional tax is now due on the following dates (for a standard 31 March balance date).
1st Prov Tax date
was
7 July
now
28 August
2nd Prov Tax date
was
7 November
now
15 January
3rd Prov Tax date
was
7 March
now
7 May
Note that if you are registered for GST and file 6 monthly GST returns, then your provisional tax will only be due twice a year.
The other big change is that provisional tax can be calculated (and paid) by reference to your GST, if you elect to.
The new “ratio method” compares the Income Tax from last year against the GST sales from last year and applies this ratio to your GST sales for the current GST period. You would end up paying provisional tax every time you file a GST return. So, if you file a GST return every 2 months then provisional tax is payable every 2 months.
The main advantage of using this method is that you should supposedly have cash on hand to pay the provisional tax. If your business is seasonal you will pay your provisional tax based on when you get your money. Currently provisional tax is paid in three equal instalments, regardless of whether you have the money to pay.
The other big benefit is that if you use the ratio method then there will be no Use Of Money Interest.
We will be sending out some more information in the New Year, and reviewing your situation to see if the ratio method might be suitable to you.
XERO PARTNER
Our firm has signed up as a business partner of Xero, providers of online accounting software. We feel the Xero products will be well suited to some businesses in the Central Otago area as it allows several people simultaneously to access and work on the business data. This means the business owner can keep an eye on the key reports they need to run the business and the accountant/office staff can process transactions and produce the financial reports.
Contact either Mark, Paul or Hugh if you wish to discuss the applicability of Xero for your business or visit the website www.xero.com
COMMUNICATE & GROW
A powerful way to grow your own business is by helping to grow your customers’ businesses. Communicate with them regularly to help solve their problems and they will reward you with repeat business.
Communicate to:
· Listen – find out everything about your customer so you know how your business can help solve their problems: hold face-to-face meetings; talk regularly on the phone.
· Inform – tell your customers what you can do for them to help make their life easier: email, text or write to them to tell them what’s new or what’s coming up; produce regular newsletters.
· Promote – raise your profile and look professional: brand your business; produce brochures; corporate profiles; websites; set up excellent systems; write articles and news stories.
· Celebrate – have fun with your customers and celebrate events: send Christmas cards and/or gifts; congratulatory notes; welcome cards.
CLIENT SURVEY
Thanks to all our clients who completed the recent BAS client survey
We were very pleased with the range of responses and constructive comments received and these will assist us to improve our services in the future.
Congratulations to clients, Peter & Lynette Moorhouse of Hawea, the winners of our survey lucky draw. They have won a nights accommodation at the luxurious Dock Bay Lodge in Te Anau, owned by our clients, Dawn & Mark Dowling.
Dock Bay Lodge - Te Anau
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Paul and Jude Rillstone at Carpet Court in Alexandra. They recently won “Small Town” member of the year for Carpet Court nationally. This was for recognition of excellence by Carpet Court New Zealand and Group Suppliers. Well done Paul and Jude.
Please remember that our reception team may not always be the appropriate person to deal with your query when you ring or call into the office. We have had in the past a situation where they have been part of a “shoot the messenger” scenario. If you do want to query anything please ensure you talk with the correct person within our office, this will enable us to solve any problems that you may have.
HANG ON TO THOSE GREAT TEAM MEMBERS
Recruiting new team members is time-consuming and expensive. And even then, you don’t always get it right and often have to go through the process again.
Yes, recruitment is necessary but wouldn’t it be better to put more resources into holding onto your current staff?
Let’s look then at what keeps great team members in their job. Obviously people do want to be rewarded for their excellent work, but surveys show money is definitely not the only thing driving them. Employees also need responsibilities, independence, job satisfaction through interesting work, security, promotion, growth, good working conditions and a workplace culture based on open communication.
Some of the ways you could achieve this include:
-
· Get all the team involved in decision making and establish one-on-one meetings; be an effective listener
-
· Keep the team informed with the big picture as well as the work-in progress
-
· Don’t micro-manage – give team members their independence
-
· Always try to hire internally first
-
· Take performance appraisals seriously and be open and candid in your evaluations
-
· Look at career development opportunities with staff and encourage all employees to improve their skills and take on new responsibilities
-
· Develop flexible human resource policies on matters such as:
- · Parental leave
-
· Working time arrangements
-
· Sharing of jobs
-
· Treat all ideas, suggestions, issues and problems with utmost importance and action your promises
If an employee does resign, conduct an exit interview to obtain feedback. If there’s a problem somewhere, you need to be able to fix it before losing any further good staff.
BAS ANNUAL GOLF DAY
After an awful lot of planning, our Annual “May” Golf Day was finally held on the first Monday in December!
We headed out to the Naseby Golf Club for nine holes, and enjoyed a barbeque tea afterwards. Special thanks to Ellen and Sue on the drinks cart, they kept us all well hydrated throughout the afternoon. Diaries are now being marked for April next year to avoid another six month delay in getting out on the course. Thanks very much to Dave, Glenis & the team at Naseby Golf Club who hosted us. We had a great time.
We’d like to let you know our office hours over the Christmas break this year. We will be closing the office at
midday on Friday the 21st of December and reopening on Monday the 14th of January.
While we won’t be officially open for business, if you do need our assistance with something please call the office, 448 8060, and you will be able to leave a message or you may be diverted to Mark Tait who will be our on call person over the Christmas break, and will be able to help.
We hope you have a nice break and we will see you in the New Year.
DISCLAIMER
We don’t claim to know it all, so with that in mind here’s what we’re obliged to say; this newsletter has had input from a variety of sources, people and publications. For all input we are grateful. Grateful and careful. Whenever we can, we do our very best to ensure all the information contained in this newsletter is accurate and timely. If there’s something here you plan to place some considerable reliance on and we haven’t made the implications totally clear to you, get in touch and we’ll clarify it for you.