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Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver and paperwork. We have compiled a list of the top 6 payroll mistakes employers make when employing staff:…  Read more

Do you know if the information in your financial software is current and correct ?  A small business owner either does this themselves, or relies on someone else to do this ‘job’ for them.  There is a whole lot of faith and trust given that the processes are followed and the data is correct. So who in your business checks and confirms the accuracy of this financial information for your business?   Who manages this risk within…  Read more

If you’re a small business with simple job costing needs, projects is likely the perfect solution for you. It’s important to know which jobs that you do deliver the best return on investment, and which ones need to be reined in.  Xero have released their latest feature to help with this, Xero Projects.  This is a simple way to capture, track and report on the time and money spent on…  Read more

Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver. Regardless of the size or complexity of your business, Ontrack Payroll has you sorted work hard to make your payroll easy as possible for…  Read more

The last couple of months have seen me on a plane (or a bus….) more often than not, so it has been lovely to spend the last two weeks at home with my family. Sometimes work seems to take over and the ever elusive ‘work/life balance’ goes out the window. Are you ensuring you are looking after yourself and have balance in your life? September saw me attend Xerocon in…  Read more

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business and is so critical to its growth.  Its all to do with timing and delays. Here are Di’s 10 tips below for cashflow made easy: Keep your eye on the cash – do a cashflow forecast and compare it to actuals regularly to ensure you are tracking in the right direction. Always have separate business bank accounts for each of your businesses.  Separating…  Read more

Talking about payroll and leave entitlements causes people to run and hide and brings on headaches of gigantic proportions. How on earth is the average business owner meant to understand what their obligations are?  Confused?  I am not surprised! Let me try and explain… 1. Annual leave accrues in weeks not hours The Act provides two dimensions for annual leave – time and money. The time dimension, 4 weeks, accrues at the end…  Read more

It’s that time of the year when every second ad on TV, the radio or the net is advertising tax refunds. Woohoo… show me the money, My tax refund… money on the mind… and many more.  The question always is “Which company do I go for to get my money back?”, then it’s “wait…what?? they’re charging how much??”. When these companies are charging upwards of 20%-30%, (or ‘ONLY $39″ with…  Read more

Do you feel like you drown in paperwork? I often get asked what is the best way to file receipts and invoices, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you. There is no right or wrong way on how to file your business invoices and receipts, except that in NZ they need to be kept for seven years.  How quickly and efficiently you would like to access them…  Read more

Contractor tax changes (Information courtesy of Business.govt) All contractors can have tax deducted from their pay at a rate of their choosing, and some MUST now do this. If you get it wrong, you might find your pay packet is 45% lighter than you expect. If their payer agrees, all contractors can now have tax deducted from their pay at a flat rate of their choosing.  All Contractors hired by…  Read more

I know, its a confusing topic right? There are so many questions! How does the average New Zealander figure it out? Well, hopefully we can help unravel the mystery of the Contractor versus Employee confusion. In a nutshell, an employee is said to have a “contract of service” with an employer, while a contractor is said to have a “contract for service”. Why the difference is important An employee is engaged…  Read more

The end of financial year (EOFY) is zooming up so fast, its hard to get your head around how time just disappears. Now is the time to be thinking about the end of year requirements.   Preparation and some thinking around this now will ensure a smooth process for you.  Here are a few of the things you may need to consider:- Are you changing or implementing software come 31st March?  Are…  Read more

Xero wrote a little story about the Ontrack journey.. You can read about it here  Read more

Generally speaking if you are charging others for goods and/or services with a view to making a profit (your aim does not need to be the result) you are usually operating a business and liable to file a tax return and pay tax on any profit (or claim the loss against any other income if you made a loss). When you have a business you have a range of responsibilities…  Read more

Bookkeeping is a significant part of any business endeavor. While it is typically not one of the more glamorous jobs, bookkeeping is at the heart of a businesses success and errors can cost the company significantly. You may be doing your own bookkeeping for your business or are just starting out on the own your own business journey. Here are some common bookkeeping mistakes that business’s make with some practical advice: Not reconciling…  Read more

Using your OWN vehicle in your business If you use your own vehicle in the business, you can claim the running costs. If you use your own vehicle for both personal and business use, you’ll need to make an adjustment to claim the business-use portion. If you use the vehicle strictly for business only, you can claim the full running costs.  If you use the vehicle to travel between home…  Read more

There is a cool little feature I came across in Microsoft Office Outlook to save a whole heap of time.  Its called Quick Parts. In Outlook, type the body of your email template out in your email. Eg: We have finalised your GST for you today.  You have GST owing of $…..  This is due by the …….. You can pay this using your internet banking.  Log in and go…  Read more

The entertainment rules can be rather confusing right?  Some things are deductible, some are 50% and some you cant claim at all.  Some you can but then FBT kicks in.  Goodness me! So I thought I would collate some info that might just help make things a little clearer.. Entertainment Expenses and their Income tax and GST Treatment General Rule If you provide entertainment for your team, clients or any other business…  Read more

The collection of paperwork for year end purposes is really important. If the correct paperwork isn’t provided to your accountant, then there is a whole lot of time spent going back and forth trying to get the information they need and in the end it just ends up costing you a whole lot more than it needs to to produce your financial statements and tax returns..  lets face it, it can…  Read more

There are a lot theories around about whether you should be GST registered or not.  My advice, if you don’t have to be, then don’t be.  And you do not need to be unless you have or are going to be turning over $60k in any 12 month period. (BTW It doesn’t necessarily make you more ‘professional’ to be registered.) Being GST registered means a whole lot more compliance for your small…  Read more