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Welcome to Winter...

Freddy Farmer finally got round to clearing out the glove box of his ute and sorting out the pile of receipts and EFTPOS dockets, to make life easier for his accountant. Glovebox, shoebox, Freddy's fairly basic with his filing system when it comes to paperwork for GST claims. But, he's also very aware it's not very cost-effective – or great for relations – to hand his accountant a box full of paper, coins and lolly wrappers. So, Freddy starts the task of sorting out the paper pile. He k...

In the community

Last Friday the team had a Pink Ribbon Breakfast at Rouge to assist in raising funds for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. Money raised from this year's Pink Ribbon Breakfasts will fund research projects and medical grants to help improve the survivorship of breast cancer in New Zealand. It was an enjoyable breakfast and even Grant was wearing his pink tie, with his trade mark white shirt! ...

Fonterra - Farmgate Milk Prices

This week it was announced that the current forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the 2014/15 season to $4.40 per kgMS. Along with the previously announced dividend range of 20-30 cents per share, the change amounts to a forecast Cash Payout of $4.60 - $4.70 for a fully shared-up farmer. This revision means there will also be a reduction to Advance Rate payments for August and September The 10 cent reduction to the forecast reflects the reality that global commodity prices have not increased as...

In the Office

We recently celebrated Jacqui's 20 years with Accounted4. Congratulations Jacqui on this amazing achievement!...

In the industry

Last Thursday the current National led Government released its 7th budget. It was definitely an interesting budget from National that continues its policy of fiscal restraint but also introduces some measures to assist low income families and tax cuts for all in the form of ACC levy reductions. The Government was aiming for a budget surplus this year but a deficit of $684m is now anticipated, due to lower tax revenue collected because of low inflation and economic impacts from commodity price dr...

For your office - Payroll team update

As an employer, you are legally required to keep a number of records such as a holiday and leave record and a wages and time record. Good records are also in your best interests – they provide evidence that your employee has received their correct entitlements and also contain valuable information for budgeting and planning purposes. These records must be made available to the relevant employee, their union and the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment on request. They can be sto...

Accounts team update

The IRD have recently announced this year's livestock Herd Scheme Values and we think this is a great opportunity to update you on the latest movements. The Herd Scheme Values are the National Average Market Values as determined by a process involving a review of the livestock market as at 30 April. Dairy Cattle 2015 sees the combination of the Friesian and Jersey categories of livestock for the first time. The overall value represents the "average" dairy herd throughout New Zealand. Even th...

Useful information

Sick of loosing your wallet or keys all the time? You can now locate anything in seconds using your iPhone or Android. Get yourself small bluetooth tags to put on everything you keep losing. There are a couple on the market "The Tile", The Trackr" "Find'Em Tracking" and a few more, just attach them to everything you may misplace and they are now easily found when they go missing. ...

Featured Client

Alpino represents a combination of hard work, passion and belief. Cambridge was seen as a promising present and future market, with its positive community growth and well travelled citizens. The original town Post Office with its historic classical façade, gave a certain familiarity of the Owners European homeland. With a family background in the Italian Alpine Region of the Dolomites, combined with Chefs brought in from Italy – Alpino's authenticity has paved its way in a very competitiv...

Featured Partner

Fegan & Co was established in 1997 with the intention of assisting farmers with their HR and Health & Safety. John Fegan and his team have not wavered from that theme and still provide that service today. They are dedicated to helping their clients 'do it right' – be it recruitment, staff management, staffing structures or health & safety. All of these areas have become very important to all businesses and having a company such as Fegan & Co focussed on the rural sector means t...

Business Advisory team update

About 130 or so years ago, noted British Naturist and author Charles Darwin was allegedly quoted as saying that "It is not the strongest of the species that survives or the most intelligent but the one most adaptable to change." As you are only too aware the market is constantly changing; dairy prices up then down, fuel prices down then up and exchange rates all over the place. To 'survive' this uncertainty means adapting quickly to the altering needs, wants and/or expectations of your current a...

Building great client relationships

There is a saying that the best customers are the ones you already have. So once you've schmoozed and wooed someone into your client base, how do you go about keeping their business? Establishing trust and maintaining rapport in your business will be critical to building strong client relationships. When you're getting to know your clients, it's important to identify common ground. The easiest way to start doing this is by listening. Learn about people by asking questions and from here you'll ...

ESCT Threshold Annual Review at 1st April

It is an employer's responsibility to review all employees' ESCT - Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax thresholds at the 1st April each year. If you haven't already done this, we highly recommend that you review all employees rates, make changes and if necessary document your review/changes. Determining the ESCT rate The easiest way to determine your employee's ESCT rate is by combining their annual salary or wages and your gross annual KiwiSaver employer contributions. This is called the...

10 things you need to do before the Mondayised Anzac Day

The Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and Anzac Day) Amendment Bill or, as it is more commonly known, the 'Mondayisation Bill', will have its first big impact on Anzac Day. Here are 10 simple things you can to do to make sure your business stays compliant: Know what's new. The 'Mondayisation Bill' states that from now on, when Waitangi Day (6 February) or Anzac Day (25 April) fall on a weekend, the public holiday must be treated as falling on the following Monday for employees who w...

Accounted4 Farming Forum

Planting and removal of trees - is this tax deductible? Can you claim anything for tar-sealing your driveway? If you build stockyards, is this a capital cost or deductible as fencing? Is replacement of your shed plant and equipment classed as repairs and maintenance or capital? If you would like to know some general, but important, tax tips then you should attend the Accounted4 Farming Forum - "Tax Tips for Farmers" Thursday 7th May - 10.30am to 12.30pm (morning tea provided) Present...

Parental Leave

This section brings together basic information about the rights and obligations of employees, employers and self-employed people in respect of parental leave. It contains the current parental leave entitlements, featuring statutory paid parental leave for birth mothers, their partners, as well as adoptive parents. Changes to parental leave The Government has announced changes to parental leave provisions as part of the 2014 Budget: The current 14 weeks' of paid parental leave will be incre...

Scaling back to retirement

We do have some important team changes to tell you about. Firstly, after joining the firm in 1976, Director John Landers is scaling back in the lead-up to retirement. Over the next two years, he will remain with the firm on a consultancy basis. John is looking forward to a bit more time on leisure activities like fishing and travel....

In the Office

Kim's 10 Year Anniversary We recently celebrated Kim's 10 years with Accounted4. Congratulations Kim and we look forward to the next 10! New Team Member We are pleased to announce a new member to our team; Theres Weenink - Theres is currently completing her Bachelor of Business Analysis majoring in Accounting at Waikato University and will be working part time from early May until the end of this University year when she will then move to fulltime beginning November 2015. She will be...

In the Community

We recently had a Networking over Coffee event at our office as part of our involvement with the Chamber of Commerce. It was great to have about 40 local business people together to mix and mingle. We decided to do something a little different this year. After all, it's not just about the numbers! We decided to be a little innovative and have some challenging activities for our guests! This involved tasks like writing instructions on how to tie a shoelace, and to build a tower with skewers ...

In the Industry

There are some basics that businesses need to get right to make sure they meet their tax responsibilities. Inland Revenue focus on making it easy to understand what you need to do to get these basics right. They do this by providing information, tools, services and reminders for people who need them. 1) Your responsibilities as an employer Your main responsibilities to Inland Revenue are making the correct deductions from your employees' salaries (eg, PAYE, KiwiSaver), filing your employer mo...

Business Advisory team update

Accountants talk of budgeting. This is putting dollar amounts to a business plan. What is a business plan? It's anything you like! Why do we urge you to plan? Because you'll get better profits if your plan is a success. It doesn't matter how small your business is, planning should make it bigger. For small businesses best results are likely if you focus on boosting sales – but NOT at cut prices. Don't think of a number and say: "That's my target." Do think of a number and think about how yo...

Featured Client

Hamilton based Grasshopper Rock wine company has become one of Central Otago's most successful Pinot Noir labels. Established in 2003 and dedicated exclusively to Pinot Noir the company's wine is now sold in New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA and parts of Asia. Managing Director and ex-rural banker, Phil Handford, says the five founding families all have agriculture backgrounds and mostly met when they worked at The Rural Bank. "We believed if we found the right site we could grow some of the world...

Featured Partner

In 2013 the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants voted overwhelmingly in favour of amalgamating the two organisations. From 2015 the trans-Tasman organisation is known as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. They are made up of over 100,000 diverse, talented and financially astute professionals who utilise their skills every day to make a difference for businesses the world over. Members are known for professional int...

Accounts Team Update

As usual, when the end of the financial year is approaching it's a good idea to make sure everything's in good order. Take a look at: How much stock you are carrying at the end of the year. Dispose of any obsolete lines or write the stock down to its net realisable value Planned dividend payments and the company's imputation credit account balance. We will be reviewing these in March. Be aware that some DWT may be payable in April for this! Debtors: If you have taken reasonable steps to...

Payroll team update

Minimum Wage Increase The adult minimum wage is going up by another 50c effective from 1st April 2015 to $14.75 per hour. This rate applies to all workers 18 years and over. The 'training' and 'starting out' hourly minimum wage will also rise to $11.80 per hour; these rates are 80% of the adult minimum wage. This rate can be paid to 16 and 17 year olds for the first 200 hours or three months of employment then the adult minimum wage applies. The rates are gross before tax and holiday pay mus...