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Livestock Herd Scheme 2014

Dairy Cattle Following the drop in values after the widespread 2012/2013 drought we have seen an increase in values once again in the 2014 National Average Market Values (Herd Scheme Values). Mixed age Friesian cows have increased by 4.8% to $1,963 and mixed age Jersey cows by 9.5% to $1,782. Following last year’s significant drop in rising one year heifers we have seen a modest increase this year - with Friesian R1  heifers increasing by 6.1% to $946.Beef Cattle Following...

For your office

Agricultural Industry - Minimum Wage and Employment Agreements   The ‘hot topic’ in the agricultural industry about the minimum wage and employment agreements is still a moving target however, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) have released their Position Statement on the Minimum Wage and Employment Agreements in the Agricultural Industry. Of the 44 farms visited by the MBIE between December 2013 and April 2014, 31 were in breach of minimum employment rig...

Featured Client

Tucked round the corner in Duke Street, Cambridge, you will find Creative Jewellery and John Jardine hard at work at his bench. John has been a manufacturing jeweller/goldsmith for 44 years now, and specialises in his own designs, re-modelling and one-off handmade pieces. John is an onsite manufacturing jeweller/goldsmith and runs the store with his daughter Fiona, who has been his retail assistant for 9 years.   Creative Jewellery offers a range of specialised services includi...

Featured Partner

Rocketspark make beautifully simple websites.  They are based here in Cambridge, but have clients all over New Zealand and the UK.  With Rocketspark you can make your own website for no setup cost and a small monthly fee or if you'd rather get them to do it all for you, they have design & build options. Rocketspark redesigned the Accounted4 website for us and we are regularly getting feedback from new clients that the reason they chose us was the professional look of our website and ho...

Business Advisory team update

Anyone who has been hit hard by Inland Revenue (IRD) late  payment penalties and use of money interest (UOMI) for unpaid or underpaid tax knows how crippling this can be.  It’s the last thing you want to happen.  However, using tax pooling to settle income tax liabilities reduces  your exposure to late payment penalties and UOMI, meaning it is  cheaper than paying the money directly to IRD. Tax pooling allows you to purchase tax from someone who has  ov...

In the community

We pride ourselves on being involved in the community through participation in local events and having a focus on regular sponsorship of Cambridge community family and sporting organisations. For the third consecutive year, Accounted4 are proud sponsors of Cambridge Netball . We show our support  by hosting the naming rights to Court 3.  Several of our team are also involved with Cambridge Netball....

Scaling back to retirement

Forty-seven years after he joined the firm, chartered accountant John Boone is scaling back in the lead-up to retirement. Over the next three years, he will remain with the firm on a consultancy basis. John joined what was then Shannon Wrigley & Co. in 1967, becoming a partner in 1975. He worked full-time and completed the professional qualification through the Waikato Technical Institute in Hamilton, while crafting a career with a strong interest in Accounting for the rural sector and sm...

Christmas before we know it…

Like us here at accounted4 you will more than likely be asking yourself where did March, April,  and May go?! It sure has been a fast start to the year and we are really winding it up even more as we crank into the start of what are traditionally the busiest months of  the year for us  - June through to October. Now is the time to start thinking about collating your 2014 financial  information.   One of our team may contact you as a friendly reminder to bring t...

Working examples of calculations for farm employees

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Position Statement the Minimum Wage and Employment Agreements in the Agricultural Industry

Deductions from wages that employees have formally agreed to in exchange for the provision of accommodation or other goods or services by their employer can be included for the purposes of assessing compliance with the Minimum Wage Act 1983.Background Many employees in the agricultural industry are offered accommodation and other goods and services as part of their employment. This statement sets out the Labour Inspectorate’s position on how the provision of accommodation and other goods and s...

MINISTRY OF BUSINESS INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT – Minimum Wage Order changes

The Minimum Wage Order is changing to include a fortnightly minimum wage rate. The new Order will take effect from 26 June 2014, and aims to ensure workers have stable employment and employers face fair costs when it comes to minimum wage payments. How will this change affect employers and employees? Most employers and employees will be unaffected by the new Order. It affects primarily minimum wage earners who are paid salaries. Employers: If you pay your employees either by piecework, or b...

Budget 2014 - Tax Implications

The National Government released its sixth budget on 15 May 2014, with much of the pre-release hype relating to the expectation the country’s books would finally be returning to a surplus. The Government indeed announced a budgeted surplus of $372 million for the 2014/2015 year, which they consider will be achieved thanks to improved economic conditions (cheers Farmers!), and tight fiscal management with Government expenditure forecast to be 30.3% of GDP in 2014, dropping from 34.3% of GDP in ...

Important Changes in Payment Services to Inland Revenue from 1 October 2014

 Customers will no longer be able to make cheque payments or drop off returns or forms at any Westpac bank. Any cheque payments, returns and forms will need to be posted directly to Inland Revenue. Customers can continue to make cash and eftpos payments at Westpac branches.  Online banking, credit and debit cards and international money transfers are also accepted payment methods. Payments posted to Inland Revenue need to be received by Inland Revenue on or before the due dat...

Student loan deductions for full-time employees

Tertiary students with a student loan will be required to repay their student loan at a rate of 12% of their total gross earnings above the $367 per week threshold. If a student earns under this amount, then no student loan deductions are required in that weekly period.   During the longer school holidays where a tertiary student is working full-time and earning over $367 gross, if they are still registered as a full-time tertiary student they can apply for a ‘Student loan repaymen...

Tax credits for school children

Tax credits for children The tax credit for children was repealed from 1 April 2012 and the entitlement to claim it was withdrawn in May 2012. The tax credit had covered the tax on the first $2,340 of income.   What this means for employers -  From 1 April 2013, employers must deduct PAYE from salary/wages  from all school children -  For those school children who are existing members of KiwiSaver, employee contributions will need to be deducted at 3%. No employer cont...

Farming Forum held on 15th April

Our farming forum held recently out at the new Avantidrome was a huge success. Grant Calvert, Director of accounted4 presented with guest speaker, Craig McBeth, Regional Team Manager for DairyNZ. Those attended were fortunate to receive valuable tax advice and information on Dairy Industry trends and how DairyNZ supports our farmers.    Please remember to vote on the Dairy Farmers Levy!...

Consumer Law Change

You may or may not know that new legislation is not far from coming into force in relation to Consumer Law. The Consumer Law Reform Bill was passed in December 2013, with many changes to existing laws coming into force on 18 June 2014. Other parts come into effect on 18 March 2015. The changes are in part designed to harmonise our laws with Australia by amending the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (CGA) and the Fair Trading Act 1986 (FTA). This blog will look at a few of the changes coming, ...

Trustees Duties - More than meets the eye!

I recently attended a course on Trusts, which focused on the rules around Trustees Duties. I thought it would be good to discuss some of these, as a lot of people either have never known, or easily forget just what they are expected to do. It is no secret that New Zealander’s love Trusts. It is estimated there are up to 500,000 trusts operating in New Zealand. We have the highest number of trusts per capita in the world. The whole notion of Trust’s began way back with the Crusades. Ba...

The Wheel Keeps Turning...

As the 2013 financial year draws to a close we here at accounted4 are busy finishing off last years accounts and getting things geared up for 2014. We are also fast approaching our first anniversary of the change to accounted4. We are settling in some new staff, have some exciting new clients and are doing more in the community through the Chamber of Commerce and other initiatives. So while one year is ending, there is no stopping. It’s the same for you and your businesses – things...

XERO - Heralding the Future!

On the 20th and 21stof February four team members travelled up to Xerocon – a huge conference with nearly 1,000 accountants and bookkeepers to find out where things are at, and what is coming with Xero. Many of you will have heard us talking about Xero already, and 2014 will see some of you get your annual accounts prepared through Xero for the first time. It was great to see the progress being made to get Xero Farming humming – one of the last hurdles is getting Fonterra to provide ...

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...

Business Advisory Team Update

John Key has announced the election will be held on September 20. Between now and then many policies will come and go, statements will be made, fingers wagged, and babies kissed. The introduction of a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is something we will undoubtedly hear a fair bit about. Both Labour and the Greens have the introduction of CGT as a main plank in their policy platforms. Their reasoning includes things like making the tax system ‘fairer’, responding to speculation in the housing ma...

Farming Seminar

As this newsletter goes to press we are in the planning stages of a seminar for our farmers on topical issues including Trusts, tax planning, herd schemes and succession planning. Grant Calvert will be the presenter and we will also have a guest speaker from Dairy NZ. Pencil it in your diary now and watch for the official invite to arrive soon....

In the Office

New Team Members We are pleased to announce two new members to our team; Geoff Hurst CA started in our accounting team in January 2014 and works mainly for Martyn and David. Geoff is a qualified CA and comes to us after 8 years at IRD. Geoff is married and has a baby daughter. It is great to have him on board. Karen Carroll started with us in March as our Client Services/Executive Assistant. Karen formerly worked as Events Co-ordinator and Administrator of the Cambridge Chamber of...

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 45 local business people together to mx and mingle. It made us wonder if there is an increasing trend of businesses collaboration starting to show itself. Or, if not, whether it should be! Cambridge has a perfect opportunity at the moment to show the best aspects of collaboration with the Avantidrome bringing many elite sportspeople and their familie...