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Articles by Team Leaders

A TALE OF TWO BUSINESSESS

AUTHOR: Team Leaders

POSTED: 21 February 2013

For most clients, 1 April signals the start of the new year for business and tax purposes, and the month of March brings opportunities to minimise tax and maximise cash surpluses for the coming year.

In order to implement any opportunities, first a business must be organised.

By way of comparison, if you look at the extreme ends of the scale it is easy to imagine two very different types of small business. On the one hand there is Business One, the "traditional" or "shoe-box" operation. Their records, such as cheque stubs, receipts and bank statements, will be delivered to us, their accountant, to tidy up. They may well have opted to leave everything until the end of the year. Unfortunately this lack of preparation puts pressure on us, with the probability that this will be reflected in legitimate but high fees. The whole process inflicts pain on the business proprietor who is likely to take this out on the government, the accountant or the office cat.

There is a better and smarter way to do business.

Business Two has taken control of its financial management. The first step was to install and maintain an effective bookkeeping system, such as Xero. This would involve seeking help to set up a system and coaching on how to use it, or it may involve contracting a professional bookkeeper. In either case, the vital message is to ensure that records are kept in the form which is most efficient for us as the company's accountant. With well maintained records, completing GST on a regular two or six-monthly basis is much easier, and this in turn helps to spread tax payments and relieve end of year pressure.

Another important benefit for the second business is the ability to make financial decisions based on accurate knowledge of profit, loss and cash flow. Together with their GRA accountant, this will help in determining the most cost effective time and method for capital expenditure, such as updating equipment or motor vehicle replacement. We will also be able to look at early figures to predict the likely end of year performance and to recommend minimising tax by legitimate means.

So to summarise "A Tale of Two Businesses", the smart operator of Business Two is likely to have a good professional relationship with both his bookkeeper and accountant, and a contented office cat!

If you'd like to find out more about having GRA as your accountants, we'd be very pleased to talk to you - phone +64 9 522 7955, info@gra.co.nz or via our online form.

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Hi Salesh, I just wanted to send you an email on behalf of GRA to say how fantastic we have found your company to date. As you know, Ben and I joined GRA a couple of months ago and have just found you so amazingly helpful in getting our new property set up correctly and sorted out. We have what I would consider a rather complicated structure as a result and it’s a fantastic feeling to know that we are getting everything done in the best way possible. We have just had approval to put a minor dwelling on the property which will make a massive difference in terms of cash flow and obviously value, something we would never have even thought of without GRA and which we are very excited about. During the buying process we attended a seminar with Matthew and from the outset thought he was fab. We therein signed up for property school and found this nothing short of fantastic. The content was relevant, up to date and comprehensive, but more importantly it was taught in a way that we could actually understand and really get value out of. I wanted to mention also, that everybody GRA have recommended to us has been just so efficient and absolute masters at what they do. A wonderful network of people that we feel very lucky to now be able to call on. From Kris Pederson and Bryan Rist who put our mortgage together to the insurance guys they then referred us to, I’m super impressed. Within GRA, Ellery has probably turned things around for us faster than I’ve ever known before, something which we appreciated so very much when it came to crunch time. She’s always a pleasure to deal with and again, we’re stoked. We’ve just settled on the property today and are about to go and get the keys. I’m pretty pumped and hence this email is probably rather excitable. So, a massive thank you to you Salesh, the partners for such a fabulous 6 weeks at property school and everyone at GRA for their help. May this be the start of our property empire. Thanks again, - A & B - July 2015

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