Articles
A trip to Xerocon Sydney: Business is changing
Date: September, 2014Authors: Vanessa Williams | Director | Alliott NZ Ltd
In August Greg and I went to Xerocon 2014 in Sydney. What did we learn? There are Xero Add-ons for everything these days. If you can think of it, there’s an Add-on for it.
In fact there are so many Add-ons out there that the Xerocon iPhone App had them and their exhibitors listed by category. For example: farming, inventory, invoicing, payroll, property management, share management, point of sale, media, CRM, benchmarking, financial reporting, cash flow, budgeting software, project management, and the list goes on.
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Declaring insurance payments
Date: August, 2014Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
If you receive any insurance payments, they may affect the amount of tax you pay.
If you're a business or rental property owner, you may need to declare some insurance payments in your income tax and GST returns. These could affect the amount of tax you pay.
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Paid parental leave maximum entitlement rate increases
Date: August, 2014Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
The paid parental leave (PPL) weekly maximum entitlement rate increased from $488.17 to $504.10 (before tax) from 1 July 2014. This rate applies to employees and self-employed workers who are entitled to receive the maximum PPL rate..
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No change to 2014 mileage rate
Date: September, 2014Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
The motor vehicle mileage rate is reviewed every year and the rate for 2014 will remian at 77 cents a kilomtre for both petrol and diesel fuel vehicles.
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Investing your money: Is it time to send your money on an OE?
Date: September, 2014Author: David Burt | Investment Specialist | Alliott Financial Management (NZ) Ltd
Visualise a $2 coin sitting on a table. This represents the size of the share market in New Zealand.
Now compare that to an enormous pile of $2 coins on the same table. It reaches all the way to the ceiling and through the hole it’s made in it. This represents the rest of the world’s share markets.
The big pile is impossible to ignore.
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Changes to Inland Revenue payment services
Date: July, 2014Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
From 1 October 2014 the Inland Revenue is changing its current payment services through Westpac and how it views payments as having been 'received on time'.
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Accounting for change: The Cloud is a good thing
Date: July, 2014Authors: Vanessa Williams | Greg Millar | Directors | Alliott NZ Ltd
The Small Business Accounting industry has been through a marked change in the last 10 years. Cloud-based accounting applications such as Xero, and the add-on apps that extend its functionality, have put powerful accounting software within the reach of business owners.
As an ‘early adopter’, Alliott NZ first became involved with Xero six years ago and are now a Xero Gold Partner. They could already see the significant benefits it offered their clients. It enabled them to have a complete IT solution to suit their accounting needs at a fraction of the cost that they would have had to pay a few years earlier.
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Investing your money: Surf where the waves are big?
Date: July, 2014Author: David Burt | Investment Specialist | Alliott Financial Management (NZ) Ltd
Clients often ask me where in the world they should invest and the saying “Surf where the waves are big” sometimes springs to mind. If you want a big reward, you need to be where the action is.
So where is the investment action right now? Where should you start to look?
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To Add-on or not to Add-on? That is the question.
Date: June, 2014
Authors: Emma Clare | Jill Robertson | Alliott NZ Ltd
Take two retail businesses. Biz One is high volume, low margin and Biz Two is low volume, high margin. Both use Xero and both want better cost management, stock control and sales insight. Time for an add-on, right? Well, not necessarily.
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Never underestimate the power of being there in person
Date: December, 2013Authors: Vanessa Williams | Greg Millar | Directors | Alliott NZ Ltd
Why is face time with your customers, suppliers and peers is so important?
Whilst attending the Alliott Group Worldwide Annual Conference during October of this year, we were reminded of one key, fundamental fact time and again: Never underestimate the power of being there in person. We learnt so much during our four days in Hong Kong but we kept coming back to this simple truth. Why?
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The tax treatment of entertaining & gift giving
Date: December, 2013Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
Let's look at the tax treatment of saying thanks to customers and staff typically with gifts, wining and dining.
Our quick reference guide gives the following examples of where entertainment expenses are 50% deductible and a list of 100% deductible items:
- Taking customers, suppliers and business associates out for dinner or putting on a function for them
- The traditional Christmas party for staff
Your guide to calculating holiday pay
Date: December, 2013Author: Alliott NZ Ltd
Kiwi business, especially those involved in contracting and service industries often close for annual holidays just prior to Christmas and re-open in the New Year. Many businesses encourage their Staff to take leave over the festive season 'when things are quiet'. Staff employment agreements will include provision for staff to take at least part of their annual leave during this close down period. The calculation of holiday pay is an integral part of employees' final pay for the calendar year.
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We'd prefer to be your fence, rather than your ambulance
Date: October, 2013Author: Greg Millar | Director | Alliott NZ Ltd
Since the Penny & Hooper decision by the Supreme Court, have you checked your tax status?
We've prepared a report that covers a synopsis of the Penny and Hooper Decision and the IRD's current position in more detail.
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The importance of choosing the right accountant
Date: September, 2012Author: Vanessa Williams | Director | Alliott NZ Ltd
At this time of year most business owners are thinking about their annual financial statements and the cost of having them prepared.
From a client's point of view the cost of accounting fees is important but cheaper is not always better. A cheap deal may end up more expensive in the long run.
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Post GFC are shares the new place to be?
Date: September, 2013Author: David Burt | Investment Specialist | Alliott Financial Management (NZ) Ltd
Bonds, with their well-earned reputation for modest but steady returns, looked so very attractive in the risk-averse wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). In fact they looked so good that huge amounts of cash chased bonds worldwide in the period 2008-2012. Understandable, of course, but the result has been what you always get when lots of money bids for one asset class – a price bubble.
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What does your Income Protection policy really pay out?
Date: September, 2013Author: Brett Pearce | Registered Financial Adviser | Pearce Financial Services Ltd
Many business owners, shareholders and partners hold personal Income Protection policies to ensure their income continues in the event of an accident or illness. Their belief is their policy will pay out without any problems. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily the case.
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