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Paid parental leave has extended

When:  As of the 1st July 2020 What: Paid parental leave has increased from 22 to 26 weeks. You are already required to provide job-protected parental leave to eligible employees for a minimum of 26 weeks if the employee meets the 6-month employment test (who’ve worked for you for at least an average of 10 hours a week for six months or more). For employees who meet the 12-month employment test (who’ve worked for you for at least an average of 10 hours a week for 12 months or more), the...

Xero for farming

Great farms need great teams The best farmers surround themselves with experts and make use of technology to lighten the workload. And that’s why Xero, Figured and PaySauce have come together to form the definitive agricultural financialmanagement partnership. At its core, Xero provides all the tools you need to take care of the numbers, from streamlining data capture and entry, and automated bank reconciliations, to invoicing, expenses, bill m...

Your quarterly Fringe Benefits Tax return is due soon

Your quarterly FBT return is due soon.If you’re an employer, and you provide benefits to your employees that are additional to their salary or wage, such as personal use of a company vehicle, you need to pay tax on these. This type of tax is called Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT).When to file your FBT returnYou need to file quarterly returns unless you’re eligible for, and actively choose, to file your returns annually. The table below outlines the next filing and payment due dates for each FBT qua...

The wage subsidy extension - what you need to know

By now, many businesses that have been affected by COVID-19 have applied for support through the wage subsidy.If you are one of them, keep in mind that the subsidy comes with specific conditions. We want to help you keep your business afloat and keep your team together. If anything changes that may affect your eligibility or entitlement to the subsidy, you must notify the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) within 5 working days.Applications have now closed for the wage subsidy. However, if you...

Featured Client: Bike, Hike, Stay

My name is Greta Verhoeven and I have a small tour business. I organize day tours as well as overnight tours. I also am happy to support our local community with transport to and from town, evenings out or an event either around Cambridge or farther a field.  Please get in touch if you would like to get away with friends and require transport or I'm happy to add you to my mailing list so you are always up to date with what I've got to offer and what tours are available. Home - 07 827 8832 M...

Accounting Team Vacancy

What’s the role We are seeking a confident, energetic and motivated person with at least 2-3 years of accounting experience in a CA office to join our accounting team. We are flexible with work hours and options to work some hours from home.  This is a great opportunity for the right person who wants to fast-forward their accountancy and business advisory career, while working closely with a variety of interesting clients and a supportive, professional and fun team. What you need At leas...

Payroll Update

HOLIDAY PAY ISSUES BACK IN THE MEDIA!Its back in the spotlight again as a large NZ payroll provider has admitted to issues with several of their software programmes for calculating leave. The main issue is where employees work variable hours.All employees must have agreed hours of work written into their employment agreements. Check out this link or contact your payroll provider if you have any queries: https://www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/hours-of-work...

Events at A4

Xero for Beginners Keep your eye out on our website or in your emails for advertising for our popular 'Xero for Beginners' Workshop. RSVP HERE for this workshop so that you don't miss out! This workshop will cover the basics in Xero and will be similar to the Xero for Beginners course held last year. A4 Webinars During lock-down we ran two online client webinars via Zoom People in Mind, in association with A4, ran a webinar on 'Making the Right HR decision moving forward'. This focused on m...

Featured Partner: People in Mind

People in Mind is an HR consultancy business based in Cambridge.   Established in 2001, they are a little different from most HR companies. They’ve studied “people”. Employee behaviour is their specialty. Couple that knowledge with expertise in employment practices and you have yourself a very strong employer advocate. Employing people can come with challenges whether that’s in the recruitment phase, the induction and development stage or sometimes (unfortunately) needing to wo...

Get to know: Samantha Earnshaw

Samantha started working for Accounted 4 in May 2020 as an Intermediate Accountant in Martyn’s team. Originally from close to Whangamata, she moved to Dunedin to start her study, before moving back up the country to Wellington where she finished her Bachelor of Commerce, and begun working for one of the “Big Four”. At the end of 2018, she made her way back home to the Waikato to be closer to her family and fiancé, where she finished up her nearly 2.5 years at the previous firm, before joi...

In the Office

We welcome Lisa Crawford into our Client Services Team. Lisa joined the firm on the 1st April and can be found out at reception working closely with Steff. Lisa has also picked up the role of being Geoff Hurst's Client Services Assistant. Next time you are in at reception make sure to say hello to Lisa!...

Accounting 101: What we need at Annuals Time

You may be thinking “I have all my data on Banklink/Xero, why do you still ask for my records”? Although our computer system might show the year end balances and amounts, we need extra confirmation from a second source that the information we have is correct, and that nothing is missing, duplicated or miscoded. Here are some key documents that we need that commonly get missed, and an explanation as to why we need them. Providing these to your accountant will make the job quicker and more eff...

How Inland Revenue can help your business at this time

If your business is struggling to meet its tax payments at this time, there's plenty of ways Inland Revenue can help. Click the button below to download a PDF from Inland Revenue with some helpful information Please feel free to get in touch with us for help with the different options that could apply to you. ...

Xero Business Insights

The feature provides a visual dashboard of key financial metrics, so you can quickly see how your business is doing and start a deeper conversation with your advisor here at A4.Business Snapshot displays Xero data in beautiful charts, tables and at-a-glance figures that make it easy to compare profit and loss, turnover, expenses and efficiency between different periods. It can also help you manage cash flow, by allowing you to see your cash balance and the average time it takes to get paid and p...

Government announces interest free loans for NZ SMEs

The New Zealand government has announced an interest free loan scheme for small and medium enterprises.The small business cashflow scheme is 100% backed by the government and aims to help enterprises meet their immediate cash flow needs and fixed costs. It comes after the business finance guarantee scheme, which the government launched in partnership with banks, has not met the needs of many businesses.What’s involved in the small business cashflow scheme?The scheme will provide $10,000 t...

COVID-19 Business Support fact sheet

The Government has announced new relief measures to boost confidence and help small and medium-sized businesses get through the COVID-19 crisis. The package includes:- a tax loss carry back scheme- changes to the tax loss continuity rules- greater flexibility for taxpayers in respect of statutory tax deadlines- measures to support commercial tenants and landlords, and- further business consultancy support.  Tax loss carry-back schemeThis enables a business to offset a loss in a pa...

COVID-19 and the minimum wage

The adult minimum wage rate will increase $1.20 from $17.70 to $18.90 per hour on 1 April 2020.The starting-out and training minimum wage rates will increase 96 cents from $14.16 to $15.12 per hour, and will remain at 80% of the adult rate.The minimum wage increase is occurring while New Zealand is at COVID-19 Alert Level 4. We understand businesses may have challenges updating their payroll systems, or are facing financial difficulties and are using the Government’s Wage Subsidy Scheme. This ...

Get to Know: Revathy Rajah

Revathy (Rev) Started working for Accounted4 in August 2019 as an Intermediate Accountant in Grant Calvert's team.    Rev was born in Malaysia and moved to New Zealand with her family in 2003. She lived in Wellington for four years until making her journey to The Waikato in 2009. She graduated in 2018 from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Management Studies and majored in Accounting.  Before working for Accounted4, Rev worked for an Accountancy Firm in Tauranga for ove...

In the Team

We say farewell to Rachel Tucker and we wish her all the best with her future endeavours....

Important Dates for your Calendar

In April the next set of business transformations are set to take effect at the Inland Revenue. In order to make these changes their key services will be unavailable between 3pm Thursday 9 April and 8am Thursday 16 April. During this time their phone lines and offices will be closed, and you will not be able to access myIR or e-File....

Government COVID-19 Employer Assistance

From 17 March for the next 12 weeks, wage subsidies are available for employers affected by COVID-19 and struggling to retain employees. Employers may apply who suffer (or project they will suffer) a 30% or more decline in revenue for any month between January 2020 and June 2020 (compared to last year). Applications may also be based on forecast revenue loss within the period. The subsidy is: $585.80/week for a full time employee (20 hours or more); $350.00/week for a part time employee (less t...

Accounted4 COVID-19 Management Plan

Here at Accounted4 preparation is underway for possible disruption as the COVID-19 illness continues to spread. Health and SafetyFirst and foremost, we want to maintain a safe and healthy workplace for all team members, clients and visitors.We respectfully ask all clients not to enter our workplace if; they have any COVID-19 symptoms, they have been in contact with anyone with COVID-19 or they have travelled internationally in the previous 14 days. We are refraining from shaking hands ...

Leading the way in difficult times

Shared from Craig Hudson, Managing Director of Xero for NZ & Pacific Islands The past few months have seen devastating natural disasters in Aotearoa andAustralia, and now, the global outbreak of COVID-19. Governments, businesses,and communities all around the world are facing unprecedented challenges. Theimportance of maintaining stability, minimising disruption, and ensuring thatcash keeps flowing effectively through economies cannot be overlooked. New Zealand’s business support package ...

IR updates

The final webinar for employers and not-for-profit organisations will take place on 18 March 2020 from 2:30pm – 3:30pm. It's the last session in this series and focuses on helping you prepare for upcoming changes. The session will cover what's changing for employers, myIR, payments income equalisation, student loans,KiwiSaver. Details will also be shared around shut down dates and where you can get support. Register, or watch previous webinars on demand...

Accounted4 Payroll Team Vacancy

What’s the role We are looking for a person with sound payroll experience who can step confidently into this part-time position in our Payroll Team. You will be responsible for client payroll processing and payday filing as well as payroll advice, support and training. You will also provide support for our Tax Administrator for IR tax filing and management of client tax payments. For this position we are ideally looking for a person to work 5 hours per day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Wh...