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Featured Client

Hinuera Natural Stone is a manufacturer of unique  and natural  cladding, landscaping and feature stone which provides distinctive good looks, timeless elegance and durability to your home, commercial building or landscaping project. The operation is based in the Hinuera Valley between Cambridge and Matamata and was established in 1955. The original product made was what we call today splitstone (which has a rough finish). With our precision cutting saws we are able to produce a smooth...

Featured Partner

Jon is a Business Advisor with Strategy+ Ltd offering business assistance particularly strategic and business planning, mentoring and coaching and a range of other services that aid owners with leading their businesses. Jon is also a member of the team at Better Business Academy and a Brigadier in the NZ Army. Jon has significant leadership experience both in business and military situations including 12 years as a Strategic Business Advisor and Coach and a 35-year military career...

IRD AIMs to please - Next Year

A key principle of the tax system is taxpayers should pay tax as income is earned. That doesn’t work well for businesses with seasonal or volatile incomes, and this is why the Government announced, early this year, a new method for paying provisional tax. The Accounting Income Method (AIM) More and more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have digital accounting systems for better business decisions. Integration between accounting software and IRD’s systems and processes is happening. SMEs u...

Payroll Team Update

Business Shutdown – Leave Management PlanHave you worked out your team’s Leave Management Plan? If your business traditionally shuts down over the festive season you need to plan closing and opening days, check if anyone needs to work during the closedown, get your team sending in their leave requests, and start organising!  Check out People in Mind’s excellent article on ‘Planning Leave for the festive season’: https://www.peopleinmind.co.nz/planning-for-the-festive-season/ Wages...

In the Industry

- Lesley Ann from People in MindWhile away on holiday I was sitting in a café one day and noticed something which has stuck with me. A very young person was delivering meals to a table. The scenario stuck in my mind as he just didn’t appear to fit that particular role. I don’t mean from a team fit perspective, but from a customer’s perspective. I noticed that customers interacted with him differently. They didn’t seem to know how to engage with him, or help him in the normal unspoken wa...

Laws that changed in 2017

From contractors’ tax to Easter trading, hazardous substances to ACC levy changes and more, it’s been a big year for business-related law changes. Here’s a summary — check it out to make sure you are across any new rules that apply to you. Minimum wage rates riseWhen: 1 April 2017What: The adult minimum wage rate went up 50c to $15.75 an hour. The starting-out and training rates rose by 40c to $12.60.What you need to do: If you pay your workers minimum w...

Get Wise this Cyber Smart Week

This week is Cyber Smart Week in New Zealand and we thought we’d take the opportunity to share some strategies and simple steps you can take to keep safe online. Xero has partnered with CERT NZ – the Government’s Agency that helps improve cyber security in New Zealand, to educate you on the importance of staying secure online.According to a study from Norton cybercrime costs more than $126 billion a year globally. A further 680 million people have been victims of online...

It's a wrap! Preparing for the Christmas Break

Staff parties Throwing a staff party can be a great way to see out the year and celebrate successes, but there are tax considerations to think about. You can claim some costs of a party or staff gifts, but they may be subject to fringe benefit tax. This is paid on benefits workers get as a result of their employment.Half your holiday party expenses may be claimed in your GST and income tax returns if the expenses relate to your business. Expenses can include:food and drinkentertainmentvenue...

Must I pay Tax on Holiday Home Income?

If you rent out your holiday home sometimes, you may have to pay tax on that income. The IRD says you have a "mixed-use" holiday home, if during the tax year, you use it for: Private use, andIncome earning use, andIt's unoccupied for 62 days or more, It is still private use if you receive rent from family members, or from non-family members who pay less than 80 percent of market rates. The property becomes "income earning" if you get rent from non-family members at 80 percent or more of market r...

How do you draw talent to your door?

Getting a job at Google is reportedly 10 times harder than getting a place at institutions like Harvard or Yale. The company employs 7000 people a year, from 3 million applicants. Google has staff friendly initiatives that attract top candidates. Your business may be a long way from Google, but it can still be known as a good place to work. At Google, staff are allowed to take a day out of every week to work on a project they think is important. The result? Fifty percent of Google prod...

FBT - good news and bad news

You may provide company vehicles to some employees. In some cases, the vehicle is a work tool – for example, a ute for a project manager. In other cases, it is part of a salary package. Whatever the reason, Inland Revenue has good news and bad news. The good news is that IR has consolidated all its published statements on motor vehicle FBT into one 57-page document with a logical flow, making the topic easier for you to understand. Although that doesn't necessarily mean it's easy! The bad news...

The A - Z pre-employment guide for employers and employees

NZ Human Rights has complied this A - Z from frequently asked questions, inquiries and complaints to the Human Rights Commission.These guidelines have been created to help employers, recruiters and job seekers who want to comply with the Act. They are aimed at ensuring equality and fairness for all job applicants regardless of characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, age, disability and religion.Check it Out Here!...

New Provisional Tax Method available from April 2018

The Accounting Income Method (AIM) is a new provisional tax option available from April 2018. The details on how AIM will work are now complete. Here is a quick summary of the key points of AIM. How AIM will work: You may be able to use AIM if your turnover is under $5 million per year and you use approved accounting software. Some types of businesses can't use AIM. AIM software will work out your provisional tax based on your income and adjustments. You will pay your provisional tax every ...

XEROCON 2017

Recently five of our A4 team attended XERO's conference 'XEROCON' in Melbourne for XERO cloud accounting partners in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. This at times 'show stopping' conference was held at the Melbourne Convention  and Exhibition Centre, which was plenty big enough to accommodate the 3068 attendees.Over two days our team were treated to enlightening speakers, demonstrations and exhibitors on topics such as; 'What's new in XERO', 'Millennials — how to engage them',  ...

Daffodil Day Auction

Daffodil Day was on Friday 25th August and this year our Social Club organised an auction for our team.  Everyone brought an item to be auctioned at morning tea. Anything was able to be auctioned and we had an array of items ranging from haircuts, books, cakes to prized possessions that people had to buy back. After some great to'ing and fro'ing and some fierce bidding wars, all items were won and we raised $1003 in total with all proceeds going to Daffodil Day 2017 ....

2017 A4 Seminars

We recently held a fantastic seminar on Xero Payroll. Thank you to all those that attended. As the year draws to a close we have two final seminars in our 2017 events calendar; •October 17th 5.30pm - 7pmTax Traders - Tax Pooling and DepositsRob Borland will explain how you can use tax pooling to your benefit. •November 23rd, 10.30am - 12pmFigured SoftwareFigured is a complete online livestock, crop and production tracking, farm budgeting and forecasting tool that works hand in hand with Xero...

In the Office

We would like to welcome Genevra back to the A4 team. Some of you may recognise Genevra as a previous team member. Genevra and her family are moving back to the Waikato from Alexandra where they moved 2 years ago. Genevra will be re-joining Grant Calvert's team....

In the Community

A kiwi couple, Dan and Ange Cornelius, have taken in and are raising nine Thai hill tribe kids from abused and neglected backgrounds to give them a hope and a future. A team from Cambridge visited the family in July 2017 and will visit them again in July 2018 to help however possible. Dr Peter Tribe and Katherine Tozer are part of that team and have written the books ‘Tales from the Back Country’. A 92 Page coffee table book filled with images of NZs stunning scenery, and interspersed with s...

Featured Client

Wilkinson Transport Engineers is an engineering company based in Cambridge, established by the late Jim Wilkinson in 1968. The company has since grown and are now employing eighteen people who are mainly fitter welders, fitter turners, apprentices and design engineers. Wilkinson Transport Engineers has undertaken countless design and modification work over the years for many companies all over New Zealand. Today they mainly design and modify new trucks for specialised applications such as Dual C...

Featured Partner

People in Mind Limited are a little different from most HR companies. They've studied "people". Employee behaviour is their specialty. The team at People in Mind have all owned or still own a business and that makes a difference to the way they approach client needs. When you combine these with their experience and knowledge in employment practices, you have yourself a very strong employer advocate. Employing people comes with challenges from the initial recruitment phase, through the induction...

Tax Traders Seminar - 17th October

Estimating provisional tax perfectly can be hard. What’s more, over or underpaying costs you money. But it doesn’t have to be this way. IRD allows the use of tax pooling to reduce the burden of the provisional tax regime for taxpayers. Essentially taxpayers trade their payments with each other and everyone wins – taxpayers reduce their interest costs or increase their return – and IRD gets their tax paid simply. Rob Borland from Tax Traders will present to us on how you can use tax pooli...

Payroll Team Update

IRD PROPOSALS Payday filing of PAYE informationEmployers currently report PAYE information about their employees to Inland Revenue on a monthly basis regardless of how frequently they pay their staff. Inland Revenue’s systems and processes are being redeveloped to take advantage of modern digital technology. Under the proposed changes, the PAYE information filing process will be integrated into the payroll software that many employers use to pay employees. Employers would then file their PAYE ...

Accounts Team Update

If you receive income, you must pay tax. So if you have rental income, you have to pay tax on it, right? Maybe, maybe not – if you get rent from boarders or homestays. Boarders and HomestaysWhen you get income from boarders or homestays, your tax position depends on how many boarders you have, and how much you can charge, compared with the IRD’s standard-cost method. In other words:...

In the Industry

Parliamentary plastic surgery is in store for the Trustee Act, to make trust law easier to access and understand. On 1 August, Justice Minister Amy Adams introduced the Trusts Bill to Parliament. This will be the first significant change since the introduction of the Trustee Act 1956. The old Act has been viewed as being narrow in scope, with trust administration being complicated and expensive. Most trusts, like family trusts, business trusts and protective trusts, are set up with a trust deed ...

Want to be respected at Work? Ditch the emojis

as seen on newshub.co.nz  - 20 August 2017 Keep emojis out of work emails if you want to appear competent, a new study has found. A personality science study has found using emoticons in work-related emails makes you look inept.In the study, participants read emails with and without emoticons and were asked for their opinion of the sender. The unanimous conclusion? Leave emojis out of formal emails. One of the study's authors, Ella Glikson, said it was widely thought using emojis was a...