Free Business Recovery Advice 03 443 4417

Here in Wanaka Findlay and Co Chartered Accountants are banding together with other lawyers and insurance advisers in our area to offer free advice to business owners who need help to get back on their feet.

HOW

We have set up a phone line that you can call to discuss any aspect of your business that you need help with. There is no charge for this and we are happy to work with your existing professional team of lawyers and accountants to keep things running and get you the right information.

WHAT

We can provide you with advice about what the government is doing to help, how to handle the insurance claims, manage HR side of your business and help with cash flow and planning.

THINGS

We also have available resources here for you. This may mean a physical space, technology and staff to help you. We will help you find the things you need.

WHERE

We can help to find you billet type accommodation should you need to come to Wanaka for a few days to sort things out. We will also make trips to Christchurch to sit down with you and help you make the steps to recovery, just call to set up a time.

WHY

We want to help and the most useful thing we have to give is advice. Please touch base if we can be of any assistance; if it is not our area we will find you the people you need to help you. Please be assured we will work with your professional advisors to get you back on your feet.

Our thoughts are with you Christchurch.

Call 03 443 4417

Unleashed Software

Here at Findlay and Co we are all about using smart tools to work smarter not harder. We are working with the folks at Unleashed Software to help our clients keep track of inventory and save time and energy by using a smart system. Of course it integrates with Xero and you can try it using a free trial period too.

Take a quick look at this 2 minute video to see what Unleashed could do for you! Or check out www.unleashedsoftware.com

General Election 2011

Well the date for the General Election has been set for November 26th and was announced early. A nice no- nonsense approach from Key we think.

However a day after making this announcement Key got all sorts of heckling for his catwalk malarkey when he was asked to model the uniforms to the Rugby World Cup volunteers. He responded:

"I responded to the crowd last week, I was having a bit of fun, but I shouldn't have done that in my view, that was probably a bit stupid," he told Breakfast on TV One.

"But unfortunately I get put in a gazillion situations like that... My life is out there engaging with people at a million different events and where ever I go people will start throwing balls around, doing things whatever it is."

It kinda gives you that feeling like when your Dad is up to something silly? Oh well, all eyes are on the men in black and the men and women in the beehive, what a year for NZ!

Bye Bye Business!!

When you are planning to say bye-bye to your business it is an emotional, financial and practical process to go through. This process can be filled with apprehension, impatience (everything can take so long) frustration and excitement.

The first step to take is to come and see your friendly accountant - that's us! We can help you with the steps that you need to go through to make the process manageable and work towards the outcome you desire.

We will help you to prepare an Information Memorandum. This is a summary of all aspects of the business. These are the things that prospective buyers want to know, but it is how this document is prepared that is the key; a good mix of facts, numbers, background and opportunity needs to be presented elegantly. It is this document that can make all the difference to the purchasers perception of the value and knowing exactly what they are getting into. We want to provide as much information as possible and think about satisfying any question or concern a prospective purchaser may have. Of course this is where we present the financial history. We will show you what you need to include.

A good rule of thumb to bear in mind is to sell on emotion and justify with logic. This is speaking in general terms of small to medium businesses where folks may be looking to purchase a business for a perceived lifestyle, are attracted by the specific work involved or chasing the Kiwi dream of working for themselves and making some money.

Most importantly we will ensure that you have the correct confidentiality agreements to provide potential purchasers to ensure that this sensitive information is kept under wraps and top secret.

There are several avenues available to help with selling a business; using a Real Estate firm or business broker, or selling privately. Depending on your industry, size and network we can discuss which road is the best for you to go down.

We can give you an indication of the costs involved with selling, guide you towards some great legal advice and chat with you about the tax implications. This is the getting to the nitty gritty and comes a little ways down the track.

Selling a business is more than just facts and figures. It's a parting of ways and new beginnings. Timing can be everything, so planning is essential.

So if you have reached a decision that it is time to move on, we say come and see us, we can have a cup of tea and map out a plan. Sometimes in our network we might have heard of people looking to purchase or merge.

We look forward to help you sell!

Rugby World Cup 2011

Well it's a mighty big year for rugby, a mighty big year for the All Blacks and a bloomin' big year for New Zealand as we host the Rugby World Cup.

This Monday, Valentines Day incidentally, 60,000 fans from around the world who went into the ballot to 'win' tickets found out if they had their hands on a possible 15,000 available tickets to the final 3 matches. Contenders had no control over which seats they would win, that's position and price. Congratulations letters were sent out to let the lucky folks know. So, if you haven't received a golden ticket in the mail by now you had better start planning to get your mates around to the lounge grandstand!

FYI - Tickets can't be bought or sold on Trade Me and scalping is a big no no, if caught you ticket could be cancelled!!

Worth noting is Inland Revenue has dedicated a page on their website that covers off any tax implications. This is for visitors, fans, employers, employees, players, officials, unions and any business related to the event. Nice work IRD, very efficient!

No doubt we will have more posts on the event in the lead up.

GO ALL BLACKS!

Hello & welcome Xero Credit Card Feeds!

Now credit card transactions can appear seamlessly in Xero using Yodlee an integration service that basically connects to your bank and safely hands the information over to your Xero account.

It's cool, and best of all we can get those credit card transactions fed into your Xero account easily!

This feed can be accessed if your bank is one of the big four, ANZ, National Bank, Westpac or ASB.

You can drop Bronnie a line if you need a hand setting this up bronwyn@findco.co.nz or read more about it at the Xero help centre

Cheers Xero!

Festival of Colour Programme Announced

The Festival of Colour is on 12th-17th April, last night the line up was announced!!

This years festival has a pretty awesome line up that will appeal to all age groups. A coup is The Phoenix Foundation closing the festival on the last night, very cool.

The music on offer is a stunning and eclectic line up. Micheline a Belgian lass sings the songs of fellow country man Jacques Brel. Elixir is a line up of some of NZ's hottest chamber musicians. Kiwi performers Anna Coddington, Island Summer and the Bellbirds are in the line up. The NZ Chamber Choir feature and Michael Houston will be Jazzing it Up!

Tickets will be scooped up for an interesting play called Hotel. Hotel will be performed in an Edgewater Resort room. The audience of twenty will watch from their intimately arranged seats within the room. Tickets will sell fast and the show will be on twice every night of the festival be in quick for that one!

Riverside Drive is a play featuring a local cast and is set in the fifties and is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old lad. Lindsey Pollak returns with a class act called "Passing Wind" where he constructs wind instruments out of everyday things....even a carrot!

Rita and Douglas with its star studded cast tells the story of love letters from artist Rita Angus to Douglas Lilburn during their short and fiery love affair. Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Houstoun present the words, images and music of the two NZ icons.

C'mon Black follows Dickie Hart on the South African rugby tour to the 1995 World Cup. Dickie a cow cockie has never been off the farm to travel and this is the story of him joining a Sopporters Tour for this infamous event. C'Mon Black is written by famous NZ play write Roger Hall.

The programme is huge, it includes film, street performers, night shows, matinees and visual arts. Some shows are free or otherwise most are reasonably priced. Tickets go on sale next week 21st February at 9am. You'll need to be fast and the details are on the website www.festivalofcolour.co.nz

Get out and about and support the festival, take advantage of such high calibre events right in our town! Enjoy!

Thanks Team Xero - Awesome Conference

A big thank you to the Xero crew for hosting us at this years Xero Partner Conference. We had so much fun meeting with the other accountants, talking the same talk and catching up with what has been happening around the country.

We travelled to Taupo to hear a great mix of speakers from Maurice Williamson, the Minister of Small Business and Statistics, Terry McLaughlin the CEO of NZ Chartered Accountants Association, Justin Hygate from the Companies Office and of course the Xero team - Rod Drury, Craig Walker talking about the Xero mobile vision and the Xero Modern Practice team showing us their wares.

We attended the Awards evening and loved seeing a well deserved line up take home the following:

Awards presented to partners were:

• Fastest Growing Accounting Partner – Laurenson & Co
• Accounting Partner Innovation Award – Accounting NOW
• Xero Knowledge Award – Nicole Elvy – Equation Limited
• Partner Website of the Year – Cloud Accountants
• 100% Xero – Cabbage Tree Consulting
• Emerging Solution Partner of the Year – Paycycle
• Solution Partner of the Year – WorkflowMax
• Xero Partner of the Year – David Jessep and Associates

We will follow up with the folks we met and are already looking forward to nexts years conference....maybe in Wanaka?

Add Vice, Advice

Listening to budgeting advice about trimming the latte or axing the gym membership getting a bit old? If you are saving or trying to chop down some debt it pays to take an holistic view of the situation, weigh up what has got to give and make some changes. But keep it real and approach it logically!

The first step to take is to take an honest look at your situation. Do you actually know where your money goes? It might be helpful to list your fixed expenses, day-to-day spending, monthly bills and any one off annual expenses. You can set some goals that are specific and give them a time frame that is realistic.

• Keep a track of your spending
• Set clear goals
• Get rid of your most expensive debt first
• Sensibly consolidate your debt if possible
• Pay your credit card off in full each month
• Get help if you need it, Sorted has some great tips
• Pick what treats can stay

The good news is we have some hot little calculators and tools to help you right here on our website, whether it's saving for something special or reducing debt a little planning can go a long way.

Remember the old adage, 'spend some, save some'....we agree and with a plan in place you will no longer feel guilty about the odd latte and working out will be a treat, not a chore!

Sculpture in Central Otago

The Wanaka Arts Charitable Trust presents Sculptures in Wanaka. The show is of outdoor sculptures from some of New Zealands leading artists set in the incredible grounds of Rippon Vineyard.

The show is opening this Waitangi weekend. This is the sixth show of its kind and this year a 'Peoples Choice' award has been added to the fun. The winner to be announced at this years Festival of Colour. More on that soon....