Xerocon goes off!

A huge thank you to the 800 attendees and over 25 exhibitors at Xerocon NZ 2013. It’s by far the biggest Xerocon to date globally and more than twice the size of last year’s event.

From the feedback personally and on social media, we are pumped that people were getting huge value and it’s being seen as essential attendance for accounting and bookkeeping partners, whether making the transition or well on the up-and-up, as well as add-on partners.

People loved Rod’s keynote and all the info revealed by the product managers, seemed to appreciate the hard-hitting critiques of the profession from Viv Brownrigg and Greg Sheenan, and found lots of useful material amongst topics such as marketing, training, and add-ons in the streams. The API and Add-on day prior was also a huge hit capped off by a fascinating panel discussion on business funding.

The Gala Dinner and Awards evening topped it all off. TV personality Jaquie Brown added to the glamour with flawless MCing and Auckland band Halo got the dance floor humming right from the get-go.

The Xero Partner Awards recognise our top partners in New Zealand. Congratulations to all the winners:

Xero Partner Award Winners:

Xero MVP - Peter McCarroll, Lower Hutt
The Xero MVP is a new award for most valuable professional. The award this year is for a partners outstanding contribution to the Xero Community in 2012. No photo as Peter wasn’t present.

Fastest Growing Partner - Curtis McLean, Wellington
Judged on the number of organisations added in this financial year-to-date. This is for revenue and customers in the 2012 calendar year.

Partner Website Award – Enable Business, Wellington, Auckland
Judged on the overall look and feel of the design, degree of co-­branding partner and Xero representation, content and layout. The tipping point for the winner was the fact that they made the effort to design their site to work well and look good on mobile.

Partner Innovation Award - Finman Services, Paraparaumu
Finman marketing/biz dev manager Josh Ambler pulled together a comprehensive 12-month marketing plan with very clear objectives, which have driven new business leads and taken them to Gold this year.

Emerging Add-On Partner of the Year – Quotient, Hamilton
For Add-­on partners less than 18 months old and based on their rate of growth of joint customers.

Training Partner of the Year – Training & Beyond, Christchurch
The Training Partner of the Year Award recognises the quality, popularity and range of Xero training services offered.

Bookkeeping Partner of the Year – Katalyst Office Management, Auckland
This is based on the highest number of Xero organizations the partner is invited into and also highest level of service.

Add-On Partner of the Year – Unleashed, Auckland
The Add­-on Partner of the Year Award is for the top achiever of the year based on volume of joint customers.

And finally:

Partner of the Year - Winstanley Kerridge, Blenheim
This award has been judged on the number of organisations the partner has brought onto Xero.

See you at the next Xerocon!
Posted on Xero Blog 25 February 2013 by Richard Wood

Sonya, our newest member!

We have a lovely new team member Sonya Hazlett. Sonya is based in Christchurch and has come on board as the Business Development Manager in the Canterbury region and to work closely with our clients ‘up north’!

Sonya’s background is in accounting; the last two years as Finance Manager for Maxim Print in Christchurch and prior to that Sonya Trust Accounting in the law world. 

Sonz is about to hit the Motatapu track in a few weeks time and has several adventure racing and rogaining events firmly under her belt. Sonya lives with her husband and 3 children in Christchurch.

You’ll see Sonya talking to tradesmen and business owners about Findlay and Co and you might even spot her in the curious little Cube car, give her a wave. Welcome to the Findlay family Sonya!

2013 Bodes Well for NZ Businesses

Business owners should be relishing the thought of returning to work in the New Year given that New Zealand business confidence is indicated to be well up on last year, according to the Grant Thornton IBR survey.

Pam Newlove, Co-Chair and Partner, Grant Thornton New Zealand Ltd, said that business confidence has lifted 22% on this time last year to 58%, well ahead of neighbours, Australia, where confidence was up only 7% to 31%.

“New Zealand business owners have accepted that the tough grind we’ve been going through over the last couple of years is the new norm and they are just knuckling down and doing the business.  They have learnt to be smarter about how they do business rather than lament the recent difficult times.  Successful operators are identifying their niche products or services and capitalising on opportunities and securing market share that way.

“Australia may not have suffered the level of pain that we endured during the global financial crisis, but with the slowdown of China and the fall in commodity prices, indicators have turned south in the ‘lucky country’ with a slew of major redundancies in some of the larger companies.

“Employment aspirations show that 34% of New Zealand companies are looking to employ more staff in 2013 compared with only 8% in Australia.”

New Zealand companies have almost twice the level of optimism currently being experienced in Australia when it comes to forecast revenues and profitability.

“Seventy per cent were expecting increased revenue over the next 12 months and 58% were expecting an increase in profitability. For Australia the figures were 36% and 34%, another indicator of the shape of their economy,” she said.

Lack of skilled labour (38%) red tape (31%) and a shortage of working capital (28%) were all cited as constraints to growing and expanding businesses.

“Red tape is interesting, although it is noted as a constraint, it is less of a concern in this country compared with many others.  Interestingly, New Zealand is often seen as an easier place to do business relative to other jurisdictions.

“The overall picture is one of an improving economy but there are some key messages that have come out of the survey. Businesses must look after and retain their good staff, continue to educate and upskill them and continue to invest energy and time into maintaining and managing customer relationships,” she said.

The global outlook

Hopes for a strong start to economic recovery in 2013 look to be diminishing as business confidence in mature economies continues to fall away caused by concerns over the United States ‘fiscal cliff’ and ongoing fears over the long-term viability of Eurozone is dampening growth prospects, according to the survey.

The IBR reveals that global business optimism stands at just net 4% heading into the New Year. This halts a rally in confidence seen in the first half of 2012, when global business optimism reached 23%, and brings it nearer to the 0% level observed this time last year.

The fall in global business optimism has been largely driven by a huge fall in the world’s largest economy, the United States. Optimism amongst US business leaders climbed to 50% in Q2 this year, but slumped back to -4% in Q4 – the lowest since the depths of the financial crisis. Expectations for increasing revenues (down 10 percentage points) and profits (down 9) both fell sharply over the past three months. This chimes with research from Grant Thornton US which suggests 40% of CFOs have delayed decision making because of fiscal cliff concerns. 

d Nusbaum, CEO of Grant Thornton International, said: “There is no question that protracted negotiations over how to resolve both the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and the fiscal cliff in the United States have weighed heavily on business confidence over the past six months. With the economic outlook clouded by these issues, business investment becomes a much riskier proposition for many.

“The hope, both in the United States and around the world, is that these issues can be resolved and that this drop in confidence is temporary rather than the start of a longer decline.”

Great article written by crew at Grant Thornton

Boost for your business!

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Alongside the basics - compliance, tax returns, regulatory filing to companies office, GST returns - we begin applying dynamic thinking to shape your business for the future.

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The BOOST package offers you the opportunity to really kick-start your operation by giving your business a clear direction and pathway to success.

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This package ensures accessibility and 'help on tap' from the team at Findlay and Co. This package includes Xero to save you time and effort in the accounting department and get you back on the tools of your trade.