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Archive for March, 2010

Welcome

Welcome to the Business Advisory Accounting & Tax Services (BAS) website and thank you for visiting.

We’re a firm of Chartered Certified Accountants based in Auckland with clients all over New Zealand.  We provide high-quality accounting, tax and business advisory services at affordable rates to small and medium businesses.

Before I introduce us, I’d like to clear up some common misconceptions and then I’d like to focus on how we can help you.

I want to dispel these common misconceptions you may have about accountants:

  • Top flight accounting & tax services are intended only for large companies and are out of reach for small and medium businesses – Not with us.  We use our skills and experience to focus on helping small to medium sized businesses like you;
  • It’s okay to economise on these services in order to save money – It’s not always the case, but we recognise that we need to add value;
  • Accountants that provide accounting & tax services are primarily interested in inflating their billings as much as possible – Again, not with us as we pride ourselves on our transparency and encourage you to compare our fees with others.  We don’t hide anything.

Like many, I’m sure you’ve experienced frustrations with your accountants such as these:

  • “My accountants just don’t seem to care – I’m just a number”
  • “Now and then, all I need is some practical business or tax advice – not just mumbo jumbo bean counter language”
  • “I quite often want information that will help me but I can never it in one place”
  • “I wish I had accountants who understood what I need”

Please allow me to explain how we’re different.

I urge you to regard our fees as a tax deductible business investment, not an expense.  As a prudent business owner, we’d like you to make your decision on which accountants & business advisors you hire based on the return on your investment or value added;

Some key benefits that we bring to the party that I’d like you to consider are:

  • We want to save you time and effort (not to mention stress) to concentrate on what you know best, whilst leaving accounting, & tax to dependable and efficient specialists;
  • We want to achieve maximum tax savings for you;
  • We know that you’re keen to know exactly what your accountants’ fees are, so you can make informed decisions and budget for them accordingly;
  • We know that you’d welcome a personal service that’s tailor-made to your specific requirements;

We understand that you want confidence that your tax returns and other returns are being handled by professionals who will file them correctly, and on time.

At BAS, we have a competent, friendly team of accountants & tax professionals who are committed to making all of the above happen for you, with unparalleled levels of dedication and integrity.

Since we’re committed to “walking our talk”, I’d much rather offer you a concrete demonstration of our skills.

So why don’t you get in touch with us on 09 449 0417 and let us show you that some accountants really do care and want to help you succeed.

Want to strengthen your business with some business transformation tips?

Business transformation needn’t be a process that’s restricted to the big corporations.  In my experience, as an accountant and business consultant, one of the biggest challenges that most small business owners face is how they cope with the demands of doing everything.  From formulating their business plan, to marketing their services or products, to managing their cash flow, and countless other tasks. 

No wonder so many have of them have so little time to “work on their businesses”; exerting themselves by “working in their businesses” instead.  A subtle difference in wording, I know, but those who focus more on the former will succeed much quicker and experience the rewards they deserve. Read the rest of this entry »

7 ways to grow your business in a recession

Are you struggling to survive the recession?

If your business’ systems & structure are solid; you have the right team on board and you have your cash flow under control, there is every chance you will survive a downturn or recession.

At the height of our recession, many small businesses focused on surviving, which is hardly surprising.  Some economic & business confidence surveys have recently shown that confidence is starting to increase for many small New Zealand businesses.

For businesses suffering with “poor financial health” (generally when liabilities exceed assets) recovery and adjusting to market place realities as well as seizing emerging opportunities is not easy.

I have put together these 7 tips to help your business develop:

1.  Stem the flow by immediately addressing any worsening position and seizing control of your cash flows and short term lending.  It begins with you identifying ALL of your cash flows (both incoming and outgoing) and determining the nature of those cash flows.  Where possible, minimise your cash outflows until you have developed a “recovery plan”.  Consider using short term lending as a way of bridging or filling any gaps.

2.  Lead.  Re-evaluate your “people needs” (or “human resources”) and ensure that you have the right people filling the right positions in your business.  Challenge the status quo and ask your staff to prove their value to you.

3.  Focus on strategy.  An essential ingredient to rejuvenating your business is your strategy.  Where will you focus your efforts?  What markets will you target?  What opportunities will you exploit?  How will you resource your recovery or expansion?  If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

4.  Assign accountability.  As soon as you have decided on your business’ strategies, you’ll need to develop the right environment to make it happen and you’ll need the right people to help you make it happen.  Establish new job descriptions for your team and make them more accountable for day to day results.  Align their objectives (and pay structures) to your business’ objectives.

5.  Cost re-engineering.  Take the opportunity to fully evaluate your business processes.  Look for ways to reduce cost (without compromising service delivery), increase your sales and improve quality and efficiency.  Identify your core business processes and look for ways to run your business more effectively and efficiently.

6.  Debt re-engineering.  List your debts and liabilities and separate them into short term and long term arrangements.  Consider approaching your creditors and lenders and work out if it’s possible to renegotiate their rates or terms.  Consider using short term lending (temporary overdrafts, for example) until your cash flow and profits stabilise and return to some predictability. 

7.  Communicate with key stakeholders.  Regularly communicate with your business’ key stakeholders.  Keep them up to date to prevent them being caught by surprised or off guard

So, as you can see, by making a few minor adjustments to your business, you will have the right platform to survive any downturn.