e3 Business Accountants, Christchurch, New Zealand

We promise your annual accounts delivered at a fixed price at a fixed time. Jamie Tulloch Managing Director Call me on (03) 379 2343 or email jamie@e3accountants.co.nz

BUSINESS TIP
Kaizan - never stop improving

What is kaizan? Many in business will have heard this word but if you’re new to business you may not have. It means constant, never ending improvement in everything you do. It is a daily process that can (should) be practiced from the CEO/MD downwards. Its key objective is to eliminate waste. Even though the philosophy came from Japan (under American influence) after the end of the Second World War (late 1940s and early 1950s) to help re-develop Japan’s manufacturing industry, it is as appropriate today as ever. Its 2010 great friend is sustainability. If you continually look to improve processes and procedures, the by-product is the reduction of waste.

The daily action exercise of every business owner is to look for ways to do something today that is a little better (even minutely so) than yesterday. Every worker, every employee, every team member, must be encouraged to have this question uppermost in their mind. The simple question in front of every task is “can this task be done quicker, more simply with less consumption of labour, time and materials than the way it is currently done?”

A daily or weekly improvement of just 0.01% on a constant never ending continuum can have a most dramatic effect in mere weeks, let alone months. Start today. You can also apply kaizan to every part of your daily life.

TAX TIP

Save on FBT

Most small businesses can now elect to file FBT returns annually rather than completing returns quarterly. Doing it annually saves time, you defer payment and get to keep and use the tax money for longer. The annual payment is due on 31 May and if you wish to change to annual filing, the election must take place before 30 June. There are a couple of small business qualification criteria, which can be read on the IRD web site.

BUSINESS TIP
Businesses Warned To Check Their Cheques
Banking Ombudsman Deborah Battell is reminding people about the precautions they need to take when using cheques, following a series of recent cases received by the Office involving stolen cheques. Battell says typically, people think by crossing a cheque not negotiable, they are protected from the possibility of it being paid into the account of anyone but the person named as the payee on the cheque... But the words ‘not negotiable’ just mean the cheque cannot be cashed. Instead the money must go into a bank account. This could ultimately be into the thief’s own account. Crossing out the words ‘or bearer’ will not offer protection from such a theft. Battell says if people are writing a cheque, they should write either ‘account payee only’ or ‘not transferable’ on the cheque to ensure the money is paid to the person named on the cheque.

The words ‘account payee only’ or ‘not transferable’ tell your bank to withdraw the money from your bank account and deposit it only into the bank account of the person named as the payee on the cheque. In the unfortunate case of theft, your bank will not allow it to be paid to anyone but the person you named as the payee.
Thanks to The Main Report

SUCCESSION PLAN TIP

Escape with real money from your business

The alternative to a successful, well rehearsed and structured exit from your business is the unfathomable situation of quitting the business with little or no reward for all the hard years of graft, sweat and tears. Yet many (I could almost say most if I dared) business owners have only the sketchiest of plans on quitting their business with enough money to fund adventure and fun in retirement. Why is this?

My view is that too many business owners are good, very good or even exceptional at the product or service they produce and sell but are amateurs at being professional business owners. Michael Gerber’s E-Myth books should be on every business owner’s desk and read and re-read again and again. The more dependent the business is on the skills of the owner, the less value the business has to a buyer.

The end plan for your business should be thought about and worked towards every day. If you don’t have an end plan, then you are an amateur business owner and will be very disappointed when the time comes to sell. A survey by the ANZ revealed that only 11% had a formal exit plan in place for succession. That means 89% have no plan to recover reward for years of graft, sweat and tears.

(Some content thank to Deane Purdue)

Marketing Tip

The importance of packaging

Boutique jams and relishes. If you make these products don’t put them in quaint square bottles with wide shoulders. You end up having to leave the last 5% of the contents stuck where no spoon or knife (or finger) can reach.

Custard in cartons. The off the supermarket shelf custard isn’t too bad (though not like the real thing) but why do they stick it in a milk-like cardboard carton? Within a day of opening, it goes yukky around the pourer and the last 10% of the contents won’t pour out unless you zap it in the microwave to make it runny. And you can only guess at how much is left by weight. Clearwater’s Organic Dairy Limited make the world’s best unsweetened yoghurt (my view anyway) and it comes in a great re-usable clear plastic pottle. Decant your carton of yoghurt into an empty yoghurt pottle immediately on opening.