e3 Business Accountants, Christchurch, New Zealand

INSURANCE CLAIM TIPS
Key issues from preparing insurance claims
a.  Proving your  turnover interruption when  you rely on “bookings”  , without a decent bookings recording system or being unable to get to your system. 
b. Proving where your income comes from when have multiple revenue streams when not all are affected by an earthquake, fire or other claimable event.
c. Asset registers – we have discovered that many business owners do not have asset registers. They rely on their asset schedule for tax purposes which overlook many assets that are essential for business continuity. How do you prove what you own if you can't access your premises or an independent asset schedule?
d. Off site backups and the means to restore the backups off site.  Backup is great but what if can’t get into your office to get to the computer or to get the software to install on a computer so that the backup can been restored and used?
e. People back ups – if only one person knows payroll and they’re hurt – then who knows how to do the payrolls?
f. The password conundrum. Passwords are to protect access to sensitive information and so you restrict their distribution. So who do you trust to have access to passwords so that you have people back-up as well as software and data back-up.
g. Communication lines. Do you have an off-site accessible register of al your employees' home and cell phone numbers? Can you send them group texts and emails independently of the condition of your server or office premises?

Over the last few months we have prepared dozens of insurance claims and these are all key issues that have surfaced. Insurance companies are businesses. You may feel aggrieved at the level or evidence you need to provide to make a claim. Loss adjusters are not rolling over and accepting claims at face value. You must provide compelling evidence of your loss.

TAX TIP - BEWARE NEW RATES
Income tax trap for property owners
If you own property on which the building depreciation is going to be cancelled, you could find yourself underpaying your income tax for the next year. For entities such as companies and trusts, this could give rise to use of money interest, which you might not be expecting. Therefore, if you are not able to claim depreciation, recalculate your estimated profit for the 2012 year and base your provisional tax payments on that recalculation, not on the automatic Inland Revenue calculation.

If you buy new equipment after 20th May 2010 the depreciation claim will be lower than normal. Previously, there was a 20% loading on the depreciation rate if an asset was new. This has now been abolished, so your depreciation claim for the March 2011 year might be a little lower than normal if you buy a reasonable number of assets each year.

ACC PREMIUM PAYMENT TIP
Why pay 18% if you can avoid it?
If you can, pay ACC by the due date. it's very expensive to spread payments because:
1. The charge of 10% per month is effectively an interest rate of about 18%
2. When we prepare your annual accounts we need to get details of unpaid ACC and incorporate the debt in the books. This involves extra work and hence extra costs.he income tax rates for the year starting 1st April 2011 will be lower than those for the year starting 1st April 2010. This means your provisional tax calculation will be reduced for the 2012 year (ending 31 March 2012 for most people).

BUSINESS FOCUS TIP
Keep your feet firmly in one boat.
A Chinese proverb says "do not have each foot in a different boat!'. From time to time, we have clients who want to run two or more businesses at the same time. I have seen it work, but seldom successfully. Why? It's hard enough to promote just one business. If you do this properly, there won't be enough time in the week for a second one. Many years ago I learned about a similar proverb from a Japanese Master, "Don't chase two rabbits at the same time. You will lose both."

RETAIL SALES TIP
How to compete with on-line sales
As we all know, sales on-line are huge. How does a bricks and mortar store compete? One way is to introduce theatre, drama and entertainment to the in-store experience. This is the area that on-line stores will find it hard to compete in. It requires a significant investment beyond what retailers have ever had to bother with before. If you are a retailer, you need to understand the dramatic arts, be a director and producer of entertainment. If it is not "your thing" to be the centre of attention and a star performer, then perhaps you need to reconsider your business options.