Accountants call it the silly season. We’re in the middle of the busiest part of the year for Accountants. Our clients have ordinarily got all their information together and are itching to know what the tax result was for the last year. Its a trick to manage it so that clients are getting the information when they need it, but from experience I find that the best approach is to have up-to-date management systems that present the information to the decsion makers without waiting on an Accountant to put it together.
There are some wonderful packages available out there now, like Xero (www.xero.com – a personal favourite), Banklink (www.banklink.co.nz – great, low cost cash flow management tool that covers GST to), Saasu (www.saasu.co.nz – Xero on steriods) as well as the good old MYOB (www.myob.co.nz). One package I think is losing ground is Quickbooks (www.quicken.co.nz). One of the more complex shrinkwrap options, their recent response to the GST changes has been rather poor. Unless you want to bring your version up to the latest, you’re not supported at the 15% GST rate. This lack of options strikes me as somewhat “don’t care” and heavy handed. All of the other packages I have mentioned have rushed to find working solutions across the board. Plus no word on a Saas solution, which appears to be where the other packages are all heading.
We’re running courses on GST changes and some of the other fun tax changes the Government bundled in to their 20 May 2010 budget. Our next one is a breakfast function on 15 September 2010 at the Racetrack in Pukekohe. Make sure you know what you need to do before 1 October rolls around. Your financial well-being may depend on it!
Till next time.
Lincoln
Lincoln Sharp - Thinking Forward 