“Life is for Living”.

  

 Also thrown into the mix of the last month, was a John Shackleton seminar that was attended by a large group of our clients and their guests. Once again John really impressed with his talk on health, wealth and happiness. Our staff will be following up with those clients who set 10 week goals at the event, as we would expect our clients to follow up on us with our goals from the event! Those of you who were not lucky enough to get along to the event are invited to look in our library when you next come into our offices as John very kindly left some copies of his book titled “Life is for Living”. As I have mentioned before we have many excellent publications in our library and would encourage all our clients and interested parties to come along to see what is available.

Cheers

Lincoln

Beans to Grapes.

It has been a very busy few weeks at Campbell Tyson Cooper White.  In the last month we have managed to fit in Peter Raynes’ retirement, who will be greatly missed by both staff and his clients, our financial year end, and Easter which involved excessive distribution and consumption of chocolate, and a new record for our firm in terms of our tax return filing percentage for the year.

Peter Raynes’ retirement is a major event for our firm.  Peter has been an accountant for the last 44 years and has developed some amazing relationships with clients and staff in that time.  It was humbling to hear the comments from his clients, friends and associates at his retirement do held on the 30th of March at the Franklin Club.  Peter and his wife, Jill, have embarked on a wonderful journey, learning the ropes of good chardonnay creation.  Having sampled bottles from the 2007 and 2009 years produced from the vineyard, I can recommend what the vineyard has produced to date!  It was evident from the leaving party that there will be no shortage of tasters heading to Cooks Beach to sample the Lonely Bay label.  However, knowing Peter, there will be plenty of visits back to Pukekohe which he and Jill have called home over the last 60 years.

We have exciting times coming up in the next few weeks, with an ANZ Business update seminar next week, the Business and Innovation Expo on the 7 May, and our staff selecting the worthy charity for the next 12 months.  The charity that is selected by our staff will be the one that our resources will all be thrown in behind to benefit over the coming year.  The South Auckland Health Foundation has benefited over the last 12 months and is also going back into the draw for the next 12 months.

I would like to wish you all a happy new year (financial that is!) and look forward to catching up with you soon.

Best wishes

Lincoln

Lunching with the Prime Minister

Had a superb lunch with the Prime Minister John Key on Friday. John was invited to the Franklin District by local MP Dr Paul Hutchinson for a wide range of community activities and visits, one of which was a luncheon put on by Enterprise Franklin Development Trust. To give him credit, John fronted up to some vocal locals protesting the Super city plan. John then joined the 110 guests for a speech on his view of the economy and current affairs. This was followed a lovely three course lunch.

What impressed me about John Key was, well, several things:
• He’s not in it for the money. No one can accuse him of being motivated solely by money, and he wasn’t impressed with the MPs caught up in the credit card claims.
• He’s passionate about New Zealand doing better. Everything he mentioned centred on improving New Zealand’s collective lot.
• He doesn’t suffer fools. His comments on the management of Auckland’s opportunities by previous/current councils were to the point and clear.
• He was willing to debate any point and had confidence and clarity in his answers. New Zealand’s mineral wealth, our natural resources and the tax system envisaged by the Government all point to us being able to target Australia as the benchmark for improvement.
• He wants to get things done. His actions and comments all centred around removing roadblocks and empowering the right people to make decisions and get the job done.
Before you label me a National Party Member, reread the logic above. It appeals regardless of the party that would be expressing it. John delivered it in a relaxed, confident and knowledgeable way that obviously hit the mark with those that were listening. This is the first time I have listened to John Key in person and would recommend that if the opportunity came up, you should have a listen too.

Have a great week.
Lincoln

New Horizons

We are hopeful that the new Farmers Building construction will be underway soon. This exciting building will smarten up the old RD1 site and add on to the surrounding area, further enhancing the flow around the main hub of Pukekohe. The efforts of a thoughtless few have unfortunately delayed this longer than was necessary, but we hope to be in a new building in 2012! This new building will be purpose built with excellent facilities. The new car park that will be attached will provide much needed additional parking just off the main street of Pukekohe. I know our staff will enjoy the better access during and outside of office hours, as will our clients. We will be able to hold seminars onsite, cater to different sized groups of clients, and provide state-of-the-art technology. Our clients and staff will also be able to go shopping at Farmers once the business part of the day is completed! Next time you’re in, ask to see a draft of the intended plans of the new building. We’re sure you’ll like it!

 Have a great week.

 Lincoln

One of many to come!

CTCW has a lot going on in the next few months.  We have had our first Business Breakfast seminar, Denise Boston’s upbeat presentation was empowering you to re-invent yourself for the New Year and make some positive changes in your professional and personal life, myaccountant newsletter coming out in March, the John Shackleton seminar coming up in March, our May Expo to look forward to, and that’s not touching on the things we will be doing directly with our clients.  We have our new intake of staff arriving the 15th March with Brigette, Pamela and David joining our crew.  I’ll tell you more about them once they move in.

 Have a great week

 Lincoln

Running Accountants!

   Taupo – a beautiful lake, amazing views of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, central to the North Island and outdoor central for tourists and locals a like.  And for some strange reason, thousands of people go there once a year to run/walk around it!  CTCW are sending two (!!!!) teams down this weekend to participate in one of the several huge events that Taupo puts on.  We have over 27 staff, family and friends going down to slug it out during the night and complete the 155km course sometime on Saturday afternoon.  Needless to say, there may be a small but happy party following the efforts.  Again – we are raising money for the South Auckland Health Foundation in our last big drive for the financial year.  Feel free to make some donations to a very worthwhile cause – making Accountants sweat!  Email Diane on mclaughlin@ctcw.co.nz she will be happy to take your money on behalf of SAHF.

Blog back from holiday!

It appears that, when looking at my last posting, my blog is still on holiday while I have returned to work.  While holidays can be restful, relaxing, family time, or a chance to catch up with those non work tasks and goals that you haven’t been able to do during the year, it is always a struggle to return to the right head space for work.  I find the easiest way to get back on track is to take the time to sit down, clarify and prioritise tasks, set goals, and basically have a good think about what I want to achieve over the coming year.  This time of year is generally good for this purpose as most other businesses and organisations are also just finding their feet after the Xmas break. 

Now is a great time to also be looking at establishing some goals for your business over the coming 12 months.  As we wind down to the end of this financial year, and approaching what appears to be the light at the end of the tunnel as far as the recession is concerned, we are in an enviable position in that we can look forward to a year of positive (as compared to 2009) possibilities.  I know myself and all the staff at Campbell Tyson Cooper White are looking forward to achieving as much as possible with our clients in the near future.

 Have a cracker week.

Lincoln

Kerre Woodham Christmas Luncheon with CTCW

Crikey Blimey!  What a pocket rocket.  Kerre Woodham spoke at the Campbell Tyson Cooper White Business Luncheon, the final event of the 2009 Business Breakfast series.  Although Kerre only spoke for 45 minutes, her wit, vivaciousness, enthusiasm and personality shone through to keep everyone enthralled throughout.  The biggest regret was that Kerre had another function to attend and was unable to stay and talk with the many people who were inspired by her impassioned talk.  Other than her comments on 6ft 4 Irishmen, the key things that we got out of what Kerre said was to seize the day and live the life you want to and not to fill up the space with meaninglessness. 

I for one thoroughly enjoyed her presentation, and know that our staff that attended the event did too.  These are the sort of occasions that you can not put a price on for the impression and effect it has on people.

We have a great 2010 season lined up for our Business Breakfasts.  Denise Boston is kicking off on the last Friday of February with a motivational presentation on getting the year off on the right foot.  Denise is a protégé of John Shackleton, who will we be getting in to entertain our clients on the 24th March.  If you would be keen to attend this John Shackleton event, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either myself or our wonderful receptionist, Jacqui to book in for the 24th.

Here’s to a wonderful Christmas break and an enjoyable Christmas Season.

Lincoln

Morning Tea Threatens Waistlines

Waistlines are constantly under threat at Campbell Tyson Cooper White. Due to the culinary expertise of many of our staff events such as the recently held International Food Day have resulted in sumptuous feasts being prepared for morning tea. Such was the enthusiasm of the staff involved, lunch and afternoon tea were also catered for. Our active Social Club organise regular events, which combined with the usual birthday party shouts and length of service celebrations result in some pretty amazing morning teas.

As the impact of this wonderful food has become all too obvious for some of our staff (including the writer) other initiatives have been thrown into full drive by our staff. Our recent session with John Shackleton has resulted with more than 50% of the staff deciding upon “body shape” goals and the birth of dieting and exercise clubs amongst staff. We are in the process of organising our Round the Lake relay team for February next year as well as other fitness events. We also have budding half iron men, although this should be referred to as iron women as we are yet to have a man take up the challenge!

Needless to say, our staff are incredibly active, be this working with our clients, on the social scene, or involved in personal development.

Catch you next week.

Lincoln

Supporting Local Businesses

Among the many business initiatives that Campbell Tyson Cooper White supports in the communities, the Business Excellence program is one that the whole community can benefit from. This fully funded program enables businesses to tap into some excellence training and supporting made available by The Enterprise Trusts of Papakura and Franklin. This program was original introduced to support businesses contemplating entering the Business Excellence Awards, but is also being utilised by many businesses wanting to hone their critical financial and operational skills. This video, prepared by Invesure (see www.invesureproductions.co.nz), was screened at the 2009 Business Excellence Awards held at Strathalan School. It underlines our commitment to helping businesses, particularly in the greater Franklin district.

Thanks
Lincoln