Unemployment in New Zealand has been steadily rising over the past two years. The unemployment rate has risen from 3.4% in Q1 of 2023, to 5.1% in Q4 of 2024. The rate has remained static for Q1 of 2025, but this prolonged rate of unemployment may be having a detrimental impact on the future of your small business. Let’s look at the alignment between unemployment and your future growth. 1. Reduced consumer spending: With more people out of work, consumers have less disposable income to play with. This leads to customers tightening their belts and less consumer spending on non-essential goods and services. This can directly impact your sales and monthly revenue, forcing you into a corner where prices (and margins) might be decreased to encourage more sales. 2. Low morale and poor employee retention: While a larger talent pool might seem beneficial, high unemployment can sometimes create a sense of job insecurity among your existing employees. Unstable economic conditions can lead to decreased morale, higher stress levels, and a potential struggle to retain top talent, who may feel less secure in their current roles. 3. Difficulty securing loans and funding: Banks become more risk-averse when there’s evidence of high unemployment, poor economic conditions and unpredictable market conditions. The recent CPA Australia Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey found that only 26.4% of Kiwi businesses expect it to be easy to access finance. Reduced access to funding can lead to poor cashflow, slower growth and an increasing need to reduce costs. 4. Decline in overall business confidence: The combined impact of poor economic conditions and high unemployment is significant. This unpredictable and unstable outlook can have a major effect on business confidence. New Zealand's ANZ Business Outlook Index fell sharply to 36.6 in May 2025 from 49.3 in the previous month. This may deter your small business from investing, innovating or expanding – all factors that could hinder your own long-term growth and stability. If you need support getting your business through the tough times – we’re here to help. There are still ways to control your spending, drive growth and do your bit to provide employment.

For centuries, accounting was all about reviewing historic information – but that only told you about the past, not what was going to happen in the future. If you’re only looking back at past periods and historic numbers, this limits the insights you can achieve for your business. With a backward-looking ideology, it becomes difficult to plan, run through different scenarios or understand the path of the business going forwards. Forecasting changes this. With the right data analysis and forecasting tools, you can project sales, cash, revenue and profits into the future – and get in control of your business. A forward-looking view of your business journey Forecasting switches the focus of your financial management. By moving to a forward-looking view of your business journey, you can see further down the road – and that helps to spot any opportunities and avoid common business pitfalls. Forecasting adds value by: Highlighting the data patterns – a forecasting tool takes your historic data and projects it forward in time. This helps you and your advisers spot patterns, trends, gaps and opportunities, revealing the true ‘story’ behind your business accounts. For example, forecasting may reveal a predicted seasonal slump in the next quarter, allowing you to plan ahead and proactively take action to minimise negative impacts. Giving you a future view of your business – instinctively, business owners will look back at prior periods to assess performance. There’s value to reviewing your historic actuals, of course, but using forecasting helps you to look forward, rather than just backwards. Forecasting is the satnav, showing you the road ahead, rather than the rear-view mirror showing you the road you’ve already travelled. Helping you scenario-plan – with a financial model of your key drivers, combined with accurate forecasting, you can quick answer your burning ‘What if…?’ questions. Forecasting lets you run different scenarios, with different drivers, to see how business decisions may pan out over time. If option B performs better than option A, that’s invaluable information when defining your next strategic move. Making informed, evidence-based decisions – having ‘the full picture’ of combined historic numbers, forecasts and longer-term projections aides your business decision-making. Forecasting gives you solid evidence on which to base your strategy and helps to red flag any threats that are looming on the horizon – giving you the best possible information to keep your executive team informed and on the ball. A more effective relationship with your accountant – forecasting also helps us to get a better insight into what makes your business tick. This helps to spot potential areas of performance improvement, and to give you the best possible strategic advice, all backed up by solid, empirical data and management information. If you want to get in better control of the destiny and results of your company, we’re here to talk. Forecasting helps you highlight your future threats and opportunities – and create a proactive strategy to improve the performance of your business. It’s not always an easy process, but almost always one worth undertaking.

Understanding your finances is a vital part of running your business. But getting down into the nitty gritty of your business’ financial reports isn’t every entrepreneur’s top skill. If you are new to company accounting, or simply want to expand your knowledge, this guide explains the foundational reports. The profit and loss report and the balance sheet are both key reports when it comes to getting in control of your company’s financial health. What’s a profit and loss statement? Your profit and loss statement is commonly called your P&L, but is also referred to as your income statement or statement of earnings. It’s a full breakdown of your company’s revenue (money coming into the company as sales and other business income) and your expenditure (direct costs, overheads, expenses and other costs). As a business, you obviously want to turn a profit and make money from your venture. Careful observation of your P&L allows you to track your revenues and expenses over a set period of time. You can then look back over the period and see exactly where you’re making money, and where you’re losing money. The more you make, and the less you lose, the greater your profits will be at year-end – and your P&L is your barometer for measuring these metrics. The P&L statement is good for: Giving you a breakdown of all revenues and relevant costs and expenses Showing the profit and loss figures over a set period of time Summing up your profit and loss for the period to gauge if you’re profitable. What’s the balance sheet? The balance sheet gives you a snapshot of your company’s financial health at a given point in time, based on the following accounting equation: ‘Equity = Assets - Liabilities’ The balance sheet shows you the company’s: Assets (the things the company owns, including cash) Liabilities (the things the company owes other people) Equity (retained earnings plus the funds you originally invested as shareholders) Unlike the P&L – which shows you the revenues and expenditure over the course of a given historic period – the balance sheet is best seen as a ‘screenshot’ of your current finances. In a nutshell, it shows you what the company is worth on paper right now, based on the current numbers in your business accounts. So it’s a vital tool in your accounting toolbox. The balance sheet is helpful for: Assessing the current financial position of the company Providing evidence of your financial position to banks, lenders and investors Making decisions on company dividends and related distributions Giving potential buyers an idea of the company’s tangible net asset value, if you plan to sell up. Talk to us about expanding your accounting skills If you can’t quite tell your assets from your equity, we are here to help. Accounting can be complicated and it takes time to fully grasp all the different terms and processes. We’ll be happy to run you through your latest management or statutory accounts and explain exactly what each report means – and how it reflects your current performance as a business. Get in touch with us to find out more.

If you operate your business as a company, and you make a vehicle available to an employee to use privately, you’ll be liable to pay fringe benefit tax (FBT). This applies on vehicles made available to: employees (and their associated persons), and shareholder-employees (business owners) This applies whether the vehicle is actually used for private purposes or not. FBT does not apply: to vehicles that come within the definition of being ‘work related vehicles’ that are not available for private use for certain emergency calls and some out of town travel for working owners in Look Through Companies (LTCs). Instead, such benefits are treated as a distribution of profit to the working owner to the extent of the private use for sole traders and partners in a partnership. Instead, they make income tax and GST adjustments for private use. Not all ‘business’ vehicles are ‘work-related vehicles’ for FBT purposes. And some companies have other options instead of paying FBT. In some cases, exemptions apply. When is FBT payable? FBT is normally payable quarterly but can be filed quarterly, annually or by income year. Filing frequency depends on the type of company you manage, the benefits you provide and how much tax you pay. It’s important for clients to get this right because the use of, and deductions claimed for, vehicles is a common feature of any Inland Revenue review of a company’s tax affairs. You need to understand how the rules apply to your specific business. If you’re unsure and need advice, we’re here to help.

A good credit profile acts as the foundations for your finance strategy. But what can you do to build and nurture a good credit profile and business credit score?

Along with lifting domestic investment with Investment Boost, Budget 2025 seeks to attract capital and skilled labour, and increase the KiwiSaver balances of New Zealanders.

When economic times are tough, it helps to be in control of your cash flow. We explain how to improve your cash flow – and how this helps you run your business through tough times.

Last month was Mental Health Awareness week. Being a business owner can be stressful. When the buck stops with you, it can be easy to let the pressure mount up and to discount your own wellbeing. Looking after your mental health is as important as looking after your balance sheet. That’s the reality. So, having an improved focus on rest, wellbeing and talking about your struggles is a big part of moving towards becoming a better business leader. Here are some examples:  Don't overwork yourself – it's tempting to work every hour that's available in an attempt to meet your goals. But working yourself into the ground is, ultimately, a destructive thing to do. If you're tired and burnt out then you're in no position to lead the company. Try to stick to set working hours and avoid working 60-hour weeks wherever possible. Sleep, rest, and downtime are vital. Schedule time for non-work-related activities – make sure you have time blocked out for things that aren't work. That might be a walk in the countryside, time with your kids, or a game of tennis. The aim is to take yourself away from the stresses of the business and to give yourself a broader life outside the company. It's a chance to have fun, to relax, or to be someone who isn't just 'the boss'. Take up an activity that promotes wellbeing – there are plenty of pastimes that can help you bring down your anxiety levels and bring you to a calmer place. Yoga is a good way to stay fit, but also an excellent form of relaxation. Equally, finding time for meditation helps you to empty your mind of business concerns and allows you to become more grounded and calmer. Even something as traditional as a fishing trip could help you to chill out and relax away from a screen. Talk about your worries, concerns, and anxieties – if business-related stress is building up, the worst thing you can do is keep it all bottled up. It's beneficial to open up and talk about these issues. This could be with a partner, a fellow entrepreneur, your accountant, or even a professional counsellor. Be transparent about your state of mind and you’ll find people are more than willing to listen, understand, and offer some support. Finally, as accountants and advisers, we’re in a good position to help when you need someone to open up to about your business concerns.

About the standards. The healthy homes standards, which became law on 1 July 2019, introduced minimum standards for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties. Landlords are responsible for ensuring their properties meet the standards and continue to do so over time. When you need to meet the standards. All rental properties will need to comply with the healthy homes standards by 1 July 2025. You must make sure that your rental meets the standards within certain time frames. The time frame depends on what type of tenancy it is, or when a new tenancy starts or is renewed. What happens if you don’t meet the standards.  Landlords who don't meet their obligations under the healthy homes standards are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 – and may face consequences, like financial penalties. What to include in the tenancy agreement. New or renewed tenancy agreements must include a signed statement with details of the property’s current level of compliance with the standards. What records to keep. Landlords must keep all records and documents that show how they are complying with the healthy homes standards. These must be made available on request – for example, to the Tenancy Tribunal, or the Tenancy Compliance and Investigations team. Landlords are committing an unlawful act if they don’t supply the records within 10 working days of a request, and do not have a reasonable excuse. Tenants can also request information about compliance with the healthy homes standards. Landlords must provide this information to tenants within 21 days.