Some new year advice …

This article  on the Roll website gives us some timely advice to look after ourselves as we head back to work after our summer “holiday”.

If you’re like me, the “holiday” still involved laptop with me everywhere and phone on … and me answering the question “how was your holiday?” with “I’m self-employed … I didn’t have a holiday”.

I’m working really hard to use tools like Xero and other software solutions to make things easy for myself. Xero takes most of the mindless data entry out of accounting for small businesses. There are other tools too – like Receipt Bank – which I will introduce in another post. Using these tools effectively as a small business owner gives us our time back and allows us to take real holidays as we learn to delegate to our computer and take the other good advice below …

Read more here .. 

And if you’d like to have a look at Xero for your business get in contact.

Huge boost to international internet speed around the corner

For those of us working from home and dependent on the internet, speed can be a real issue.  Chorus finally installed fibre at our place in December and the increase in speed was phenomenal.  International traffic is still much slower than local however and so I’m looking forward to this coming online in June.  I’ve got used to just clicking on something and expecting it to work instantly! 🙂

 

Now have my CPP

The NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants have now approved my application for a Certificate of Public Practice which means I can put some more work into this website and developing it for current and prospective clients. I will be officially trading in my new practice entity Nicola Holman Chartered Accountant Ltd from 1st September 2014.

I’ve gone green

After lots of thinking and asking around I finally decided to ditch the red colouring of my first logo and get a new one which looks a bit different and says something about me and where I want this accounting practice to go. And so, here you have it …

NHCA Logo (Apr 14) 259x121

I’ve got my new practice name on it – Nicola Holman Chartered Accountant Ltd – although I don’t officially use this company until I’ve got my Certificate of Public Practice from NZICA. It’s also got a couple of hills, with the sun coming up over them and some birds. These reflect where I am based, in the sunny city of Dunedin, on the top of Signal Hill. We always have birds flying from tree to tree during the day.

I am committed to being as environmentally aware as possible which is why I’ve chosen a green logo. Green also signifies growth and health which is exactly what I want to help small businesses to have. Also owning a native plant nursery, and basing my practice at home, on our rural property which is surrounded by both native bush and other trees, makes a “green ” theme appropriate. I hope you like it.

Great little Dunedin company – Thankyou Payroll – gets noticed

Thankyou Payroll is an innovative Dunedin company which provides payroll processing services online – free to charge to small businesses and not for profits because they take advantage of an Inland Revenue Department subsidy.

When I was looking for payroll software options for my practice I researched several different possibilities including desktop software and other online providers.  Thankyou Payroll is the only company providing this service for free to small businesses and not for profits.  I decided that this was too good an offer to pass up and am in the process of setting up my first client on their system.

The other motivating factor was their social conscience, and also most importantly, they are local and if I want to, I can wander into their office for a chat.

Before I started looking around, I’d been told about them, but had not heard of them before. After recent news though, I hope they get quite a bit more business their way.

Free payroll service as finalist

 

by Sally Rae

 

Otago Daily Times Online 10th February 2014

 

When it comes to a social business like Thankyou Payroll, every one is a winner, chief executive Lani Evans reckons.

The Dunedin-based business uses an IRD subsidy to provide small businesses and charities throughout New Zealand with a free payroll service.

Up to $5 per client pay run was also put into a charitable trust which, from next month, would distribute funds to community organisations.

”Everyone wins … there’s no down side,” Ms Evans said. … read more