December Newsletter 2024
In this issue:
- Closing hours.
- Test your business skills.
- Do you really know? The cost of correcting your GST coding.
- Farewell tax cheats.
- How long will it take for NZ to recover from the Covid years?
- Social problems that will happen.
- The funniest instruction sheet you have ever read.
- A very odd and illegible calling card. Why communication is so vital.
- Ideal real estate to own (for all of us dreamers). https://www.youtube.com/@Gavren No other reference here folks just look at that real estate!
- Humour- cartoons.
- The last word.
Closing:
24 December mid day-ish.
Open 27 December and available for appointments 28 Dec also.
Open 20 and 31 December, then from 4 January on.
Stats only really.
Want to come talk business, make a time!
Test your business skills
Like so many of us we are good at our trade, but business, and everything that goes with that…well maybe not so much.
Here’s a simple test.
How much do you owe for:
- Tax
- GST
- PAYE
- HP/Other
- OD
- Stock on “tick”
How do you propose to pay for it? What is your cashflow like?
The answer is by being very careful and knowing everything about budgeting, margins, your strengths and weaknesses, your competition, your service , your products, your pricing, your competitiveness, what is complimentary to you and what obstacles you face. Keep you “nose” in your bank account all day long, everyday, weekends as well, watch what you are owed.
And lastly, ask your self this question: Am I a good businessperson or a great one. How can I improve and sharpen up.
Take advantage of our very detailed business knowledge and have a chat. There is no charge, and I am happy to help plan strategies for you and provide guidance.
Do you really know? The cost of correcting your (GST) coding
This past year for annual accounts and for owner coded bank data, I have seen the worst coding ever. Just because you think you know; my opinion is you don’t. And time and time again I am proven right. The worst was a bookkeeper who did her own books, and 3 others. The coding was so incompetent that all 4 had GST to refile for the 2024 year. That’s 24 GST returns! This “bookkeeper” was sacked by me for such incompetence.
Why am I mentioning this? Plain and simple: it is the cost of getting it wrong. It costs more to review and fix than to simply ask a question.
The other side of that is the penalties IRD will charge for your coding negligence. It behoves the business owner to get it right. Wrong and you get in to all sorts of fines with IRD.
Farewell tax cheats
A few new clients came to me from Bark. Bark is a referral service, pretty much for any service you want. Now, this links into the test your business skills section above. All had debt back to 2020, all were insolvent, IRD were on their case, and as is so consistent here, their accountants were rubbish. And I mean rubbish. Here is an example. A Remuera accountant allocated $8000.00 to bank fees for a painting firm that had the owner only on the books.
Back to the tax cheats. Clients who I have acted for for years have been sacked because of tax fraud, and tax evasion over a very long time by not paying any form of tax at all and still trading. All of those clients were reminded of how aggressively IRD are now campaigning collection of overdue tax. This goes back to the Covid years as well. People are being sent to jail, and bankrupted, companies liquidated, and assets sold including family homes.
How long will it take for NZ to recover from the Covid years?
Recent economic data, which I concur with, states the rest of this century.
Think about that folks! The country owes over 190B in debt. We do not have the tax revenue, savings or otherwise to pay this off. I refer you to my comments in the madness created by Covid and my updates at that time.
Our current Government does not have a chance at all.
Be mindful of saving as much as you can, reduce debt. Stay frosty! Probably for the next 75 years.
Or ..leave the country like so many other kiwis:1,000,000 of some of our best.
Social problems that will happen.
We here use AI in our management reporting. This is a specialist accounting report which we have and provides a lot of data and considerations. The report suggests changes or impacts and we here can load in responses to those recommendations and the AI will then respond and evaluate and suggest more.
We here at FALC actually rely on our own human intelligence because of the breadth of our knowledge. It is formidable knowledge base.
Ai will advance to the stage where AI begets AI. That is inevitable and then new gen AI will beget newer and better ad infinitum.
Robots are already in the market place and have been for years. We live in a world of capitalism where we know that robots have replaced humans. And that will increase every year. So, what are we going to do with a growing population, and a diminishing human workforce.
What are the redundancy plans here?
OR do we simply shut AI down. As in the case of Facebooks Bob and Alice bots. They started talking to each other in their own language.
Lots to think on here.
AI does have it’s use, and I use Alexa daily for household tasks, lists, music and timer.
The funniest instruction sheet you have ever read
Check out this instruction sheet for assembling a 100 in projector screen (yes from China).
I am so glad I bought this- it was not much at all. It is a great take on the use of words in the English language:
Funny as can be particularly if you do it contrarily!
A very odd and illegible calling cards (bits of paper actually). Why communication is so vital.
2 bits of torn paper, more or less saying the same thing. Navid the gardener (I think)
Free quote but advice is $20.00! The rest…….but note the change in handwriting from left to right under advice $20.00! Dropped off in my letter boxes which has a sing on it…no junk mail or otherwise.
As a calling card for work this is the last thing anyone who will pay for a service would ever consider.
Brand is very important now, appearance and professionalism and your WTS (willingness to sell- either yourself/your service/your trade).
Always consider what you set out and how you set out your quotes or communications and make sure they are legible, easy to understand and inviting.
This is a questionnaire I got to enter a Rolls Royce competition a few years back to enter a comp to test a new Roller. You had to tick some boxes below: Hmmmn…how do you get on ?
It could happen!
It’s the 20th of December as I write this. It has come up on all of us I am sure very fast, but “contrarily” has take all year to get here. A sort of oxymoron here folks.
We will be taking some leave at the end of Jan, and as usual all services as required, payrolls and calls are all good to go throughout the Christmas and New years break and our leave.
I have a few side businesses as you all know. I have never experienced such a downturn in sales, and these are not expensive items.
In the words of the late Sgt Phillip Esterhaus of that fantastic tv series Hill Street Blues:
Let’s be careful out there”.
Next year is going to be a rough one. So lets plan for that now. I have.
All the best for the festive season and new years! May you have happiness and fun, rest and relaxation and an in tact credit card! The FALC team
The last words
Merry Christmas all