Why us?

Thanks for coming into our virtual home. We're professional accountants who work with you to grow your business to complement your personal goals. We ensure your accounts and taxes are correct, and we help you shape your business to invigorate rather than drain you. If you want to talk, skip the rest and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact us (details to the right).

In these pages, we give you a taste of what we're about - but the best way to find out if and how we can help you to enhance your specific business and lifestyle is to arrange a free, no-obligation, initial "meeting". This is not to see if we can convince you to sign on with us. It is to help us get to understand your business, and for you to work out more clearly what you want from an accountant. If at the end of it we're both interested in going further, then we can discuss the options. Otherwise, at least you will have a clearer idea of what you're looking for to help you achieve your goals.

These days Skype and other systems let us "meet" virtually. This removes the restriction that used to limit us to our part of NZ. Clients come from the big smoke in the North to the South Island. The only thing we ask is that you schedule up to an hour for the meeting to minimise interruptions.

Accounting and tax tasks have to be done with professional integrity, but on top of what we hope applies to all professional (CPA or CA) accountants, we think three things might appeal to you.

Internet

The biggest difference between us and most other accountants is our use of the internet. Email's long been a part of daily life for most businesses - but for us, it's like the air that we breathe. We don't even have an office down town any more. Initially, this was a reaction to health issues, combined with the economic recession, but now we have no desire to go back. We enjoy the freedom of this way of working - although it has taken some getting used to for both clients and us.

When we need to talk with clients we usually use Skype or Jitsi (Zoom alternative), although we still use phones. We also use TeamViewer, which allows us to talk with clients while working with them on their computer. When we need to transfer large files we use DropBox (small files are emailed or sent via TeamViewer). If you're unsure about the whole "virtual accountant" thing, give us a call and we'll show you how it works.

As for accounting software - it doesn't have to be "cloud" based for us to work over the internet. Most of our clients still use the faster desktop software. We're happy to work with and advise on any mainstream accounting package tailored for NZ, or even to look at international packages where they're more appropriate.

Fees

Our accounting client's pay by monthly A/P. This means you can claim the fee in the year to which it relates, rather than in the following year when it's billed. More importantly it's a fixed fee. We're the accountants - so why should you carry our risk. If after a couple of years your work remains problematic, we'll discuss options. It is not in your interest (or ours) to waste time. We reserve the right to charge for extra work, such as a new entity, or installing and training software, but we'll always agree a fixed fee up front.

This is particularly beneficial for clients in their first year with us. Invariably we spend more time setting up and training you to do things right. The fixed fee means you can call for help at any time - which means when the end of the year comes, our clients generally have sound systems. We can do most of our work in your package, and then finish off other elements and feed the results back to you. So your system (desktop or cloud) always reflects the "official" / IRD accounts.

Business services are a bit different. Many services are one-off services. For those, we will agree on a fee and the deliverables up front for a specific service. If the task is bigger we will agree on the fee and deliverables for the first stage, and after the first, we'll tackle later stages the same way. If the task is a recurring one (mentoring, reporting, etc) then we'll agree on a monthly payment.

Whatever the situation, you will NEVER receive an unexpected bill from us.

Business development

Accounting for the past is our core business - but our passion is helping businesses grow for the future (for which reliable accounts are a useful starting point). Many people offer all sorts of solutions to business challenges. We can't change your business for you - there's no secret formula. What we can do is to help you improve your business in such a way that the benefits keep on keeping on, and don't get eroded away over time.

A key difference in our business is questions. Many people offer answers, but how can we give you answers without asking the right questions? The basic principles don't change (e.g. every business needs to make a profit), but to work towards your goal there are hundreds of questions and thousands of answers. Every business manager always needs to be asking themselves questions - big questions (why am I in business?) and little (or not quite so big) questions (how can I keep customers engaged?). We help you ask the right questions of yourself and your business.

Over 90% of business owners do their best from day to day, but don't focus on growing their business. They fail to work ON the business rather than IN the business, which is a real shame. We know they can do better and have some proven tools and systems to help - as well of course as our training and experience as accountants. Our focus is to help you ask the right questions and to implement the right answers.

If you want to find out more about specific services, choose an area from options at the top or side.