Newsletter October 2011

Welcome to our Spring newsletter.  Please feel free to contact our experienced team about any employment related matters.

 

Rugby World Cup 2011

We hope you have all been enjoying the performances of the rugby world cup teams over the last 5 weeks.  The team at Strategic have had fun following the event with Jill attending the Scotland v Romania game in Invercargill and Debbie attending all 4 Irish pool games.  The Argentinian supporters brought excitement to the city with lots of enthusiasm and good cheer.  Debbie is feeling a little sad now with Ireland on their way home after a defeat to Wales.  The highlight for Debbie was attending the Ireland v Australia game in Eden Park and meeting up with some of the team afterwards who were out celebrating.  Good luck to the All Blacks for the semi final this weekend. We know they can do it.

 

What gets Measured gets Managed

Finding an hour a month to measure your key business indicators can really pay off.  A recent survey carried out proves that businesses that monitored key indicators at least monthly were significantly more likely than those who monitored less frequently to have increased revenue in the last 12 months.

Areas to Measure

Cashflow

Gross Margin

Sales revenue by product/region/channel

Profitability by product or service line

Customer satisfaction

Staff performance

Competitor Performance

Marketing Effectiveness

Kiwisaver Automatic Enrolment Exceptions

These are some of the exceptions to the automatic enrolment for Kiwisaver regulations:-

1)      Employing a temporary or casual employee, where they are only employed for 28 continuous days or less.

2)      If the employee is under 18 years of age.  16 to 17 year olds can be enrolled only if their legal guardian contacts the provider and co-signs the application form.

3)      Over the age of 65 years.

4)      Not a New Zealand citizen.

5)      If an employee is already paying sufficient contributions into another approved superannuation scheme.

Employees who Cannot get to Work due to Snow/Flooding

Should an employee be paid if they cannot get to work due to circumstances outside their control??

Firstly check the employment agreement to see if it has a clause pertaining to the above.

If there is no such clause the following usually applies:-

Generally employees who cannot turn up for work cannot expect to be paid.

Generally if a workplace is closed by the employer, employees can expect to be paid.

Employees on ACC

  • § When an employee is taking leave for the first week of a non-work accident, sick leave may be used.
  • § If an employee has a work-related accident, the employer has to pay “first week compensation” and cannot require the employee to take time off as sick leave.
  • § If an employee is receiving weekly compensation from ACC, the employer has no obligation to pay the employee.
  • § The time an employee is on either unpaid sick leave or on ACC still counts as part of an employee’s continuous service.  What this means is that the employee would still become entitled to annual leave and sick leave on their respective entitlement dates.  The reason for this is that the employee, even though they are not working, is still employed with the employer and therefore should not be disadvantaged by the fact they are on sick leave or ACC.

 

 

Are you looking to sell or promote your products online?

 

Both ABM and MYOB have add-on modules at reasonable costs that will allow you to showcase your products online, provide a site for customer purchases and are fully integrated with your accounting software.

Customers can have their own log in area which can be customised for their pricing.

Sales are imported in, so saves manual data entry.

Please call us for more information.

 

 

 

Getting the most from your Business Software Seminar

Jill Stewart will present this seminar as part of the Southland Chamber of Commerce Green Series training events.  This seminar is designed to lead participants through what is required to make an informed decision when choosing new software for their business or ensuring they are getting the best out of existing systems.

Seminar Covers

  • What information should a business get from their software
  • Who else needs the information from the business?
  • How much to spend on software?
  • Hardware ownership versus cloud software
  • Who should be involved in software selection?
  • Other selection considerations

The seminar focuses on what businesses need to effectively manage and grow and is designed more for the business owner or manager than administration staff.

Date:  Wednesday 26th October 2011 | Time:  4.00—6.00pm     

Where: Chamber of Commerce Training Room—Cnr Lower Esk & Leven Sts  

Investment: $55 + GST Members | $75 + GST Non-Members Register: email office@commercesouth.com or phone 03 218 7188

Farewell

Vicky Peters will be leaving our team with effect from Wednesday 26th October.  For all payroll enquiries please contact either Lyn Barclay or Eric Richards.

For all MYOB enquires contact Debbie Tynan.

 

Contact us to discuss your training requirements

We provide individually tailored training on Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word and MYOB.  Please contact us to discuss the training needs of your business.

 

                                           

 

 

Jill Stewart         Debbie Tynan    Ron Barnett        Eric Richards      Lyn Barclay         Vicky Peters

03 211 2590         03 211 2594         03 211 2591         03 211 2593         03 211 2589         03 211 2592

Phone 03 211 2589   Fax 03 218 3408

Level 2, 137 Spey Street, Invercargill

If you have any issues you need to discuss please give us a call.

Testimonial

“We have used Strategic Software for many years for our Accounting Program as well as our Payroll and have found them to be extremely efficient and reliable. They have a vast knowledge of Accounting Systems and Payroll, nothing was ever a problem. Payroll was a very easy and painless task, Strategic Software took care of every aspect and the reports we received weekly were very detailed with all the information we needed. We have since changed our programs to match our Head Office, however . . . during the change over Strategic Software couldn’t have been more helpful. Their understanding of what was needed was paramount for a smooth transition.”

Owen Webb, Manager
Carpet Court, Invercargill

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