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Planning must encompass all aspects of your business and should help you see ways to improve it. Planning includes the following elements: ● Understanding your current equity position; ● Understanding your cash position and cash management; ● Setting realistic business and personal goals; ● Havi...

In order to set meaningful goals around your financial position, you need to know your numbers. You need to fully understand how your business has done in the past and where you stand today. You also need to know what you want to do with these numbers. Most of this information will be found in y...

Most businesses will put their financial goals into some form of profit and loss projection. The really clever ones will monitor the actual results against what has been budgeted for, and identify whether their goals were achieved. They know their numbers. The key to improving any business comes ...

Knowing your numbers means you can make timely changes to your systems and plans to ensure that you keep on track towards achieving your goals. And remember, the numbers don't lie. By working with your accountant to set out your goals, plan, and manage your finances, it will be obvious whether y...

Businesses can be structured in a number of different ways and each type of business structure will suit a particular vision and style of business. In order to run your business at a higher capacity, you may wish to consider changing your business structure. But first you need to understand the o...

A sole trader is the easiest and cheapest business set-up. It focusses on the business activities of an individual and includes the following features: ● The sole trader’s taxable income is the business’ entire taxable income; ● A sole trader is allowed to pay a significant other or a spouse a w...

Entering into a business partnership is an attractive notion for a lot of people because the business responsibilities are shared. A common form of business partnership is usually between husband and wife. Below are some of the common features of a business partnership structure: ● The taxable i...

A company structure is favoured by a number of operators because of the lower company tax rate as compared to individual tax rates. However, there is a lot more you need to know about operating as a company. Below are some of the features of a company business structure: ● A company is deemed a l...

For decades, trusts have been very popular in New Zealand as a flexible means of distributing assets and income amongst various beneficiaries. But operating as a family trust has its advantages and disadvantages. The key points to note about operating as a family trust are outlined below: ...

Choosing a bank is one of the most important decisions a business owner has to make. Your bank is your business partner and you and your business partner need to have a strong relationship with solid communication. Over the next few weeks we will be discussing the following topics to help yo...

Before choosing a bank, you may want to ask yourself how stable is your bank of choice? A bank’s credit rating says a lot about how they conduct their business and what a future with them would look like. Think of this as a background check. You want to know as much about them as possible before...

When choosing a bank, the ideal scenario is to select a bank which has a strong working knowledge of your industry, has many clients from this industry, and identifies your type of business as part of their growth strategy. These banks are more likely to have team members who specialise in your ...

A good bank manager is your lifeline to the bank. Having someone who you can trust and who understands your business and particular circumstances is the first step in building and nurturing a relationship with any bank. What makes the best bank managers? Is it age or experience? What should you ...