The value of document management systems

I’ve never been a great fan of electronic document management systems. I can see how they can be useful but I’ve seen a lot that, in spite of hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to install them, are not used effectively because the people who are expected to use them find them too hard.

Now there are many reasons for this and it’s not always the fault of the system itself.

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Business fundamentals

Being able to find information you need when you need it is fundamental to the way you manage your business.

It doesn’t matter what your business does – whether you’re making pies, children’s’ clothes, iron gates or if you provide

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End-of-year tax advice

I’ve researched tax information in various countries to offer you the following links to help you to prepare your records so your accountant can prepare your annual accounts in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

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Shoebox filing

Recently I’ve noticed a number of accountants offer their services to do a one-off service to sort out the shoe boxes of paper records their clients bring to them. It seems that a lot of small business owners still put all their receipts and invoices into a box or maybe a folder or envelope and don’t bother to look at them again.

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Give your business a flying filing start in 2015

Have you experienced one or more of these situations?

♦  Wasted time looking for information that you have filed “somewhere”?
♦  Got frustrated when you can’t find a paper or email that you know “is there somewhere”?
♦  Had to pay tax penalties because your missed a deadline due to inefficient business processes?

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Cost-effective administrative support for small businesses

Did you read Lisa Martin’s story in the DominionPost recently?  Her business GoFi8ure provides everyday bookkeeping and accounting support to small businesses before they get to the point of needing a full time office manager.  GoFi8ure provides bookkeeping and other administrative services to free up small business owners to do what they do best – run the business.

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Communication is almost more important than cashflow

To those of you still at work this week, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy thriving business in 2015. For those already on holiday and reading this in January my wishes for you in 2015 are the same.

To help you get thinking about how you will have a successful 2015, I want to share some thoughts on communication. I’ve had three interesting experiences recently that are top of mind right now.

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Hard lesson in how not to run a company

Reports this week from the legal judgment on the failure of South Canterbury Finance (SCF) show how a big company that arose out of a small family business failed in part because the systems and processes in place didn’t work for a large financial company.

Brian Gaynor writing in the New Zealand Herald calls it “Hard lesson in how not to run a company

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Small business challenges in Ireland and New Zealand

I’ve been in Dublin recently with my daughter and her family. It was a busy time with her young children and chef/restauranteur husband but lots of fun and very different from life at home in New Zealand where I live with my husband and a cat!

What I found interesting was the similarities between Ireland and New Zealand. I’ve always been aware of the similar

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Digital exhaust, digital footprint

Do you realise that everywhere you go you leave your digital footprint, i.e. the trail you leave about your activities on the Internet?

Some is content you actively produce—like your Facebook profile.

However you may not be aware of the cookies a site stores in your browser

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