BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS DECEMBER 2019

BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS December 2019
21
The festive business
For all businesses, Christmas is a time for careful planning as
work rosters need to be juggled, sufficient stock (and the right
stock) needs to be carried to ensure you have a good Christmas
turnover, and staff Christmas functions need organising -
so cash flow remains king.
MONEY MATTERS
> BY STEPHEN GRAHAM
Stephen Graham is a Director and Managing Partner at BDO
Rotorua, Chartered Accountants and Advisers. To find out more
visit bdorotorua.co.nz or email rotorua@bdo.co.nz
The earlier you start to
plan, the better prepared
you will be.
Following are some of the
key elements you should be
looking at. Break each point
down and put your mind to
each one individually. You will
gain satisfaction from ticking
each one off. What you should
be considering:
• Work rosters - Ensure you
have sufficient staff to carry
you through your busy
days, hours or weeks. Take
care when working around
statutory holidays and seek
advice if you are unsure of
your obligations when paying
holidays.
• Stock levels. Are you carrying
sufficient levels of
the right stock to support a
good Christmas turnover?
Any stock that has been
sitting on the shelves for a
long period will continue to
do so if you don’t discount
for a sale or send it back
to the supplier for a credit
- after all stock is simply
cash waiting to get to your
bank and carrying excess
impacts your cashflow.
Arranging to send unsold
items back to the supplier
if it does not sell is a good
backstop.
• Lay-by - Do you offer a
lay-by option? This could
be a useful tool to achieve
an early sale for those
organised individuals who
do their Christmas shopping
early.
Also consider whether you
can get longer payment
terms from your supplier;
ensuring you do not create a
cash crisis post-Christmas,
when business may not be
so busy.
• Cash is king. Get paid up
front or offer a lay-by service.
Chase slow paying
debtors and if you don’t get
paid by Christmas, be prepared
to wait for a further
month or two in the New
Year. Also be wary that
pressure is put on cashflow
by some suppliers shortening
their credit terms, e.g.
seven days and holiday pay
needing to be paid out.
• Banking - Ensure you’re in
regular contact with your
bank manager. They’re
more likely to respond
positively to any requests
for financing or extra facilities
to support cashflow if
they’re informed early on.
• Tax - Don’t forget that GST
and the second instalment
of 2020 provisional tax
are due on January 15 for
March balance date taxpayers.
The PAYE for December
is then due soon after
on January 20. I reiterate,
that like Christmas shopping,
the earlier you start on
these things, the easier it is
and the better the outcome.
Admittedly, this may be
easier said than done, so if
you need help, get in touch
with your bank, accountant
or suppliers now and start
planning.
University of Waikato creating the ‘workforce
of the future’ with new MBA programme
The University of Waikato
is launching New Zealand’s
first-ever cross
disciplined approach to a Master
of Business Administration
(MBA) programme in March
2020.
While traditionally MBA’s
are taught in a linear fashion,
based on individual disciplines
such as marketing, strategy,
accounting and economics, the
University has identified a need
to evolve their current offering
to better meet the ‘workforce of
the future’.
The result is a revised MBA
programme which will create
experienced, confident graduates
who have the skills and
knowledge to help shape the
future of business in New Zealand.
“Globally, a number of universities
are exploring how they
can make their MBA’s more
relevant to the business market
of today,” explains Academic
Director of Executive Education
Dr Heather Connolly.
“Our new MBA structure
will help managers and leaders
solve problems that they
are faced with every day in
the real world. For example,
one of the papers explores how
we can better manage people’s
productivity – not just by looking
at human resources, but
the effect of an organisation’s
structure and the impact of digital
technology for better ways
of working.”
We want to create
graduates who have
insight and curiosity,
to develop valuesled,
innovative ideas
for the advancement
of all New Zealand
businesses.
Heather says this exciting
new programme is highly
responsive to external conditions,
with course content
being regularly reviewed and
refreshed.
“It’s important we have the
ability to be agile and that our
graduates are the same. If we
don’t understand the workforce
of tomorrow we can’t
instigate change for better
business.
“We want to create graduates
who have insight and
curiosity, to develop values-led,
innovative ideas for
the advancement of all New
Zealand businesses.”
Designed to fit around students’
full-time work, the twoyear
degree is offered across
the University’s Tauranga and
Hamilton campuses, and is
structured to allow for better
networking and collaboration
across both locations.
As well as being increasingly
tailored for real-world
conditions the programme is
also highly personalised to
ensure students understand
how to put their theory into
practice, for both their own
work environment and also
other businesses.
One of the highlights of the
programme is a two-day residency,
held after the first four
papers, where students are
assigned a business challenge
and have 24 hours to develop a
comprehensive solution.
Heather says, “the ability
to put into practice their learnings,
outside of their industry,
is challenging if they have
only ever worked in one particular
business sector, but
through this experience we
will create comprehensive
graduates who have skills to
move into any business – here
and internationally.”
The 2020 intake for the
University of Waikato’s progressive
MBA begins in March
at our brand new Tauranga
campus. For more information,
visit execed.ac.nz/mba