As April has begun, so have the new changes to Financial Reporting requirements for small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) In New Zealand. These changes will save businesses time and go some way to reducing reporting complexity.
As announced in 2012, SMEs are no longer obligated to produce complex financial statements in keeping with the External Reporting Board (XRB) standards. From this month businesses are simply required to meet the IRD minimum tax reporting standards and produce special purpose accounts for the bank.
We feel this is a good change and one that’ll make tax time simpler for SMEs. It also opens up greater potential for businesses to seek more ‘value add’ guidance from their accountant.
Get more from your accountant
This important change for SMEs has some obvious time and cost savings. But what may not be so obvious is the added value that small businesses could seek to gain from their accountant. Many small businesses have long relied on their accountant to help them produce these reports, now there’s an opportunity to use that time with the accountant, a key business advisor, to work on other more profitable activities.
Speak to your accountant about their skills above and beyond helping you with compliance. Your accountant is a great person to speak to about setting KPIs, managing budgets, analysing where costs can be cut and much more.
Special reporting requirements
If you are uncertain if these changes impact your business, the IRD is good source of information. We’d also encourage you to talk to your accountant. The IRD has also made it clear that they are working on a Special Purpose Reporting Framework for businesses with more complex requirements.
New Zealand businesses can get more information on Reckon Accounts 2014 here >
Australian business can get information about Reckon Accounts 2014 here >
