Tag Archive for: Savage & Savage Chartered Accountants

Xero – Saving Files in Xero

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Did you know that Xero has an inbuilt online file management system? With Xero file library you can keep all your files (i.e. receipts, bills, images) organised in Xero.

The file library is located under your organisation name on the left-hand side of your blue taskbar.

Your Xero file library contains an Inbox and Contracts folder, and you can add any additional folders you need.

Using the Xero file library is easy, either:

  • upload files to the file library (left-hand option) or
  • email files directly to the Inbox folder (right-hand option, using your unique Xero inbox email address)

Whenever you see the attachment icon in Xero, you can then attach these files to individual transactions, items, and emails.

Follow this link for more information on how to use files in Xero: https://central.xero.com/s/topic/0TO1N0000017kqDWAQ/files-in-xero#business

Blackenbrook Vineyards

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A few weeks ago Ursula Schwarzenbach asked me if I would like to visit them to taste their 2020 vintage wines, of course I said yes (who wouldn’t!) so last week I met Ursula and her husband Daniel at their winery to talk about the 2020 vintage and taste some wines.

Ursula and Daniel Schwarzenbach in their vineyard at Tasman – Photo Martin de Ruyter STUFF

Over the years I have been mightily impressed by this couple and the wines they craft, as Daniel said to me last week “to be honest 80% of the winemaking happens in the vineyard, I just have to finish the process in the winery.”

This understates just how much effort the couple and their young family put into creating their delightful wines. Located on the sloping hills at Tasman, up the road behind the Tasman Store, the vineyards are managed with intense detail to ensure the fruit is in the best condition possible to turn into wine.

The 2020 vintage was notable for the Covid-19 lockdown during which the wine industry was granted essential services status to be able to harvest their once-a-year export crop. At Blackenbrook Vineyards however the final pick happened on the day before lockdown started, “we were due to finish on the Friday so by working longer hours for a few days we were able to get all the fruit picked and into the winery before lockdown”.

Ursula told me their assistant winemaker headed back to Germany early to beat lockdown restrictions but as school was also locked down their son Thomas was able to step in and help. “He has always been around the winery and helped in every aspect from the vineyards to the bottling line so he knows his way around the winery, it was just full time as assistant to Daniel for a week or so.”

The couple are also delighted with the quality of the vintage this year, “it was exceptional” says Daniel and I must say that based on the wines I tried last week I agree. For me the wines at Blackenbrook have a certain purity of flavour to them, it’s a character I find difficult to describe but the wines tend to have a perfect expression of the varietal flavours and I’m certain this comes from the meticulous vineyard management that means less intervention in the winemaking process in the winery.

“Some of the wines pretty much make themselves” says Daniel. Beautiful clean fruit equals beautiful clean flavours, “for wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc we didn’t do anything in the winery, we just need a good ferment to turn great, clean fruit into nice wine, we try and use very gentle processes so we don’t lose the flavours.”

I tasted seven new release wines in the hour and a half I spent at Blackenbrook and tasting notes for all of these are on my website www.toptastes.co.nz but one worth a special mention here is the 2020 Pinot Blanc (RRP$28 and Vegan certified). This is the second vintage for this variety at Blackenbrook and what a stunning wine it is!

The aromas are intense, bursting with rich cooked pear and stonefruit characters that are dusted with delightful floral notes in the background. The richness of the aromas is reflected in the weighty, delicious flavours, flavours that are balanced with a touch of freshness and deliver liquorice-like characters in the very long finish. This is a five star wine and one that will certainly find itself attached to my credit card and a place in our cellar.

Daylight saving starts on the 27th September so that means in just over a week we are going to be spending more time outside and for us that means more time cooking on the barbeque.

This week’s recipe is our favourite way to cook St Louis Babyback Pork Ribs, these are a long rack of small ribs that we buy from Raeward Fresh. To make it easier to fit on the barbeque we cut the long rack into two. For the sauce we just make enough to use fresh.

Barbeque, smoked St Louis Pork Ribs

Serves two to four people depending on whether or not you serve side dishes with it.

Ingredients

1 pack St Louis Pork Ribs

The dry rub lasts a long time when stored in a jar so we make a decent amount and use it as we need it. Just double or triple the recipe if you want to save some time next time.

Dry Rub

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Use a fork to crush any clumps of sugar or seasonings. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.

Method

Rub the dry mix into the ribs the day before, put them on a plate, cover  and leave in the fridge overnight.

  1. Fire up your favourite barbeque, preferably with some wet wood chips (manuka, cherry wood etc)
  2. Place the ribs in a foil tray and cook at about 120 C for three hours.
  3. Turn every hour and for the last hour baste the ribs several times with one of the many specialist meat sauces you will find in most good food stores.
  4. Cut into single ribs and serve with your favourite side dish.

We love these with an Italian coleslaw and the recipe for this is on my website www.toptastes.co.nz/recipes

Published in the Nelson Mail 16.09.20

Saed’s Falafel – Kirby Lane

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If you like a tasty Falafel then you will already know about Saed Alazza and his bright red food cart that is usually located on the corner of Trafalgar and Bridge Streets, well it was located there.

Saed has relocated his business to become a permanent part of the growing food cart business scene in Kirby Lane, he has added a new twist to his food offering. As well as the traditional falafels that you love so much he has added a small charcoal grill to the end of his cart so he can grill mixed beef and lamb skewers as well as serving his traditional falafel.

Saed is originally from Palestine where he trained for two years as a chef before working in a local restaurant where they served Middle Eastern and European dishes. He migrated to New Zealand in 2017 with his Kiwi wife, Sunniva , who is a doctor at Nelson Hospital.

Saed told me New Zealand and Nelson are completely different worlds to where he grew up in what has essentially been a refugee camp since 1948, he lived there in dangerous times, “it is very difficult to live there, there’s no future, you plan day to day to survive, my family still live in the refugee camp. They are still waiting to return home after Israel invaded in 1948.”

He told me that over the years people have built homes rather than living in tents but those homes are very small and very close together with very little space, “now the camp and Bethlehem are surrounded by the separation wall, which means people aren’t allowed to go to Jerusalem. Sometimes they are not allowed to travel between other cities in the West Bank.

“Living under occupation is different, our son is lucky because he was born here and won’t know some of the things our family had to go through.”

When Saed left Palestine he brought is homemade falafel recipe with him, falafels that are made using chickpeas and that means they are also vegan friendly. He blends and roasts his own spice mix, makes his own aioli sauce without using eggs and his homemade hummus is vegan friendly too. “Everyone can have this falafel, some people make it from fried beans and use other things, everyone has their own recipe.”

Adding the mini charcoal grill has allowed him to include a delicious meat option that is enhanced by using his own spice mix in the meat blend, to his small but nicely crafted Middle Eastern menu that also includes sweet treats like baklava made with pistachio nuts.

Saed says Kirby Lane is a good place to be but town is very quiet at the moment. “With more people working from home and no tourists around it would be nice if locals came to town more to support all local businesses and tried my food too.”

First published in The Nelson Mail 26.08.20

ACC Annual Invoicing & Estimations

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ACC will start sending out annual invoices in October (usually these are sent in July but were delayed due to Covid-19 and lockdown).

If you think that the liable payroll for your business has been impacted by Covid-19 and your wages and salaries paid for the 20/21 year therefore will be less than for 19/20, then we are able to estimate the wages payable for the 20/21 year so that the ACC provisional levy invoice reflects this.

So that ACC can use the estimated payroll for the provisional levy invoice, it is recommended to provide them with an estimate before the end of September.

If the actual performance turns out to be different to the estimate, it will be reflected in next year’s invoice.

We can help estimate your payroll and provide the information to ACC. Alternatively, if you are an employer with staff and have an MyACC for Business account set up, you can log in to your account to provide ACC with a payroll estimate, if you receive an end of year shareholder salary, you need to email business@acc.co.nz .

Please note, this does not impact on self-employed as they are no longer required to pay provisional ACC levies.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any queries or if you would like some help to estimate your payroll.

Rustic Cuisine

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Rustic Cuisine on Rutherford St is owned by my two favourite French people, Mylene and Greg Auphan who used to own La Gourmandise. Their latest venture is to develop a range of French style foods in jars ready for you to take home and enjoy.

It goes without saying that when you are developing a new concept you need to earn a living so they took over the building opposite Nelson College for Girls and are producing the wonderful crepes and galettes everyone enjoyed at La Gourmandise as well as making cabinet food for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Rustic Cuisine is a regular morning stop for me, the coffee is too good to go past, and I have noticed a large number of regulars doing the same thing. The fact they sell outstanding pastries doesn’t hurt their reputation for quality either.

However it is the food-in-a-jar that is the future for this young business, Greg told me they have invested in high quality equipment so they can produce enough to take to a much bigger New Zealand market. He also told me he is developing new recipes and has had to refine how he prepares his current recipes because the equipment cooks the food quite differently.

“Because it’s quite a long cook at a high temperature I need to adjust recipes to make sure the food doesn’t break down in the jars, we are doing lots of small trials to refine everything before we go into full production.”

In the meantime you and I get to try the new recipes he is developing before he adjusts the cooking process for each one. Dishes like Coq au vin, Beef Bolognese, Lentil Dahl, Onion Soup and their wonderful Cassoulet are prepared and packaged in jars ready for us to take home, heat up and enjoy.

My top tip for your next visit to Rustic Cuisine – if you see some in the food cabinet don’t even try to resist the lemon meringue tarts, they are outstandingly tasty.

First published in the Nelson Mail 03.06.20

Lock down recipe – left overs and pantry items

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One of the benefits of spending so much time at home, and not being able to just pop down to the shop whenever we want to, is having time to cook tasty dishes from things we find in the pantry, fridge or freezer. And in our case spending some time searching through the wine cellar to find a few hidden treats.

While Kevin Hopgood has been using up ingredients that he has at home to make some really tasty and easy-to-make lamb empanadas we decided to make a treat for afternoon tea – cheese and smoked paprika scones.

 

These scones are so incredibly easy to make you can get the kids involved too and you can swap out some of the flavour ingredients if you want to. We love the smoky flavour that comes from the smoked paprika but if that’s not to your taste just leave it out. The same goes with the cayenne pepper, but rather than leaving it out just cut back on the quantity a little because I think the little bit of gentle heat that comes from the cayenne really lifts the flavours of the cheese.

You can make them with any cheese, but a sharp, tasty cheese is best.

 

 

Cheese scones

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of good quality aged cheddar cheese
  • 2 cups of flour
  • Decent pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp of smoked paprika (sweet or bittersweet)
  • 4 tsp of baking powder
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten

Method

  • Pre-heat oven to 200c fan bake
  • Mix together the cheese, flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika
  • Mix together the beaten eggs and milk
  • Lightly fold the egg/milk mixture into the other ingredients (do not over mix)
  • Put baking paper on oven tray
  • Drop spoonsful of the mixture onto the oven tray (should make around 12)
  • Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, depending on how brown and crunchy you like them

Kevin Hopgood’s Lamb Empanadas (a Mexican type of pie)

Kevin says “These Empanadas are really tasty and a great way to use up leftovers, I slow cooked lamb leg the other evening and we turned the leftovers it into two tasty dishes, Empanadas and also a lovely mulligatawny soup. You use cooked chicken, beef, pork or make a vegetarian version if you want to. You can also use fresh beef or lamb mince but you will need to cook it with the onion, garlic and stock for 10 minutes.”

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp of Oil
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
  • 400g of Lamb cooked
  • 1 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika
  • 100mls of stock
  • 80g of Black beans (tinned)
  • Pinch of Chilli Flakes (can be omitted)
  • 2tbsp Chopped Mint
  • 2tbsp Chopped Coriander ( The stems are perfect for this)
  • 3 Spring onions finely sliced
  • Egg beaten
  • 4/5 Sheets of Shortcrust Pastry (store bought is fine)

Method

  • Heat oil in a heavy based pan add onion and garlic, cook for 4/5 minutes on a low heat until soft and translucent
  • Add cumin, paprika and chilli then cook for a further 2 minutes,
  • Add the Lamb which should be finely diced. Stir then add the stock and black beans.
  • Cook for another 3 minutes just to reduce the stock and intensify the flavour.
  • Take off the heat add the mint, coriander and spring onion and season to taste. Chill the mix.
  • Pre heat your oven to 200c.
  • Take a shortcrust pastry sheet and cut four circles with a 11cm pastry cutter out of each one.
  • Place approximately a dessert spoon of mix each circle.
  • Brush the outer part of the pastry with a little beaten egg, fold over and press the edges together, at this stage you can pinch and fold the edges to make a nice pattern or you can just use a fork to crimp the edges.
  • Place on a tray with baking paper, brush with egg and sprinkle a little salt on top (I use flaky sea salt).
  • Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, they should look golden brown.

Serve with Mexican salsa, Sweetcorn salsa, tomato relish or even sweet chilli sauce. Great with a cold beer!

Neil’s wine pick

If it is the cheese scones you are looking to pair a drink with then it has to be a straight-up espresso rather than wine for afternoon tea but when it comes to dinner and Kevin’s empanadas if you don’t want a cold beer then Pinot Noir should be top of the list.

I think you should try the St Pauli Vineyard 2019 Pinot Noir with the lamb empanadas. Made from fruit grown in Upper Moutere the wine is crushed black plum juice in colour, is simply bursting with ripe berry fruit aromas and flavours, it’s also a wine with silky tannins, however, it’s the beautiful fruit and touch of toasted hazelnuts flavours that shine. Simply delicious!

Published in the Nelson Mail 22.04.20

Beyond Covid-19

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Well it has certainly been an interesting seven weeks; dealing with level 4 lockdown conditions and then easing into level 3 before finally getting back to a level of normal activity under level 2 conditions. Obviously things will never go back to business-as-usual as it was before Covid-19 raised its ugly head but we are able to get back to business and work on rebuilding our businesses.

Then we had the 2020 Government Budget announcements, a budget designed to make sure as many businesses as possible survive and are able to rebuild in a new economic environment.

Some businesses will never be the same, some will close and others will adapt and grow, taking advantage of the opportunity to revisit how they do business.

We reopen our office on Monday 18th May

with some Covid-19 restrictions in place.

While the office will be open please note Sari will still be working from home for a few more weeks. She is available for Zoom video conference meetings, on her mobile (021-548-489) or by email (sari@savage.co.nz)

Visiting our office

For us our focus will be on helping you as it always has been, the success of our clients is really important to us and to help you we need to make sure we have a workplace that is safe for you and our staff. This means if you do need to come to our office you will notice a few small changes that are designed to meet government requirements for operating under level 2 conditions.

We will have social distancing practices in place, there will be a table at reception for you to leave packages, there will be hand sanitiser readily available, there will be single-use facemasks available for you to use if you are meeting with a staff member and you will be required to register as a visitor to our office for contact tracing purposes whenever you visit, no matter how briefly.

Contact Tracing

We will be using the “I’m Here” contact tracing system, you will need to use your phone to scan a code when you arrive and depart. We have chosen this because it is a simple solution to use, however, our staff will be able to assist if you have any issues using it. There will also be a form to fill in if you don’t have a mobile phone. You can check out the system at www.imhere.nz so you know what to expect when you do visit us.

The Budget

The one Budget item that will have the most impact immediately for many businesses is the announcement of an extension to the Wage Subsidy Scheme.

If your business has suffered a 50% or greater decline in turnover for a two month period then you are able to apply for a subsidy to help you pay staff wages for another eight weeks.

Small Business Loans via IRD

Announced before the budget but included in the overall Covid-19 response package is a loan scheme for SMEs. The scheme (https://media.ird.govt.nz/articles/government-boosts-cashflow-support-for-small-businesses/) for SME’s is to be administered by IRD. This will be interest free for 12 months or low interest for up to five years with no repayments for the first two years if you take the low interest option. It will be administered through IRD and provides for loans of $10,000 per business plus $1800 per employee up to a maximum of $100,000.

While we can’t make the application for you we will give any of our clients up to an hour free time to help you with your application, just email Sari, Anna or Libby to arrange a time to talk.

We hope you are all staying safe and we’re looking forward to talking with you sometime soon.

Covid-19 update – Level 2 & Open for Business

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It has been a couple of weeks since we sent you an update and a number of things have happened in that time, prime among the the announcement of the rules that will apply when we head into the Covid-19 Level 2 environment. All businesses will need to alter how they work and it’s important the changes are well thought through as these restrictions are likely to be with us in one form or another for many months to come.

Our offices will be open for business again when Level 2 restrictions come into place.

We are excited to be able to have everyone back at work, albeit with restrictions and changes to how we operate.

Because Sari has an autoimmune condition she won’t be back in the office for a few weeks yet but will still be working from home by email, mobile phone and Zoom video conferencing.

We are currently working on a Covid-19 plan for the office and the biggest impact on you will be when you visit our office, we will have social distancing rules in place you will need to observe. Because a lot of our communication with you is via phone and email our main focus is going to be on ensuring the safety of our staff when we do return.

Government announcements and support

The business environment for the foreseeable future is going to be quite different to what it was before Covid-19 raised its head, every business is going to face challenges and will have to review what it does and how it goes about its business.

The government has acknowledged there will be very challenging times ahead with much higher unemployment (especially from the hospitality and tourism sectors) and it appears to be offering assistance to SME’s (Small to Medium Enterprises) that make up a huge proportion of businesses in this country.

Small businesses that provide services and products to local regions are going to be vital to New Zealand’s economic recovery as we will be less reliant on tourism until our international borders reopen, this could be a number of years away.

Along with various tax changes and the significant wage subsidy the government recently announced a loan scheme (https://media.ird.govt.nz/articles/government-boosts-cashflow-support-for-small-businesses/) for SME’s. This will be interest free for 12 months or low interest for up to five years with no repayments for the first two years if you take the low interest option. It will be administered through IRD and provides for loans of $10,000 per business plus $1800 per employee up to a maximum of $100,000.

This is in addition to various loan guarantee schemes put in place earlier with the banks.

Looking ahead

While we may appear to be over the very worst of the Covid-19 outbreak there is every possibility it could re-emerge as a significant health threat during the winter months so it is important we all do our bit to avoid having to go back into a Level 4 lockdown situation again.

So for the next two years let’s have local and New Zealand holidays and visit places you haven’t been before, you may be surprised at what New Zealand has to offer. And of course shop local, support those businesses that have supported our community for many years and help them stay in business so they can be part of our future too.

In the next week we will be sending an update on what you will need to do if you visit our offices.

Take care and continue to do your bit to keep everyone in our community safe.

Covid-19 update – 26.04.20

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This is just a quick update to recap on a few things we have put in this update email over the past few weeks.

Closed

Our office will remain closed during Level 3 restrictions.

Our senior staff are working from home so we can still provide essential support and, for those of you have already dropped your annual accounts in to us, we have logged your accounts into our workflow records and will prepare your annual accounts on a first-in, first-out basis. Unless of course you have an urgent need for financial information to give to your bank, in that case we will give you accounts priority.

Contact numbers

You can contact us as follows:

Sari Hodgson     7 days. sari@savage.co.nz 021-548-489

Neil Hodgson     7 days. neil@savage.co.nz 021-445-142

Anna Patchett   Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm anna@savage.co.nz 021-276-7393

Libby Gledhill     Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm libby@savage.co.nz 027-313-4382

Zoom

We are available for Zoom meetings (via internet). Just email the person you want to talk with and we will make a time to meet and send you a zoom link so we can chat online

Monthly Invoicing

Also as per last month, because we won’t be back in the office our monthly invoices for the end of April will be sent without the usual detail. If you require a detailed invoice please just contact us and we will send you one when we are able to operate from the office again.

And don’t forget, you are able to contact Neil to make arrangements to pay your account over time if your business and cashflow has been impacted by the lockdown.

We do understand these are challenging times for many people and businesses and we will support you in any way we can.

Free help

A reminder we are offering free help to all clients who need help putting together cash flows and other planning documents you may need during the recovery stage as we move out of lockdown. We are here to help and will give you an hour free time towards preparing these documents, pointing you in the right direction or reviewing various plans you have been working on.

Tell us what is happening

Let us know if you’re open for business so we can share the good news, we want to encourage everyone to do as much business locally as possible. This is our community and to make sure it remains a great place to live, work and play we need to make sure we support every business in the region.

Tell us about your business – are you open again? What changes have you made to be able to operate in Level 3? We want to share the good news so tell us and we will tell others.

Buy local

As above, we urge you all to buy local and support local, small businesses are really suffering in these most unusual, unexpected and unplanned for times so they need as much help as they can get, every $10 you spend locally makes a big difference to local businesses.

You don’t need to buy everything online or make every meal a delivered meal but maybe treat yourself once a week to something tasty for a great local food business.

Personally we have made a point of having things we normally buy delivered by local producers and retailers and have already ordered some meals for delivery for later in the week.

Watch this space for an email about local restaurants doing home delivery for the next few weeks.

Stay safe

Finally, we trust you have managed to stay well and have been keeping safe, don’t drop the safety standards just yet because we don’t want Covid-19 to tighten its grip again meaning we have to go back to Level 4 lockdown for another four weeks.

Covid-19 Weekly Update 20.04.20

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As these unusual times continue there are a few things to remember – stay safe and shop local, shop local, shop local!

While we are in this lock down situation together we need to remember to help one another come out of it in as best shape as possible. The best way to do that is support every local business you can.

Various restrictions under Level 3 Lockdown may make it seem like Level 3.75 but at midnight on Monday 27th April some businesses will be able to start operating again, mainly without any public contact but with online or phone orders, contactless payment and similar things only.

Also if you are currently working from home you must continue to do so if it is at all possible. With that in mind we will NOT be reopening our office under Level 3 restrictions.

However Sari and our senior staff will continue to work from home. So far this has been a little frustrating at times but we are getting everything done you need us to do. We are also set up to use Zoom video conferencing so if you want to have some more personal contact then email us to make an appointment for a Zoom meeting. Anna and Libby are available Monday to Friday 9am ‘til 5pm while Neil and Sari are available seven days a week, including evenings if required.

Here’s a link from business.govt.nz for an explanation of various alert levels and operating guidelines for businesses

If you can’t find an answer to your questions here then just email or phone us, we are here to help our clients through the challenging times ahead of us as we work on re-establishing our businesses again.

Things to Remember

  • March PAYE payments were due today
  • GST returns for the periods ended 31 March are required by the 7th of May, however if you will have difficulty in making your GST payment please contact us and we will help you sort out a deferred payment arrangement with IRD. It’s important you put an arrangement in place rather than just not paying it.
  • If you have provisional tax (3rd payment for 2020 year) then this is also due to be paid. On 7th May As a result of recent government announcements about tax relief there has been some confusion around the need to pay this. If you have this due you must pay it as it is calculated on your year end 31 March 2020 figures, not current trading figures.

And of course remember to stay safe, don’t let your social distancing standards relax because we don’t want the community to be forced back into level 4 lockdown, and most of all be kind to each other.

Being kind includes supporting every local business we can so they are here for us to enjoy into the future, so look for local business offering deliveries from the 28th April, buy from them and use other local service providers – shop local!