This is the number one question New Zealand accountants hear from business owners. The good news is that the answer doesn’t involve loopholes or risky schemes – it starts with understanding the rules and making smart financial decisions throughout the year. 1. Claim every business expense you’re entitled to One of the easiest and most […]

Part two: Board This is part of a three-part series on succession — covering family, boards, and CEOs — and while each part stands on its own, they’re best read in order. Read Part One here. The seats around the table decide the story Over the years, I’ve sat around a lot of board tables […]

Buying Versus Leasing There are various pros and cons to each option, and much of it comes down to how often you like to change your vehicle, and whether the vehicle you want is within easy reach. If you choose to buy the vehicle, you can claim depreciation. There are no mileage limits, and once […]

I have a deep affection for Thailand—its people, cuisine, and way of life. Meeting my wife in Bangkok, where she worked as a manager for one of the country’s largest accounting firms, only strengthened that connection. I have a deep affection for Thailand—its people, cuisine, and way of life. Meeting my wife in Bangkok, where […]

This three-part series on succession will be a little wider-ranging than usual, because it covers three kinds of succession issues that I have lived through from different seats over the last three years: as a director, a business owner, and a family advisor. Part one is about family – the hardest boardroom of all, because […]

Foreword by Lisa Garrud: I’ve watched Bruce navigate enough negotiations to know what frustrates him most — and it’s rarely the outright lie. It’s the omission. The party who isn’t technically dishonest, but who quietly leaves something off the table, hoping it won’t surface. It always does. And by the time it does, you can […]

New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus Visa (launched April 2025) represents a fundamentally different approach to immigration than the Business Investor Visa. While the Business Investor Visa targets people who want to actively manage operations, the Active Investor Plus Visa is designed for wealthy individuals who want to contribute capital without the hands-on commitment of running […]

I spend time over school holidays attacking large jigsaws with my nieces — the thousand-piece kind that promises a weekend and delivers a fortnight. Watching us go at it recently, I was struck by how closely it mirrors what I am seeing in the businesses we work with right now. The picture on the box […]

If you’ve noticed the price board at your local petrol station creeping past numbers you’d once have considered unthinkable, you already know fuel costs are biting. Petrol prices are approaching $4 per litre, driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and the pressure on both households and businesses shows no sign of easing. […]

It’s one of the most common questions we get asked. Two businesses could be identical on paper. Same industry. Same revenue. Similar team. Same city, even. Yet one sells for $4 million and the other for $1.8 million. What looks like a $3 million business on paper can easily transact well above or below that, […]