Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Family office services
Gilligan Sheppard has many value added services as well as our Business Advisory and Compliance. One of the services I look after is Family Office. We have a ‘What is a family office’ page on our website where it details what Family Office means to us. I won’t recreate that, I will just let you […]
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Stop worrying – keep moving!
I have had and heard many conversations recently with clients, friends, family and extended networks on what the outlook is for New Zealand business, property, investment, employment and the consumer. Are we headed for another GFC? What are interest rates going to do? What if property prices fall and interest rates rise – will they […]
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Payroll – make it better
Every employer has to process payroll for their employees. A reliable and effective payroll system becomes critical as the company grows. For a small-medium business, you have probably tried processing payroll manually, but payroll software can simplify and streamline your in-house payroll process. The most common payroll software for small businesses are Xero Payroll, Smart […]
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Let’s Achieve Something
The feminist movement, the female era, gender diversity, gender pay equity, quotas for females on boards, women in business support groups – are all words, phrases, organisations we hear of almost daily; in the news, in articles, on social media, at our workplaces. I have been trying to formulate my thoughts on all of this […]
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Business as a means to assist the individual pursuit of happiness
When you visit a place like Washington DC, where the most powerful country was birthed and read the words inscribed in the Jefferson Monument: [box] “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and […]
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Benefiting From Others Going First
How did I come to be on an island, walking through the bush with two Aussie blokes at 5.30am? For the past few years I have been a member of an informal Trans-Tasman Best Practice Group. The formation of the group came from a shared membership of what was then Polaris – an international accounting […]
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Strengths and Weaknesses in the Workplace
We all have different personalities. Gilligan Sheppard have recently run a Belbin Team Role survey with our leadership team. My results indicated that I can be caring, territorial, helpful, encouraging of others, outgoing, enterprising, over-sensitive, and the list goes on. Others in our team have a different makeup of words. These individual traits are what […]
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Do you want your business to be mediocre, or great?
[box] “There’s always someone who knows something.” ― Stephen King   “Even though there are no ways of knowing for sure, there are ways of knowing for pretty sure.” ― Lemony Snicket   “There’s more to getting to where you’re going than just knowing there’s a road.” ― Joan Lowery Nixon [/box]   How many […]
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Outsourcing in the Philippines
Recently Debra and I made a trip to Clark, Philippines to spend some time with our team there – Grace and Arlyn. My time over there led me to reflect on my experience with outsourcing to the Philippines, the changes that this way of working has brought about and the differences with our two outsource […]
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From Soul Destroying to Worthwhile
Recently, I wrote about the challenges of the public works act engagements we are undertaking (click here to read). Since then, a number of people asked why were we still doing what appears to be soul destroying work? I have struggled with answers as to the why, especially after we have made such a big […]
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