Why is it that some firms are turning over staff on a regular basis and others retain the vast majority of their staff for 5, 10 even 15 years?

Muesli: it’s hard enough to eat; how hard is it to make? Here’s a quick small business owner’s guide. The story is true. And the muesli is delicious.

It may surprise (and even reassure) you to know I don’t use MYOB. I have other software, having seized a one-year-free deal without knowing what it meant.

The risk of untoward litigation is high for employers under the existing employment law and current recessionary market conditions.

Be part of the Kiwi Computer Challenge
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'Don't ride the bicycle without knowing how to use the gears and brakes.'

Ross Clennett has a handle on what is happening with hiring intentions in Australia and New Zealand and we reproduce some information he has unearthed.

“It’s all very well pushing interest rates down to help the economy, but what am I to live on?” said a local retiree. He has a point. Equally, though, there is something he can do about it.

It has been a tough couple of years for everyone and more than one of our clients has admitted that they would like to think about bringing on a successor but they need to build up their critical mass again. For Chartered Accounting practices there is another way - what about bringing your business into another more established practice?

The economy will recover and we will borrow again. Where are we going to get the money from?

Mr Masaaki Imai, founder of Kaizen (Lean Improvement - think Toyota) is widely acknowledged as the father of continuous improvement and a leader in spreading the Japanese KAIZEN® philosophy internationally. He is in Auckland and you are invited to hear him talk.

The question put to me was: I’m mortgaged to the hilt but the bank will not extend the term of my loan to relieve my fortnightly commitment – what can I do?

Falcon Law Ltd is a private employment law consultancy practice. The Principal, Megan V. Falcon is a specialist consultant who provides expert advice to employers to effectively assist with workforce development and dispute resolution.

Situation analysis, strategic development and business case analysis – these are all difficult concepts to pin down and expensive to get wrong. What is it all about?

Everyone knows that keeping customers satisfied is good for business. But is being “satisfied” enough in these challenging times? Market Pulse International specializes in measuring customer experiences, reporting results of various research based surveys & techniques to help improve relationships with customers

Small Businesses are the back bone of the New Zealand economic marketplace, accounting for over 90% of the business community. They are a reflection of the ‘Kiwi family’ feel where the small size of the business allows employees and employer to have a special, personal relationship.

During these hard times even the hardest working business owner or manager has his or her skills sorely tested. Time to bring in some (cost-effective) support at the senior level?

It’s been said that if you walk with two people, you should be able to teach one and learn from the other.

You can teach, but can you learn?

New figures show manufacturing in New Zealand ended 2008 on a weak note, but managed to drag itself up slightly from its lowest ever level the month before.

Paul Hassing (The Feisty Empire) can write. He proves again that he can think, too. He shares a timely reminder to visit what you have done to shape what you do in the future.

When we talk about process improvement we automatically envisage a manufacturing plant with a zero-tolerance waste and error policy. How does that relate to a service environment where saving a few bent paperclips is not really going to help? How can we get everyone back to the fee-generating work without dropping the important administration tasks?

Market matters
A return to earlier payouts? The effect of market pressures on the dairy industry.

Readers might remember Wanni Mo, who worked in the Commercial Accounting Division at Phoenix? Wanni has remained a good friend of the business and is still focusing on helping people, this time with immigration and accounting needs.

What’s next, she asked. Six months ago the accompanying tone would have been anxious. Today there is expectancy in the voice, albeit tinged with hope.

A glimmer of hope has been spotted in the gloom of the credit crunch.

An exporter put it to me: the NZ dollar is at 75 US cents, "way above average" - should I still be hedging at these levels?

There’s no doubt about it: Twitter is flavour of the month.

What is the number one item you need to perform as a leader?

Bruce Ross is one of NZ’s leading consultants in strengths-based approaches to performance improvement. He is also an experienced, entertaining and stimulating speaker. He has spoken at over 120 seminars inspiring audiences on both sides of the Tasman with his provocative insights.

The biggest bubble in history: that is how The Economist tentatively described the global housing market in 2005. Well, that bubble has now well and truly burst. At the epicentre of the global housing market, the average US house price is around 10-20% from its 2007 peak, depending on which measure you take. The issue today is what damage will follow? In general terms the answer is slow global growth. In terms of housing markets, The Economist, again, has something to say: this time it confidently asserts “global house prices are expected to fall by 15% in the next two years”. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, says add in a local recession and the outlook for local house prices is almost certainly downward.

However much you love your business, familiarity can deaden your senses to its merits and flaws. To optimise your operation, therefore, the unbiased eyes of first-time visitors are an essential (and inexpensive) tool.

Question: We have a home, a rental in the city and a bach at the beach, and we are heavily in debt – what should we do?

Rates will rise again, but when?

Paul Hassing, Founder and Senior writer of 'The Feisty Empire' continues to educate us about the phenomenon which is blogging.

Depending who you talk to, blogging is either a waste of time or the holy grail of client communications. Convinced of the latter, copywriter Paul Hassing has spent the last year gearing up for a wave or corporate blogging work. But will it come? We ask Paul five hard questions about blogging.

Poison pet food. Faulty car brakes. Flammable fans. If a customer found a potentially lethal problem with your product, would you want to know? If so, how badly? One might think such information would be highly prized. But is it?

It doesn't matter how small your business is, you still have basic accounting requirements. Do you really need to hire an accountant?

Time is an important factor in recruitment. For every day you're without an employee you could be causing a knock on effect across the business.

An article recently printed in the CA Journal...

Falcon Law Ltd is a private employment law consultancy practice. The Principal, Megan V. Falcon is a specialist consultant who provides expert advice to employers to effectively assist with workforce development and dispute resolution.

Phoenix has reviewed our recruitment services offering to become more flexible and offer you a range of options. We now offer unbundled services in addition to the full recruitment process.

If nothing else, 2008 was spectacular: plunging share prices, the NZ dollar down about one quarter; governments coming to the rescue of international private-sector banks with billions of dollars, the Reserve Bank of NZ dropping the cash rate by a huge 3.25% p.a. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, has more.

Lisa Noonan is a solicitor who established LJ Legal Services to provide a specialist intellectual property consultancy service to those operating in the media and creative sector, including the film and television industries. Lisa provides freelance legal services to other practitioners and industry organisations requiring assistance with day to day workloads or specific project advisory/contract work.

A new report brings limited hope for New Zealand employers in the next five years.

Current accounting methods are not serving the small to medium enterprise sector of business adequately because they provide a service which generally does only the books and tax returns, says a Hamilton accountant who is doing it differently.

A skill short market is a buyer’s market for candidates. When you have the skills employers want you can work out what you want in life and demand a pleasant environment in which to do it. But the credit crunch has changed all that.

In turbulent economic times job security can falter. Phoenix Managing Director Jenny Durno addresses the question of how to handle this.

House values have been on the slide for a while and this makes your lenders nervous, but what happens when you get a leaky home problem as well? Prevention is better than cure, according to Auckland firm Homesmart.

Homes in New Zealand are built with a 50-year design life, but window sealants and exterior paint loses its protective quality after ten years.

Is your Trust a Good Trust or a Bad Trust? Get it wrong and you may as well kiss your assets and money goodbye.

The anxiety was real: “we cannot sustain such a large current account deficit – eventually the rest of the world will stop lending and the NZ dollar will fall, so I’m putting my money offshore now”, so said an attendee at a recent presentation.

It may seem unlikely: a recruitment consultant throwing out words like “longevity” and “retention”, but believe it or not we do care and want people to stay in a role for as long as possible, enjoying it every step of the way.

Only two months ago I was writing that New Zealand bank deposits do not come with a money-back guarantee. Today they do, says Anthony Byett of fxmatters.

From the time we are at school, we are segregated into socially separate groups according to our ages, and this makes sense as we grow through various life experiences. Our family are still there of course but we all remember a time when Mum and Dad just ‘don’t get it.’

We cannot escape it: meltdowns, Doomsday, economic collapse, it is everywhere. Whether or not this is a slight overhype, times are getting tighter and the decision to look for a job or recruit a new staff member is under the microscope more than normal. Javelin Jobs consultant Matt Smith explains how to manage in difficult times.

My, how things change quickly. Banking was the domain of the private sector, albeit there was heavy intervention in the form of the central bank – the Reserve Bank in New Zealand – setting the level of short-term interest rates. Within the space of a few weeks we have governments buying into banks globally, as well as facilitating interbank lending and interbank mergers. The inevitable fallout of the global rescue will be tougher capital requirements on the banking industry in future or, in layman terms, it will be harder to get a loan. Economist Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, explains.

Our employees are our most valuable asset, but it is their creativity that really boosts their worth. So how do we attract and retain the right employees and keep them motivated to use their creativity if our processes and procedures cannot keep up with changing customer demands?

Every now and again we are reminded just what money is, and what is not money. Money is the lifeblood of modern market economies. We need it to buy and sell goods and services, and assets such as properties and shares. We also rely on it as a store of value, so that we can buy the things we need and want in the future. In theory we do not need it. In practice we cannot get enough of it. Economist Anthony Byett of fxmatters has more.

A young Christchurch-based company has come up with a smart time management system that can help businesses save time and money.

We bandy around the term ‘business cycle’ as if it is definitive, but the notion is descriptive at best, and dangerous at worst. There are cycles in business activity, share prices, interest rates and exchange rates in the sense that good and bad times reoccur. But that is about the extent of what we can be certain about (near certain, to be more precise). Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, explains.

A new independently-owned chartered accountancy firm is offering a unique blend of industry skills and experience.

Sustainability is the buzzword at the moment and here at Phoenix we are keen to do our bit.

Every business strives to be the best, but often outside help is needed in the climb to the top of the pile. Kinetic Planning has created the Elite Development Programme to help firms achieve this.

The decision to buy or sell financial assets is invariably complex. It concerns an unknown future, it concerns a past of ambiguous cause and effect, there are multiple factors present, and you are trying to second-guess the actions of others. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, has a few tricks up his sleeve to help, or hinder, these decisions.

A new law offering flexible working arrangements to employees came into effect on July 1.

Every month we are profiling people in our team to let you know more about Phoenix. This month: Andy McCormack.

Don’t you hate going to a meeting and coming out feeling it was a waste of time? Or found yourself still sitting at the computer at 6.30 pm because ‘stuff’ happened to stop you getting on with more important work?

It is down to us. That has always been the case but Dr Cullen’s ninth Budget put more onus on us, the private sector, to make the best choices: choices about consumption now or consumption later; choices about how to deal with higher energy and food prices; choices about more or less work. Anthony Byett of fxmatters has more.

In a candidate-short market making sure a role is well defined and the organisational structure is right is every bit as important as the recruitment process. This helps to ensure you have the right person in the right position.

Homes in New Zealand are built with a 50-year design life, but window sealants and exterior paint loses its protective quality after ten years.

A former Phoenix consultant, who many clients may remember, has driven off in a new direction by launching a unique car buying service for women.

Have a look around your team. Have you ever thought about them in terms of which generation they belong to? Without being ageist, do you make decisions differently based on whether someone is a Baby Boomer, a Gen X or a Gen Y?

Lord Keynes likened picking share price movements, and he could have added currency movements, to selecting the faces to be voted the most beautiful in a newspaper competition. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, explains.

Some clients expect us to heavily discount or even waive our temp-to-perm fees. In an article for Recruiter Daily, recrutiment trainer Ross Clennett explains why consultants need, and deserve, these fees.

There are no easy choices when it comes to loan rates at present: all rates are high. As always, it comes down to your own financial situation, your own tolerance of risk – including how you sleep at night – and your opinion about the future. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, suggests how to cope with the uncertainty.

Recruiters have a reputation up there with used car salesmen, but is that really deserved? Phoenix consultant Ruth Durno offers advice on how to avoid the cowboys and choose a recruiter you can trust.

A new HR consultancy has been launched to help SMEs reap the benefit of a full range of HR services without the need for a specialised in-house team.

A new consulting firm is offering an extensive range of services thanks to the merger of two teams of experts.

An American recruitment expert claims some hiring managers do “dumb things” that make harder work for HR managers and recruiters. Lou Adler says there are two common problems and outlines his suggestions for preventing them.

Employment growth in New Zealand is not expected to ease until early 2009, a Department of Labour report shows.

All businesses have three basic parts: Accounting and Finance, Operations, and Sales and Marketing.

Phoenix Recruitment is acknowledged in the Accounting and Finance field (it celebrates its eighth birthday in February 2008) and more recently in Human Resources, which arguably is part of Operations, but it found it was being asked more and more to extend its service to Sales and Marketing.

A candidate values survey has given some insight into what it takes to attract new staff.

Each year holds lessons for the next. This year they revolve around volatility and debt. Anthony Byett of fxmatters describes what we should expect in 2008.

Finding new staff can be a headache at the best of times, but Phoenix has come up with a suggestion to make the process easier and more efficient. Matt Smith explains.

Ben Bernanke might well have been referring to New Zealand when he set monetary policy recently to "roughly balance the upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to growth". In other words, he would have liked to reduce US interest rates more to offset the dampening influences of a slower housing market, growing financial market problems and tighter credit conditions but he could not take the risk of fuelling already-strong inflation pressures. That is the difficulty in the later stages of a business cycle. It is a problem we are very aware of in New Zealand. Anthony Byett of fxmatters.co.nz has more.

Some of the world’s best thinkers, both past and present, achieved recognition and results by thinking outside the box.
It is a lesson we can all learn and one that Extra Mile Training is keen to promote, particularly when it comes to computer skills.

Equity analysts pour over company accounts for any hint of future profit trends. They would do well to do the same with national accounts. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, explains why.

Many of us who spend our days hunched behind a desk unwind and keep fit with a run after work. But did you know your footwear could be holding you back and even injuring you? Healthy Steps Podiatry has advice on avoiding problems.

The Official Cash Rate or OCR, to use the jargon: what is it and can we do better? Anthony Byett of fxmatters.co.nz explains.

Millions wiped off the value of our shares in the space of a day. Unreal. Anthony Byett, of fxmatters, takes us inside the minds of economists when the financial world appears to go haywire.

A young Chartered Accounting team from Auckland is aiming to change the way we think about accountancy.

With a plethora of social and environmental issues facing us, there is increasing discussion about the role that all types of organisations, from businesses to government to non-profits, can and are playing in maintaining healthy communities.

Are you spending long hours at your desk, in front of the computer in a stressful job? Mia Gamble, of the Advanced Spine and Joint Clinic, explains how chiropractors can help ease neck pain, shoulder tension and headaches caused by your job.

Clients hoping to work with Phoenix to find the best people for their business can turn to a special charter to understand how they will be treated and what to expect from the company.

Getting your company’s external positioning right is critical to how consumers perceive the company and its brands.

Finding the best people to join your company is a fraught task at the best of times, but it is even harder when you are wrestling in a highly competitive market that is short of candidates.

The CA Team at Phoenix works every day doing nothing but thinking about how to find enough people to satisfy all the roles we have with our Chartered Accounting clients.

A recipe for success in business has been drawn up by a New Zealand-based international sports coach who believes self discipline is the key.

Businesses that need to meet stringent health, safety or regulatory standards, or achieve levels of high quality can turn to a long established New Zealand-based firm for help.

It is well known that there is a shortage of people looking for work across all sectors. Specialising in accountants we tend to think we have a unique problem but apparently we are not alone.
When you do find someone you like how can you persuade them to join you?

Have you ever wondered why recruitment consultants often seem so eager for you to retain them as an exclusive agency when you need to find new staff?
It is not simply a matter of taking out their competition and giving them a free run at filling the job.
There are advantages to both of you from signing a retained agreement, not least the savings you will make.

You know as an employer when there is a good person you need to win for your team. When you are in competition for that person sometimes the smallest things make a difference.

There have been many words written about interview technique from a candidate’s point of view but what about the interviewer? Many skills in New Zealand are now in short supply; so when you actually get to meet someone who looks suitable for your role, do not blow it!

Phoenix Recruitment – Interviewer checklist...

With depth in the Chartered Accounting profession and an understanding of how a professional partnership delivers its service, our CA team is in a good position to recruit in the Legal market.

NZ dollar at mercy of wider forces

Planning for a good exit.

Had enough? Time to get out?

In the process of looking for someone to take over their premises in the General Buildings in Shortland Street (see covering newsletter, Feb 2009) Phoenix came across an interesting service for tenants.