Are you usually the type of person that doesn’t start thinking about Christmas until December?  As a business, we should start preparing for the holiday period now.

AAF will be closing our office for the Christmas holiday period from 12pm Tuesday the 23^rd December and re-opening on the 12^th January 2015 (although some staff will be around from the 5^th to assist with any urgent queries you might have).

What are your plans for the Christmas period?  Will you be closing the business down for a period also or working through with just the statutory holidays off?  Is it economical to stay open?  If you do need to work through, when will your staff and you take time off? 

Planning for the break should start with deciding on which days your business will close.  Employees need time to arrange leave with their families that fits in with the business where possible.  Once this has been decided you need to give advance notice to your customers of the period of non-trading.

Consideration needs to be given to clients that depend on you to be available IE: plumbers or electricians?  Will someone be available to cover those emergencies that crop up over the holiday period?  Have you got sufficient pricing in place to cover call outs on the statutory holidays to cover the time and a half wage costs?

Consideration also needs to be given to cash-flow.  There needs to be enough funds to cover holiday pay, including expenses and outgoings shortly after the holidays.  Don’t forget about the taxes like GST and provisional tax that are due 15 January.  You need to assess whether there will be enough cash in the business before Christmas to cover these?  Businesses that still receive cheques, may want to consider having someone do the banking over the holiday period.

If you want assistance with business planning for the holiday season, contact one of the team on 04-970-1182 or email ben@allaccountedfor.co.nz

Written by Dylan Guitry