It's the time of the year we all look forward to - the traditional Kiwi "Summer Holidays"
As bookkeepers, it's usually when we're juggling fewer working days in December and January with family and other events, while ensuring your needs as our valued clients are met - bills still need to be paid, invoices sent & payrolls processed regardless of the time of the year.
To help us with our workload planning for this year, can you please let me know your plans for the Christmas/New Year period. Are you going to be:- open as usual?
- closed for certain days?
- working the non-statutory days (aka the days in-between)?
If you have staff, now is a good time to discuss their summer holiday plans too. With Christmas Day & New Years Day falling on a Sunday/ Monday, there are four (4) public holidays during this period - they are Mon 26 Dec, Tue 27 Dec 2022 and Mon 2 Jan & Tue 3 Jan 2023.
When deciding the best option for your business at this time of the year, there are several factors to consider - such as:- Is your business traditionally quiet around these dates? It's better for your business if your team takes time off when it's not as busy, rather than wanting to take leave when you are busy.
- Are your suppliers closed or only open on certain days? This could make continuing to work difficult or cause costly delays waiting for suppliers and deliveries to happen.
- Do your employees have annual leave owing? It's better for your business' bottom line if there isn't too much annual leave owing at the end of the financial year. Otherwise, it gets counted as profit to your business.
- There are additional costs if your employees work on a public holiday. Current employment law specifies working on a public holiday must be paid at the hourly rate of time & a half plus an alternative leave day to be taken at a later date. More details can be found here.
- Take 3 work days off between Christmas & New Year plus the public holidays, means an eleven (11) day break. Your employees will use 3 days of their annual leave.
- Add the first 3 normal work days in 2023 - immediately after the public holidays, means fourteen (16) days off. Your employees will use 6 days of their annual leave.
Whether you choose to stay open or close down and take a break - decide what's the best option for you AND your team. And remember the 6 Ps 
