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Compliance and audit reviews
From mandates, best practice procedures or accreditations, to simply gaining peace of mind, our technical and industry experts have you covered.
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External audit
Strengthen business and stakeholder confidence with professionally verified results and insights.
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Financial reporting advisory
Deep expertise to help you navigate New Zealand’s constantly evolving regulatory environment.
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Corporate tax
Identify tax issues, risks and opportunities in your organisation, and implement strategies to improve your bottom line.
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Indirect tax
Stay on top of the indirect taxes that can impact your business at any given time.
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Individual tax
Preparing today to help you invest in tomorrow.
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Private business tax structuring
Find the best tax structure for your business.
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Tax disputes
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Research & development
R&D tax incentives are often underused and misunderstood – is your business maximising opportunities for making claims?
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Management reporting
You’re doing well, but could you be doing even better? Discover the power of management reporting.
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Financial reporting advisory
Deep expertise to help you navigate New Zealand’s constantly evolving regulatory environment.
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Succession planning
When it comes to a business strategy that’s as important as succession planning, you can’t afford to leave things to chance.
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Trust management
Fresh perspectives, practical solutions and flexible support for trusts and estate planning.
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Forecasting and budgeting
Prepare for every likely situation with robust budgeting and forecasting models.
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Outsourced accounting services
An extension of your team when you need us, so you can focus your time, energy and passion on your business.
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Setting up in New Zealand
Looking to set up a business in New Zealand? You’ve come to the right place.
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Policy reviews & development
Turn your risks into strengths with tailored policies that protect, guide and empower your business.
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Performance improvement
Every business has untapped potential. Unlock yours.
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Programme & project management
Successfully execute mission-critical changes to your organisation.
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Strategy
Make a choice about your vision and purpose, where you will play and how you will win – now and into the future.
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Risk
Manage risks with confidence to support your strategy.
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Cloud services
Leverage the cloud to keep your data safe, operate more efficiently, reduce costs and create a better experience for your employees and clients.
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Data analytics
Use your data to make better business decisions.
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IT assurance
Are your IT systems reliable, safe and compliant?
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Cyber resilience
As the benefits technology can deliver to your business increases, so too do the opportunities for cybercriminals.
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Virtual asset advisory
Helping you navigate the world of virtual currencies and decentralised financial systems.
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Virtual CSO
Security leadership and expertise when you need it.
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Debt advisory
Raise, refinance, restructure or manage debt to achieve the optimal funding structure for your organisation.
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Financial modelling
Understand the impact of your decisions before you make them.
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Raising finance
Access the best source of funding for your business with a sound business strategy and rigorous planning.
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Business valuations
Valuable decisions require valued insights.
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Complex and international services
Navigate the complexities of multi-jurisdictional insolvencies.
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Corporate insolvency
Achieve fair and orderly outcomes if your business – or part of it - is facing insolvency.
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Independent business review
Is your business viable today? Will it be viable tomorrow? Give your business a health check to find out.
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Litigation support
Straight forward advice from trusted advisors to support litigation and arbitration matters, expert determinations and other specialist hearings.
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Business valuations
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Forensic accounting & dispute advisory
Understand the true values, numbers and dollars at stake, as well as your obligations and rights to ensure value is preserved and complexities are managed.
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Expert witness
Our expert witnesses analyse, interpret, summarise and present complex financial and business-related issues which are understandable and properly supported.
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Investigation services
A fast and customised response when misconduct occurs in your business.
Building a more productive and competitive economy
For the last 40 years, the productivity and competitive elements of successive budgets have been conservative at best. Chances are, this year’s Budget will be no different, for it would require abold Government to launch the fundamental changes needed to create a more productive and competitive economy.
New Zealand’s competitive decline is strikingly evident. Forty years ago our GDP per capita was 20% above the OCED average and it’s now approximately 20% below this average. The difference in GPD between New Zealand and Australia is now $13,000 per person, equating to a total gap of $50 billion.
Simple maths tells us that something needs to change and unless New Zealand businesses become more productive and competitive, there will be no way of paying for more jobs at higher rates.
In the 2012 Budget the Government established four strategic priorities: responsibly managing the Government’s finances, rebuilding Christchurch, delivering better public services and creating a more productive and competitive economy. While it’s positive that productivity was given a focus, so far, it’s been treated as a poor cousin to the other three. If the Government doesn’t face up to the productivity challenges in this year’s Budget and generate additional fiscal capacity, it’s likely that the other priorities will also struggle to be achieved.
While the maths is obvious, the Government’s response so far has been conservative. The agencies and departments directly responsible for a step change in productivity make up less than 4% of total government allocations. And until recently, these have been constrained by inconsistent focus, agency complexity, capability gaps and the failure to innovate.
The challenges of addressing these issues include the constraints of the overall global economic environment, the residential housing drag, the drought and our savings record.
However, these challenges are far outweighed by the opportunities. New Zealand has fared comparatively well since the global financial crisis and is well positioned geographically to benefit from the global shift of economic power away from North America and Europe to Asia, the Middle East and Africa. And it’s been well documented in multiple studies and reviews that New Zealand is a very competitive place to do business (the only problem is that we don’t do enough business).
There is a compelling argument that now is the time for action. We have the fundamental building blocks to put forward a budget that will reposition New Zealand’s economy to be more productive and competitive. All that is needed is for the Government to step up.
The Minister of Finance will have a clear understanding of the fine line between pushing the productivity agenda hard and protecting the government’s fiscal position in a difficult global environment. However, this is a potential tipping point for both the Government and the medium term competiveness of New Zealand.
The process of transforming the agencies responsible for productivity and developing a far more coherent framework for the delivery of outcomes has already begun. The Governments Business Growth Agenda has established a focus on six inputs to business and these must be clarified, aligned and coordinated.
In 2013 the expectation is that the transformation of the agencies and there capabilities will be increased so the programme is delivered with increased pace, discipline and focus on measured value.
There must also be a continuation of the release and reprioritisation of resources so more funding will be available to drive productivity and competiveness. Overall, it’s expected that the direct spend of the key agencies of $3 billion (3.7% of government allocations) will be prioritised, optimised and increased to specifically drive productivity outcomes.
The direction of the Business Growth Agenda is fundamentally sound. However, if the 10 point plan below was initiated immediately, we would soon start to see results.
Six key inputs of Business Growth Agenda |
Government priorities needed to enhance productivity |
Innovation |
1. Prioritise and become more proactive in encouraging business innovation. |
Export markets |
3. Maintain the pace of improving access to markets and align New Zealand’s offshore footprint and business internationalisation actions by delivering tangible results. |
Skilled and safe workforce |
4. Fund tertiary and vocational training that delivers skills to business and use the funding of education and training to increase the level of innovation in the sector and drive change. |
Infrastructure |
5. Focus investment to enhance the end-to-end supply chain infrastructure (Road/Rail/Sea). |
Resources |
6. Have a holistic focus on Maori resources. |
Capital markets |
9. Eliminate the residential housing bias. |
To progress New Zealand’s productivity and competiveness it is critical that this Budget does not undermine progress elsewhere. The foundations of managing the Government’s finances and delivering better public services need to be protected so that New Zealand remains a superior country to do business in. The Government’s role is to create the right framework and environment and it should avoid direct interventions in specific industries.
It is equally important that New Zealand businesses step up. Too few are currently contributing to productivity and competiveness. This is most dramatically seen in the investment in R&D and science and technology (less than a third of the global average). The investment in technology, capital assets, plants, people and their capabilities that drive productivity and competiveness at an enterprise level are also all incredibly low. Potentially, this is the Governments blind spot and greatest risk. This issue must be addressed if Government initiatives are going to make a difference.
So the question remains, will the Government have the courage to take the action needed in this year’s Budget to lift our economy? Or will the upcoming election pressure halter any potential investment in this area?
As the late Margret Thatcher said: “If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”
Let’s hope for some effective leadership this16th May that will enhance this country’s productivity and competiveness.
Further enquiries, please contact:
Simon Hunter
Grant Thornton Partner, Business Transformation
T +64 9 926 5747
E simon.hunter@nz.gt.com