The latest on small business

With the New Zealand economy struggling you should learn about the four things you can do to minimise your risk and trade with confidence.

The Top 5 Excuses for Non Payment Heard These Before? If you’ve ever chased a late payment, you’ve likely heard one (or all) of these before: “It’s in the system.” “I never got the invoice.” “Our accounts person is away.” “Cash flow’s tight right now.” “We’ll pay you next week.”   Sound familiar? You’re not […]

Navigating Cashflow Challenges in the New Zealand Construction Industry Cashflow management is a critical aspect of running a successful construction business in New Zealand. The industry is characterised by long payment cycles, high upfront costs, and unpredictable expenses, making it challenging for businesses to maintain a steady cashflow. Research indicates that approximately 70% of New […]

Do you know the number 1 reason businesses fail? It’s not from lack of profitability. It’s not from a lack of customers. Or poor customer service, or bad marketing or even from negative reviews… Though all these things can contribute. No, the number 1 reason that businesses fail according to business insolvency experts is from […]

In this article we deep dive into the ideal onboarding process for new customers, why this is important, what to do and how this can impact your business.

Cashflow Masterclass – Cashflow Forecasting As part of our commitment to improving the financial wellbeing of our clients, we are educating business owners about the fundamental principles of cashflow management with our cashflow masterclass series. In this article we deep dive into cashflow forecasting, why it is so essential, how to produce a cashflow forecast […]

The 4 Best Strategies to Help Your Business Survive Til 25 The latest data out from Centrix (Our credit reporting partners) is sobering news for business owners; business insolvencies are through the roof. The term “Survive til 25” has been coined to reflect the tough global economic conditions that businesses are currently facing and suggests […]

Cashflow Masterclass – The Cash Conversion Cycle As part of our commitment to improving the financial wellbeing of our clients, we want to educate business owners on the fundamental principles of cashflow management. In this article we deep dive into cashflow cycles and the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) – Why it is important, how to […]

NZ Privacy Week : Why You Should Care about the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 New Zealand privacy legislation underwent a major modernisation in 2020 to reflect the changing way in which data is collected and used. The updated Privacy Act 2020 has 13 information privacy principles that govern how businesses and organisations should collect, handle, […]

IRD are cracking down on businesses doing “cashies”, find out how that could affect your business here.

New Zealand is in a recession, but what does that even mean and why should you care? Find out all about how to protect your cashflow in a recession.

For many New Zealand businesses, 31 March is the end of their financial year. This means that businesses need to get their books “in order” so they can produce their annual financial reports and complete tax assessments. One key task for businesses prior to the end of the financial year is to tidy up their […]

Small changes to your billing workflow can make all the difference. Tweaks to the billing process are one of the key things that can benefit businesses exponentially. The process itself can be set up to do a lot of the heavy lifting, working like clockwork to help your customers pay on time.  Here are a […]

Managing your risk is really important. A change in a customer’s payment behaviour can be quite telling. Perhaps they have missed a payment, or you are noticing that payments that were normally timely seem to be lagging behind. When a customer’s habits do change it’s normal to have some concerns about being paid. It’s important […]

What Hire Agreement is right for your business? If you’re hiring out physical equipment, machinery or vehicles you’ll need to have a hire agreement in place, firstly to protect your assets and secondly to mitigate any risk. There are two types of hire agreements, dry hire and wet hire. To know what type of hire […]

How does end of month impact you? When you have suppliers and/or staff who rely on you, there is nothing better than you being paid on time for your product/service, so you can sort your obligations as a business owner.  Here are some ways you can improve your invoicing processes. Outline your terms – from […]

It’s not uncommon to feel uncomfortable when collecting debts. In this blog, we look at how businesses can remain professional when collecting debt. Use a digital, automated system. Using a paper system is an easy way to appear disorganised Find a system that has automated reminders Set up reminders for: Confirmation of order and payment […]

It happens time and time again. A customer has every intention of paying on time but suddenly life gets in the way and they miss a payment. Your debt recovery process is one of the key things that can benefit your business exponentially if it is jumped on early. The process itself can be set […]

At EC Credit Control, we’re lucky enough to work with a wide variety of businesses, big and small. From our debt resolution team to our Terms and Conditions of Trade drafters, we have borne witness to many stories of success and failure over the years. Consequently, we have some interestingly common threads. We want to […]

None of us can predict the future, however, there are plenty of practical ways to be ready. At EC Credit Control we tend to take a long-term view of things. By doing the same with your business and positioning it for the future, we know that even in today’s market there is plenty of room […]

Only last week, I was visited by a local lawn mowing business that was quoting to manage my property on an ongoing basis. We happily parted ways with a verbal agreement to take on the job, but I received no written quote and no Terms and Conditions of Trade. How many times as a business […]

In these unprecedented times while the country is in different states of lockdown it may be a good opportunity to get your paperwork and cashflow in order. There are many ways we can assist you to ensure the smooth running of your business, so when we are fully out of lockdown you can concentrate on […]

Privacy breaches are commonplace. As an organisation, you must ensure you are following procedures.  Ensuring your customer’s personal information is stored securely in addition to only using it for its intended purpose.  In this blog, we talk about the costly realities of a privacy breach, your responsibilities and how we can assist. Learn from others […]

If you find debt recovery challenging you are not alone! In this blog we cover the biggest obstacles our clients face, and how you can overcome them to make your cashflow, and your small business, a much happier operation.

In New Zealand, just 37% of ‘micro businesses’ (that’s those with <5 staff and <$2m turnover – so yes, a large chunk of our small business community) exist after two years according to Stats NZ.