We are excited to celebrate the success of AgriSmart software, which recently won a national innovation contest. AgriSmart, developed by Imran Raza (CooperAitken Director), Stu Meads and Mark Crarer, was specifically designed for NZ dairy farmers to improve compliance in the dairy industry.If you haven’t yet heard of it, AgriSmart keeps track of working hours and alerts management when employees on salaries fall below the minimum hourly rate in any given pay period. AgriSmart also keeps track of Rostered Days Off, Annual Leave, Time in Lieu and Sick Leave. It has the ability to integrate with any modern payroll system, however they will soon be releasing their own simple payroll system. AgriSmart can be used for farms with one employee to multiple farms with many employees, all in the one licence. The system has been running for more than a year and hundreds of farmers are using it. In addition to the timesheet module, AgriSmart offers the following:• a Roster Calendar that can handle

virtually all roster types• a Task Manager and Whiteboard

feature to ensure all those jobs on the farm get done

• A Health and Safety system, especially designed for farmers, that is intuitive and easy to use.

The software won the Activate 2.0 contest, beating 23 other New Zealand technology solutions with the goal to

help farmers increase sustainability, productivity, profitability, and efficiency.The winner was judged by ‘people’s choice’ vote as being the most helpful for farmers and was awarded a prize package that included tickets to the Silicon Valley Forum for AgTech in the United States in April, a stand at the Tech Week Farming 2020 event in May and access to Fonterra and Livestock Improvement’s new Agrigate farm data platform.“Winning this has been big for us, it’s an endorsement that there is a product that we have that is very useful for farmers in New Zealand,” Imran Raza said.In the Waikato last year, officials discovered that half of the 28 dairy farms they visited over a two month period were in breach of their employment obligations and have fined some farmers $2000 each.The complexity of roster systems on dairy farms meant it was difficult for employers to determine their staff’s annual leave entitlement and AgriSmart automatically measured those entitlements, Raza said. AgriSmart has huge potential to support your business.

Contact Imran Raza, 07 889 7153 if you would like to learn more, or check out www.agrismart.co.nz

June 2017

MORRINSVILLE42 Moorhouse Street, PO Box 23[p] 07 889 7153 [f] 07 889 7151

MATAMATA2a Arawa Street, PO Box 51[p] 07 888 8002 [f] 07 888 8556

THAMES309b Pollen Street, PO Box 559[p] 07 868 9945 [f] 07 868 9942

[e] mail@cooperaitken.co.nz www.cooperaitken.co.nz

The legal stuffAll information in this newsletter is to the best of the authors knowledge true and accurate. No liability is assumed by the authors, or publishers, for any losses suffered by any person relying directly or indirectly upon this newsletter. It is recommended that clients should consult a senior representative of the firm before acting upon this information.

AgriSmart wins Activate 2.0 Tech competition

Inside this issue:PAGE 2• Team news PAGE 3• Introducing Companies and Trust Team• Profile: Cameron McGill• Do you have Audit Insurance?• Free seminars • Changing circumstances and ACCPAGE 4• Pathways to farm ownership • Our newsletter is going paperless

Important dates• Fieldays June 14-17 – come see

CooperAitken & AgriSmart at site PB50• Sunday, 29 October, Morrinsville

Fun Run. A great community event we enjoy sponsoring and participating in.

• Saturday, 9 December, Morrinsville Christmas Parade. The theme this year is ‘Your Ideal Family Christmas’.

Pictured left: Mark Crarer, Stu Meads and Imran Raza.

Certificate of Sponsorship Tahuna School would like to express their gratitude for your support of the Tahuna School and Wright Fishing & Outdoors Family Fishing Competition 2017

www.tahunaschool.school.nz

Team NewsSpecial mentionsTrevor Cooper recently stepped down as a Director of CooperAikten, after nearly 30 years. Although Trevor is no longer a Director, he is still very much a part of the CooperAitken team. He will be continuing his work here on a Consultant basis, working 3 days from our Morrinsville Office and 2 days in Thames. Trevor will help his current client’s transition smoothly to their new appointed Director or Associate and still be around as needed.

We also said goodbye to one of our Associates last month. Teresa Phillips made the move back home to Whangarei, where she has taken up a new role with a firm up there. We really loved having Teresa as part of the CooperAitken team for 7 years and we wish her all the best for her new house build and role.

CelebratingMegan Wood who looks after our Trusts and Companies Division became Megan Potter when she married Scott in April. Congratulations to them both.

FarewellChristine (right) started with CooperAitken in 1998. In the nearly 20 years that Christine has been here she has contributed greatly to the accounting team.

Michelle Weller, who looked after our wages division has left CooperAitken after eight years. We wish her all the best for the future.

WelcomeWe welcome Raewyne Paterson to our accounting team in Thames.

In the community...

Celebrating...

The CooperAitken team loves an opportunity to dress up and have some fun!

We are proud to support events and sporting teams in our local community.

FreeSeminars

In April we held some ACC sessions for our clients with the support of Coral Jackson from ACC. These sessions were a huge success and everyone who attended felt they learnt a lot about CoverPlusExtra. “Very good presentation, good group interaction and well worth coming in for.” May followed up with a series of Xero and Figured sessions, co-hosted by experts from both software platforms. They gave an insightful overview into the benefits of utilising these software options. We ended the month with sessions on Trusts Explained.We hold all our sessions free of charge. So be sure to keep your eye out for your invitation to the following• HR seminar – 26, 28 and 29 June

Changing circumstances?DOES THIS AFFECT YOUR ACCWith a lot of things changing on farm at this time of year it is increasingly important to consider what’s happening in your business. There are a number of factors that can impact your ACC payments. • Selling your farm or business.• Changing your business activity.• Employing more or less staff.• Change your full time or part time status.• Change in self-employed or employed

status.All these aspects affect the cover you need and the cost of your ACC.

For any queries regarding ACC please contact Robyn on 07 889 8864 or Robyn@cooperaitken.co.nz

BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!!!With the number of nasty computer viruses out there, now more than ever it is important to back up your hard drive. This doesn’t need to be hard - or costly, with a terabyte drive costing around $80, or even better a cloud-based service such as Google Drive or iCloud.

If you’re unsure about what’s best for you - give the CooperAitken team a call on 07 889 7153.

We wish those of you coming into calving all the best for the busy season.

Introducing the Trusts and Companies team Trusts and companies can be daunting! At CooperAitken we have a fantastic team who can help you.

Sarah, Kate, and Megan (our in house lawyer) of the trust team

We can provide you support in managing your trust or company. This includes everything; from set up, understanding your obligations, regular reviews, record keeping and meeting

management. We can also act as an Independent Professional Trustee on your trust.

Contact the team on 07 889 7153

Profile:Cameron McGillThames Office Cameron has worked in accounting for the past 14 years both in New Zealand and Australia, where he ran his own Accounting firm.  He joined CooperAitken in January 2016.

Cameron’s qualifications include a Commerce Degree in Finance, a Graduate Certificate in Accounting, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, and he is a Certified Management Accountant.  The McGill family are busy building a new house in Thames, where they live, and are heavily involved in local school activities and school Boards.

Business growth is Cameron’s passion and he wants to help clients move to the next level of business success. He looks forward to continuing his work with our valued Thames client base and contributing to the quality service provided for all our CooperAitken clients. 

Do you have audit insurance?Audit insurance covers the professional fees incurred as a result of an official audit, enquiry, investigation or review instigated by Inland Revenue (IR) or other New Zealand government authority. Audit insurance covers the fees (which can be over $10,000!) in the case that you are selected for an audit. This includes things such as supplying your last seven years worth of records, or specific information around selected transactions. Contact us at CooperAitken to discuss your requirements.

Is it your goal to own your own financially viable farm one day? Or are you currently farming but really can’t see any way ahead to be able to own land of your own? There are many pathways to farm ownership, and using some really creative ideas is becoming increasingly important as the goal seems increasingly difficult to attain.The traditional pathway to farm ownership was from farm employee, to contract milking or lower order sharemilking, to 50/50 sharemilking, to farm ownership - as in a ladder where one step needs to be climbed at a time. The pathway has become increasingly difficult in recent years. There is a marked decrease in the number of sharemilking opportunities as farm sizes increase. Also there is an increasing trend for farm owners to employ managers and contract milkers, as they are able to receive a better return on their investment if they own their own livestock and receive half the income.The lack of sharemilking positions and the high entry price into farm ownership has changed the way successful young farmers are thinking about their goals and how to achieve them. The single ladder has morphed into something resembling a rope net obstacle course, where there is flexibility with alternate routes and perhaps even multiple choices can be chosen at a time.There is no one size fits all anymore, and it is good to be aware of how others are successful in using real estate in various

ways to achieve their goal.Investing in smaller parcels of real estate along the way can be an option which wasn’t included in the traditional pathway.We are increasingly seeing farm employees or sharemilkers owning residential rental properties in a bid to get on the property ladder and keep up with inflation. Some good wins have been made due to being in a compulsory saving situation, and the recent economy has resulted in very good capital growth in many instances. Perhaps ownership of a beach property satisfies lifestyle needs and accumulating wealth through property ownership at the same time.Another option includes a sharemilker in a stable contract purchasing bare land to use as a grazing or maize block. This land eventually becomes a deposit on a dairy farm. Alternatively, the sharemilker decides to retire, selling the herd to pay off existing debt and building a new home on the property.If available, leasing a farm with an option to purchase can give stability, as a young family is able to put roots down in a

Pathways to farm ownership through real estate

Coral Phillips, Associate

Our newsletter is going paperlessAs part of our drive to become paperless at CooperAitken we are making some changes to how we communicate. Majority of you currently receive our newsletter via email, you don’t need to do anything. We will continue to email this out to you quarterly.

If you receive a physical copy of our newsletter and wish to continue to receive our newsletter this way, please call the marketing team on 07 889 7153 and let us know, or email CAMarketing@cooperaitken.co.nz

Help us help the environment.

community before needing to commit to the purchase.Equity partnership, where the silent partner contributes most of the capital for the land is a common answer. Ensure the goals of each party are aligned, and there is a shareholder agreement, with an exit strategy. Open communication between all parties can result in a very successful relationship. Another option is a sharemilker who purchases their own farm and employs a manager on it, while continuing with their existing contract. The cashflow from the sharemilking contract can help in the early years of farm ownership, which are often financially very stretched. The choices that are made need to be tailored to appetite for risk and amount of stress that can be handled. Property values do fluctuate. Purchasing at the top of the price curve and needing to flick off quickly can defeat the purpose of owning the property in the first place.Be aware of the taxation rules due to the Brightline test. Although not applicable for farm land, it is likely to apply when purchasing residential property, which is not the main home, if then sold within two years.

For more information on accountancy implications of owning real estate please contact CooperAitken Ltd in Matamata, Morrinsville or Thames.