Recommend an accountant in Dunedin?

[jack2016]

Hi I am not sure whether to post this here or in the main NZ forum, but can anyone recommend me a good accountant in Dunedin?

Thanks for any tips.

Obviously want sharp pricing but also more important is a creative accountant, approachable, and experienced in more than just property as I need advice on how to set up company, trusts etc

Thanks

[Rosco]

These days it doesn’t matter where your accountant is based. Most correspondence can be done by phone or emails, and there is great video calling software available where you can share screens, spreadsheets etc. When looking for an accountant to help with property, I would;

Be careful of cheap. Property transactions involve large dollar amounts and a mistake can cost thousands of dollars. Every week we see financial statements, structuring and tax returns that are done wrong or badly, so be very careful of using a cheap accountant, as often you get a bad result.

Look for a real property accountant – easiest way to check is to look at their website and if it talks about business, auditing, farming etc, then they are not property accountants. They probably don’t love property, probably aren’t aware of all the tips and tricks and probably can’t help you with critical property decisions. For example I recently looked at a normal accountants set of financial statements for their own, brand new rental, and they had missed chattels depreciation! Missed maybe $10k plus in tax savings!

Choose a Chartered Accountant – Anyone can call themselves an accountant, and often accountants have little training or real knowledge, especially franchises. A Chartered Accountant has a university degree, years of training and has to complete ongoing training each year. A Chartered Accountant is much more likely to be up to date with recent tax changes, and likely to provide better advice

I like medium size firms where you still deal with one of the owners. Ideally they will have a double review process (Manager checking information is correct and Partner looking at big picture) and have less staff turnover. Large firms – they pass rental properties to their juniors. One person firm- who reviews the work? What happens if they are sick, die or have a holiday? Also often they don’t have access to all the resources as they can be quite expensive.

Location shouldn’t matter! Search NZ wide!

Ross

[jack2016]

thanks ross, may I PM you for specific advice?

[Rosco]

The best starting point is to organise a free 5-10 minute chat with me. I can then help work out the best way forward. You can PM me, and make sure you include your phone number, email address and is there some better times to organise a phone call.

Ross