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| Keep up-to-date with us and what's happening in the education sector |
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The auditors are now working through the last of the audits, and with just a couple of days until the 31 May 2022 filing, we encourage you to respond to any queries as soon as possible to ensure the audit is completed in time. When you receive the annual reports for signing, please ensure these are signed and returned to the auditors as quickly as possible. If the annual report has not yet been cleared by the auditors, please have the Principal and Board Chair on standby. We can facilitate electronic signing of the reports if either the Principal or Board Chair are away.
The Ministry is aware that a number of audit firms have been struggling to complete the audits due to COVID and staffing storages. We understand that Schools will not be responsible for the filing deadline under those circumstances.
When you receive the annual reports from the auditor for signing, please ensure that the Principal and Board Chair use the same date on the signing page and also ensure that the letter of representation is dated the same.
When you have received the audited (stamped) annual reports back from the auditors, please remember to combine the annual reports, audit opinion and analysis of variance into one document before uploading to the MOE data portal (we would recommend the likes of adobe writer or ilovepdf.com to combine the documents). Once you have uploaded the combined report to the MOE data portal, please let us know so that we can update our list.
You also need to upload a copy of the combined reports to the School website. Please refer to the MOE guidelines below with regards to posting documents online, especially around redacting signatures and identifying data.
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2022/23 GOVERNMENT BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENT |
The recent budget announcement had some positive news for schools with confirmation that the outdated school decile system will be replaced which will provide an increase in funding for students facing equity challenges.
There are also small increases for early learning funding and school operating costs; however they are well under inflation. Below is a summary of the key educational related budget announcements: -
Additional operational funding of $293m and $8m of capital to replace the decile system with the Equity Index;
- Increased funding of $184m for school operating grants (2.75% increase);
- $270m operating and $5m capital funding for pay parity for education and care, and kindergarten teachers; and
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$855m in capital investment over 2 years, including $219m for replacing furniture and equipment, $385m for building and refurbishing 280 classrooms at more than 40 schools, $88m for the Christchurch School Rebuild, and $105m for Maori-medium kura.
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WELCOME TO THE TEAM: NERISSA, VIVIAN & TANYA |
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Originally from the Philippines, Nerissa relocated to Auckland, New Zealand, over two years ago, where she completed her graduate diploma in accounting at The Manukau Institute of Technology. Since then, she has held a number of accounting and finance support roles.
As our new Business Services Accountant, Nerissa will be working with you to prepare monthly reports and provide crucial financial information as well as insightful strategic advice to support your school.
Nerissa is passionate about helping our clients reach their maximum potential; she thrives in providing accounting and financial services that management can implement for sound decision-making.
Outside of work, Nerissa enjoys traveling and arts and crafts. |
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Born and bred in Hebei, China, Vivian has been in New Zealand for over three and half years, graduating from Wellington University of Victoria with a Master of Accounting. She is currently undertaking her chartered accounting (CA) qualifications.
As our new Business Services Accountant, Vivian will be responsible for preparing monthly reports and providing you with crucial financial and accounting services while supporting your school.
Vivian enjoys putting her natural problem-solving skills to work in order to address a variety of challenges your school might face.
In Vivian's spare time, you can find her engrossed in a good book at the Library or checking out the local cuisine.
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Meet Tanya, a local Wellingtonian with an extensive background in administration and, more latterly, eight years of experience as an executive officer in three different schools.
As our new Training & Xero Implementation Manager, Tanya will be providing your school with in-depth Xero support and training while helping clients new to Xero migrate from their existing accounting system.
Tanya is looking forward to working with schools throughout New Zealand. Tanya is very process and systems-driven and passionate about helping schools achieve their goals most effectively.
Tanya's interests include reading, crafts, wallpapering, and spending time with her three girls.
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ADDITIONAL AFS SUPPORT SERVICES NOW AVAILABLE |
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| With the continued skills and labour shortage, we are aware that schools are increasing struggling to fill gaps within the support team when a valued team member leaves. With Tanya joining the team, and along with Maria Joseph and Ian Tantasukitwanit who joined as bookkeepers late last year, we are able to offer more day to day transactional support and process review support for Schools.
Tanya brings extensive school-specific experience across Xero, Edpay (Novopay), eTap, banking staffing management, finance support and process/system improvements.
So if you need key aspects of a role filled for a few weeks, or would like assistance with enhancing the finance and support roles within the school, we have the team to assist.
If this is something you would like to talk further about, please feel free to contact Ben, Allison or Tanya. |
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XERO BATCH PAYMENTS - EXTRA CHECK RECOMMENDED |
As you may already be aware, Xero has amended its functionality for batch payments enabling batches to be automatically exported to the bank instead of the user having control of this function.
This has caused issues in some cases when a school needs to edit a batch after it has been created. The new functionality causes the edited batch to be sent to the bank as well, and if the date on the original batch has not passed, both batches remain available at the bank to be authorised for payment. As the school's internal controls require the person sending the batch to the bank to be independent of those authorising the payment, there is an increased risk of the batch being paid twice. When a batch is edited, we recommend the school checks online banking to ensure the batch is not included twice (the first batch can be deleted if necessary). |
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XERO TIP OF THE MONTH: PART PAYMENT OF INVOICES |
If your customer pays an invoice in multiple stages it can create a bookkeeping nightmare... But Xero has a quick way to record part payments!
To part-pay from within an invoice follow these instructions below; Click on the match tab to bring up outstanding invoices.
Find the invoice the payment relates to and tick the box to the left. Xero will recognise that the full amount has not been paid and the word Split will appear to the right. Click on Split and it will bring up the part payment. -
Click Split again to save and then click on reconcile. Done! You have now successfully part paid your invoice.
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271 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 |
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