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Welcome to the final Chalkboard newsletter of 2025!
Before we officially sign off for the year, we would like to thank you, our valued schools, for your trust, support, and partnership. 2025 has brought its fair share of challenges and achievements, and it has been a privilege to work alongside you as you strive to provide the best outcomes for your students and school communities. Your dedication, resilience, and commitment to education continue to inspire us, and we’re truly grateful for the opportunity to support you throughout the year.
Please note that our office will be closed for the Christmas break from Friday, 19 December at 12.00pm, giving our team a chance to spend quality time with their families and recharge for the new year. We’ll reopen bright and early on Monday, 12 January at 8.30am, ready to start 2026 with energy and focus. If anything urgent arises during the break, Ben can be contacted on 021-915-233.
On behalf of the team at Accounting For Schools, we wish you a joyful, safe, and restful Christmas. We look forward to working with you all in 2026! |
REMINDER: 2025 ANNUAL ACCOUNTS PREPARATION |
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It’s time to begin preparing for the year-end audit process. By now, you should have received a checklist and/or questionnaires from your auditor.
We recommend working through the checklist as soon as possible. We know this is a particularly busy period with Term 4 drawing to a close, but please keep in mind that we’re available to assist if you need it. We have set up a folder in Google Drive called "Audit Information & Checklists"; and we would appreciate it if you could upload the auditor checklist, fraud risk assessment, and any additional questionnaires to this folder.
In Google Drive we also have folders for other important information that is needed for the annual accounts. To assist with your preparations, we have created a helpful checklist containing the information your school needs to provide. You can download this checklist by clicking the button below. |
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Please note: If your school requires the annual accounts before 31 March 2026, please let us know as soon as possible so our team can work this into the timetable. |
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Annualisations: A reminder to have your annualisation forms signed and submitted to Edpay before your staff leave for the year.
It is a requirement for both the Principal and the staff member to sign the annualisation forms. Considering that the deadline for Edpay is January 29th, it's unlikely your staff will be available to sign them next year.
Q1 2026 Operational Funding Dates:
We understand the Q1 2026 operational funding notices are now available in Pourato. Please can you upload this to Google Drive - 2026 Accts - MOE Grant Advices folder.
You may have also noticed that the annual adjustment for 2025 was published at the same time. This adjustment ensures that accurate entitlements have been provided, which may result in a payment, a recovery, or no adjustment, alongside the Q1 payment.
Quarter one, 2026 payments are scheduled to be in the bank accounts of schools on 5 January 2026.
Pay Equity Funding:
On 1 January 2026, your school will receive the next instalment of estimated funding for non-teaching pay equity settlements and collective agreements. This funding will be paid via Pourato under the payment type 'Non-teach support PE and CA funding'.
A letter containing information on how your funding is calculated will be available via the Secure Data Portal (SDP) on 19 December 2025. Please download this and upload it to your AFS Google Drive folder (2026 Accts - MOE grants). |
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END OF YEAR PREPARATIONS: ARE YOU ON TRACK? |
With only a few weeks remaining until the end of the year, now is the time to ensure you're on track with your year-end preparations, particularly for the upcoming payroll requirements.
A little planning now can save a lot of stress later, so it’s worth taking the time to get things in order. To make your prep a little easier, we have put together a short to-do list below to help you best prepare for the upcoming holiday season: |
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Remember that there is a payroll on 23 December (PP20), so please ensure there is enough money in the bank to cover this.
- Please note that any termination (out of cycle) payments for PP19 will be deducted on 12 December, termination payments for PP20 will be deducted on 24 December and out of cycle payments for PP20 will be deducted on 29 December.
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Be aware of any direct debit payments that will come out over the holidays, including the wages, so leave enough cash in the transactional bank account.
- Please reconcile all transactions you can prior to finishing up for the year; this may allow us to complete the GST returns and December management reports while you're still enjoying the sun.
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XERO TIP OF THE MONTH: XERO’S NEW HOMEPAGE REFRESH COMING SOON! |
Back in September, we announced that Xero was working on a refreshed navigation and homepage (formerly the Dashboard) to deliver a faster, cleaner, and more intuitive experience. With the navigation changes now live, Xero is moving to the next major update: the fully redesigned homepage.
The new homepage is being introduced organisation by organisation over the coming months and will continue through to March 2026, so you may begin to see the updated layout appearing soon. Here’s what’s new in the homepage refresh: - More meaningful insights: Xero has upgraded existing widgets and introduced new ones such as tasks, recently paid invoices, and net profit/loss - giving you important financial information at a glance.
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Customise your layout your way: You’ll be able to drag, drop, resize and reorder widgets so your homepage reflects what matters most to you. Your layout is unique to your login and won’t affect anyone else in your school.
Time to adjust: If you’re not quite ready for the new look, you can temporarily switch back to the old dashboard for up to 24 hours before Xero automatically returns you to the new layout - giving everyone the chance to ease in.
As always, if you have any questions or would like help navigating the changes, please don’t hesitate to call our team on 04 909 7729. We’re here to support you.
If you’d like to learn more about these upcoming changes, Xero has recently shared a helpful overview, which you can access by clicking the button below. |
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271 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 |
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