Sector and AuSAE News

  • 24 Apr 2015 11:13 AM | Louise Stokes

    With just eight weeks to go until ACE 2015, now is the time to make time for your professional development.

    Putting aside time for professional development can be difficult, though when we consider the flow-on effects to our members, colleagues and stakeholders, we remember the benefits far outweigh the perceived inconvenience. After all, professional development forms strategy, has the power to focus teams, enables problem solving and supports collaborative learning.

    If you are still not convinced, take a moment to discover the key professional development sessions below that will be covered at the not-for-profit run, 2015 AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) this June 18-19.

    Then when you are ready, registration is only one click away.


    Legal & Governance

    • Maximising the effectiveness of your board
    • Understanding contracts & MOUs: know your legal risk
    • Creating a board skills matrix that works
    • The battle to turn around a failing association
    • The legal knowledge every CEO needs 

    Membership

    • Driving member engagement through needs-based segmentation
    • Mobilising volunteers: special interest groups, chapters and committees that works 
    • Choosing new membership management software
    • Increasing member engagement through webcasts and hybrid events  
    • The future of membership panel discussion

    Finance & Revenue

    • Can you handle the disruption of a partnership program?
    • Creative revenue generation: two case studies
    • The six secrets to philanthropic funding success
    • Developing strategy to engage in commercial opportunities
    • The challenges of financial sustainability for the charity sector in a low interest rate environment  

    Leadership & Management

    • How to increase workplace productivity through successful princess management
    • The game of inches in business, growth and success
    • Crafting culture: how to manage and unite a de-centralised team
    • Managing with heart: the power of ‘not-for-profit’
    • Business disruption: new possibilities and innovations

    Communications & Events

    • Rebranding your NFP: Successes and lessons learnt
    • Content marketing strategy: developing efficient and effective communications
    • The psychology of engagement marketing in a digital world
    • Steps to create a dynamic and member focused website
    • Case studies of award winning events  

    Advocacy

    • Getting a meeting with government
    • Navigating your organisation through changing and uncertain times
    • Mobilising members to solve a crisis
    • In it for the long haul - establishing and measuring an enduring advocacy program

    We hope to see you at ACE 2015 in Brisbane on June 18-19!

    Warm regards,
    Kimberley

    Kimberley Miller
    General Manager Australia
    Australasian Society of Association Executives


  • 23 Apr 2015 4:40 PM | Louise Stokes

    Tony Hsieh knows the value of knowledge sharing. The Zappos CEO could have kept his industry-changing standards for customer service, employee engagement, and corporate culture to himself, but he chose to share them — and even wrote a book on his philosophy.


    Why would Hsieh reveal his billion-dollar company’s secrets to success? Because he understands that sharing knowledge is good for business.


    Whether you’re running a multibillion-dollar retail company or a small startup, you might be tempted to hoard your exclusive knowledge or trade secret as your “competitive advantage.” But in B2B and B2C environments and even in not-for-profits, sales and growth happen on shared grounds of trust. And the best way to build that, both internally and externally, is by sharing your knowledge at every level.


    Giving away your insights benefits you and your company


    CEOs don’t earn their positions by being shy about their intelligence. Business leaders promote their ideas and demonstrate their knowledge to get ahead. But why stop sharing once you’ve reached that executive spot? Your network wants to hear what you have to say, so capitalize on that influence and organize your thoughts using resources like spreadsheets or a knowledge-management template. It’ll make you a stronger leader and help grow your company.


    Knowledge sharing strengthens your business, both internally and externally, by:


    1. Creating a sounding board. All feedback is invaluable, no matter how insightful it is. By sharing your ideas with employees, peers, and customers, you’ll hear other viewpoints and critical takes, which will challenge your thinking and make you a more informed and well-rounded leader.


    2. Empowering your employees. You want your team to be innovative and proactive, and consistently educating them can boost their motivation and set them up for success. Whether you share articles you’ve published or approach your staff directly, every interaction sets the tone for what’s important to your business. Knowledge sharing also encourages interdepartmental collaboration, eliminating unnecessary barriers to making real progress.


    3. Training your audience. How much smoother would customer interactions be if you could eliminate the most common misunderstandings or problems before you start working together? By publishing content, speaking at conferences, or just chatting on the phone, you set clients’ expectations for the relationship and instill “good habits” before there’s any room for miscommunication. The more you educate prospects on how your company operates, the more comfortable they’ll feel working with you. When you prepare them for potential challenges, they’ll become better customers in the long run.


    4. Positioning you as a thought leader. By offering up your insights and experiences, you establish authority in your industry and gain exposure for your company. This is an important aspect of your company’s marketing plan, especially as credible, valuable content becomes increasingly important in growing a successful business.


    Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is known for his innovative, customer-centric strategies and has written and publicly discussed his approach. Like Hsieh, Bezos transformed his industry by sharing what works for his company. Their wild successes and active discussions about what they do differently not only makes them respected thought leaders, but also rallies their employees around a shared vision.


    By imparting your knowledge in relatable, actionable ways, you can get both employees and potential customers to buy in to your message. Knowledge sharing excites and inspires employees to work hard for your company and makes prospects more comfortable and educated throughout the purchase process.


    Don’t hold your knowledge hostage to make your company more exclusive. Consumers want approachable, socially conscious brands, and sharing your wisdom will help you earn their trust — and dollars.


    Don Broekelmann is executive vice president at Influence & Co., a content marketing firm based in Columbia, Mo. Broekelmann works with Influence & Co.’s brand partners to develop content marketing plans to create authentic engagement with specific customer segments.


    This article first appeared on Smart Blogs.

  • 23 Apr 2015 3:07 PM | Louise Stokes

    Organisation: Ngala

    Industry: Not-for-Profit, Parenting Services

    Location: Western Australia

    Number of locations: 18 Branches

    System: 11 Offices


    Overview
    Ngala is Western Australia’s leading not-for-profit provider of early parenting services for families with children 0-6 years and it is the oldest charitable organisation in the state, with 125 years of service to the community. Ngala is in contact with approximately 40 per cent of families giving birth in Western Australia each year.

    The organisation employs more than 200 staff and divides its activities across three entities: Ngala Community Services, which is responsible for delivering a range of community support programs; Ngala Childrens Services, which operates two childcare centres; and Ngala Family Services, a health service that includes among its facilities, a hospital providing intensive parenting services as either a day stay or an overnight stay.

    “The software did the job required and we liked the range of reports on offer, so when our needs had grown and it was time to bring the payroll back in-house, the obvious choice was to stick with Meridian.” 
    Suzanne Higgins, Ngala, Chief FInancial Officer
    Challenge
    Much of Ngala’s funding is project-based and comes from State and Federal government grants. Across all three entities, the largest portion of expenditure for each program is usually the payroll.

    “Payroll is around 80 per cent of our funding. Because it is part of every program and because it accounts for such a large percentage of the budget, we need to know at any time how much it is costing us, and we need to make sure it is accurate,” Chief Financial Officer, Suzanne Higgins explains. For some years, Ngala’s payroll management has been made easier with the help of Sage MicrOpay Meridian, a comprehensive and advanced payroll system developed to meet the needs of Australian employers.

    “Years ago we outsourced payroll to a company that used Meridian,” Suzanne says. “The software did the job required and we liked the range of reports on offer, so when our needs had grown and it was time to bring the payroll back in-house, the obvious choice was to stick with Meridian. The system had the benefit of familiarity and staying with the same solution was also going to make it much easier for us to transfer historical data back into the in-house system.”

    In particular, Suzanne liked the easy access to information, the range of data and the greater control over all aspects of payroll that Meridian offered. What’s more, the price was affordable and thanks to a Lotterywest grant Ngala could afford to bring payroll back in-house.

    Another important factor that helped to confirm her decision was the ready availability of Meridian skills, especially through Sage MicrOpay’s own nationwide payroll staff recruitment service. “This was helpful because it meant we could get the payroll up and running while we looked for a Payroll Officer. But it was also good to know we had a software system where we could always get well-versed staff if we needed them. This gave us confidence,” she notes.

    Solution
    Shortly after the decision to deploy Meridian, Suzanne recruited Lorena Garcia as the Payroll Officer. Over the course of the past 18 months, Lorena has been testing the boundaries of the payroll system.

    “It’s very user friendly software, laid out in basic terms with easy to follow procedures. You can generate reports on any of the data that is entered into the system, from personnel to wages. We regularly review costing reports, leave liability reports, increment reports and pay rate changes, among other things,” Lorena says. She points out the ability to email payslips ensures staff receive the information quickly and is saving Ngala administrative time and money.

    In another time-saving measure, earlier this year Lorena began working with the Meridian add-on, Meridian Express Super. This has automated payment of many of the organisation’s superannuation co-contributions and has reduced the time required for processing super payments by an estimated four working days per quarter.

    “The support network from Meridian is also really good,” she adds. “The helpline is responsive, and there are regular seminars and workshops that are very informative and useful.” She gives the example of Meridian’s end of financial year workshops, which bring everyone up to date on system changes, legislative requirements and provide practical advice to prepare for end of year.

    Room to Grow
    Suzanne estimates that staff numbers have increased by at least 50 during the time Ngala has been using Meridian and it’s a trend that she expects will continue. “Our growth areas are in child care and community services. We hope to continue to expand our services and to employ more people. We are confident that the Meridian system will grow along with us.”

    As a not-for-profit organisation, money is always hard to come by but Suzanne doesn’t let this limit her vision. She’s hopeful that one day Ngala will get the funding to explore some of Meridian’s other add-ons, such as HR. “I would love to eventually get this. There is so much opportunity for more efficiency if we can have employee timesheets and leave requests going through the system, rather than waiting for them to send paperwork in,” she concludes.

    About Sage MicrOpay
    Sage MicrOpay is a leading supplier of HR and payroll software and services. For over 25 years, Sage MicrOpay has provided solutions for thousands of Australian organisations of all sizes in various industries.

    Our systems are fully featured, easy to learn and use, while facilitating flexible HR and payroll management. As well as being packed with productivity enabling functionality our software is designed to streamline the payroll process and ease the talent management burden.

    Our offerings include e-HR, employee/manager self service, timesheet management, executive reporting and payroll.

  • 23 Apr 2015 2:50 PM | Louise Stokes

    One day Master Classes now launched in Melbourne and Sydney. Learn how to implement CRM successfully and avoid costly mistakes!  Courses are delivered by Hart Square, the only independent, sector-exclusive, CRM consulting company in Australia. Attend these valuable events to ensure that you learn from experts and are provided with the insights and secrets the others won’t tell you. 
    Bonus offer - FREE Samsung tablet for every attendee for a limited time only!


    In an Australian first, Hart Square are offering one-day intensive training courses that will provide not-for-profit organisations with the information and tools needed to select CRM for their organisation. Titled, ‘Insider’ this series of Masterclasses will provide valuable insight, practical advice, and information to assist organisations when considering their next technology purchase.


    Through small classes, these courses will teach organisations the Hart Square methodology and include all the templates that we use with our clients and have done for many years. The focus is on quality, not quantity.


    The master classes are delivered in two parts and part one starts in Melbourne and Sydney in May and will book out fast as places are very limited, the cost of the course includes a FREE Samsung Tablet for all new attendees and twelve months access to the Hart Square members portal, which is a mine of templates, eGuides, podcasts and other exclusive information only available to Master class attendees.


    Want to learn more, please click here.

    For the event specific details, please click here.

  • 23 Apr 2015 1:35 PM | Louise Stokes

    By Olivia Rog on the Workplace Leadership Blog


    Work life balance is often understood as either an elusive ideal or a complete myth. Often associated with overworked individuals in workplaces that don’t have a culture of flexibility, work-life balance has become a modern dilemma with improved technology and the ability to remain connected 24/7. Poor work-life balance has a direct consequence on organisational performance in that it decreases employee motivation and job satisfaction, and increases their intention to leave the organisation.


    I recently attended a symposium where Professor Michelle Ryan spoke about how identity can predict perceptions of work-life balance. Ryan argues that work-life balance needs to be a key organisational focus, given the changing demographics in the workforce, technological advances, and its implications in diversity policy and practice.  Work-life balance, she argues, can impact an individual’s job satisfaction, performance, stress, commitment, and intentions to leave the organisation.


    So how do people achieve a positive work-life balance? Is it even possible?

    To understand the answers to these questions, we need to go beyond an analysis of the total hours spent at work. In her presentation Ryan outlines how having control of time, flexible work practices, and organisational demands and culture impact an individual’s perception of balance.


    One of the main influences on the perception of work-life balance is the degree to which individuals perceive they ‘fit’ in an organisation.

    ‘Fit’ is an interesting concept in the workplace, as it varies according to organisational culture, individual values, their alignment with the organisation’s mission, and the impact of co-workers and peers. A study by Morse and Lorsch highlights how organization-task fit is simultaneously linked to and interdependent from both individual motivation and effective unit performance. According to Ryan, if an individual perceives they fit in an organisation, they are more likely to perceive themselves as having a positive work-life balance. Perception of ‘fit’ in an organisation also correlates with the presence of others similar to them who are higher up the organisational ladder. A perception of similarity between an individual and their organisational leader creates a sense of belonging in employees, enabling them to feel comfortable being themselves in the workplace. An increased perception of fit may also mean sacrificing time spent outside of work is worthwhile.


    Work-life balance is therefore a subjective concept largely dependent on an individual’s perception of fit in an organisation, their values and how willing they are to sacrifice non-work time for work-related activities.

  • 23 Apr 2015 12:18 PM | Louise Stokes

    The Australian government should outsource social services to the private sector by providing tax breaks to corporations behind business ideas that help the vulnerable, leading US business scholar Mark Kramer has said. 


    The co-founder and managing director of US-based social impact advisory firm FSG said the government played a key role in galvanising companies to come up with services that would be both lucrative for the provider, and beneficial to the disadvantaged and neglected sectors of society – a concept he labelled "shared value".


    "There is a tremendous opportunity for government to play a role in several ways. First, to the extent that business can come in and address problems and meet social needs in ways that would otherwise cost the government money, there is a strong case to be made for a subsidy or tax holiday, to encourage businesses to move in this direction," Mr Kramer said during his visit to Australia for the Shared Value Forum on Tuesday, hosted by the National Australia Bank.


    "Second, government itself is a huge purchaser of services, and by building a shared value component into their requirements, they can encourage companies to move in this way.


    "It's all about measure. Business is very used to measuring financial results, and not at all used to measuring social impacts of what they do. But by beginning to require measurement about social outcomes and social impacts, you begin to change the practice of business."


    Australian state governments are starting to lean on the corporate sector for social services, with the NSW state government introducing social benefit bond trials – a new breed of financial instrument used to help fill the funding shortfall needed to provide social services. The NSW government has promised investors a return for innovative funding schemes for welfare programs aiming to reduce the number of children needing foster care and affordable housing. 


    Speaking on a panel with other business leaders, Mr Kramer said business leaders failing to see the competitive advantage in investing in projects with social value would lag. 


    "Business can't succeed in a failing society. There are immense opportunities to make money by meeting social needs that have been overlooked before or addressed only by government and non-profits. I think companies that are not exploring shared value opportunities are losing out to competitors that do ... it is raising the bar on competition."


    Fellow panellist and chief executive of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Mike Hirst – who has said publicly that banks should take seriously the concept of corporate social responsibility – said tax holidays were helpful, but the less government involvement in the private sector the better. 


    "What we've seen over time, especially in my industry since the GFC, is that the amount of regulation that has come in ... really does hold business and my industry [back] from being able to achieve the things they need to achieve. There needs to be a mature discussion around how we can better operate around things like social value," he said.


    "When you see an issue that needs a resolution the way you can go about that is through commercially driven opportunities that provide outcomes. Shared value, if we were to talk about it, is a commercially oriented, co-operatively spirited approach to doing business."


    In an incendiary 2011 Harvard Business Review article, Mr Kramer coined the term "shared value". The article, co-authored by Harvard Business School's Professor Michael Porter, led to the establishment of the Shared Value Initiative, an international hub for business leaders and stakeholders investing in economically valuable projects with social benefit. The Australian branch, called Shared Value Project, was launched at the beginning of 2014, with the National Australia Bank, Nestle Australia and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank among its partners. 


    Mr Kramer singled out the banking and insurance sectors in Australia as industries taking on projects of shared value. He said areas in Australia crying out for innovative business solutions were affordable housing and employment.


    Other figures on the panel included vice president of Business in the Community Dame Julia Cleverdon and Save the Children Australia's chief executive Paul Ronalds.


    Written by Timna Jacks, originally sourced from SMH.com.au. Please find the original article here.


  • 23 Apr 2015 10:17 AM | Louise Stokes

    The Australian Institute of Company Directors has set a target for 30 per cent of board seats to be filled by women by the end of 2018 and wants ASX 200 companies to voluntarily meet it, rather than face government mandates.


    The new target comes as business leaders urge te Abbott government to look at new policies such as tax deductible child care to encourage more women back to work, and deal with the issue of there not being a sufficient pipeline of women to head company boards and CEO roles.


    Nicola Wakefield Evans, member of Chief Executive Women and a non-executive director of Toll Holdings, Lend Lease, BUPA Australia and Macquarie said it was about time that company boards were no longer seen as a "boys club" and that the government introduced policies to increase workforce participation of women. "We need a serious discussion about available, flexible child care for women," she said. "[There's] women who work in the middle of the night who don't do traditional hours. We need to fix that problem...to help more women get back in the workforce."


    AICD chief executive John Brogden agreed that tax deductible child care was needed. In terms of diversity targets, he said the next step would be to set targets for women at the executive and middle management levels, and for more multicultural diversity in the workplace. "The next place for diversity targets is down the chain, but also for multiculturalism; our boards are quite unrepresentative of Australia as a multicultural nation," he said.


    The 30 per cent target will also apply to private companies, whose directors are part of the AICD's 35,000-strong membership, which extends beyond the top listed companies to small ASX entities, private business and not-for-profit organisations. Mr Brogden said the four-year time frame to achieve the target for ASX 200 boards may not be appropriate for smaller listed and non-listed companies, so AICD have not set a specific target date for these organisations to meet it, but that over time, they would have to. "It's companies that fly under the targets radar that haven't been as successful," he said. "I would hazard a guess, the smaller the company and the smaller the board is, the less likely they are to have diversity." "There's no doubt that the heavy lifting has to be done by companies below the [ASX] Top 50."


    Mr Brogden said the new targets were an extension of the AICD's previous diversity initiatives – including helping in the development of ASX reporting guidelines on diversity – and would help companies more quickly achieve boardroom diversity. He said there was a lot of research showing a positive link between the level of female representation on boards and improved corporate performance. "There is an undeniable case for gender diversity on boards," Mr Brogden said.


    The number of female directors on ASX 200 boards has risen from 8.3 per cent in 2009 to 20 per cent today. While women represent 30 per cent of all new appointments to ASX 200 boards, there are many companies with no women on their boards. Workplace Gender Equality Agency data shows that last year only 18.8 per cent of the ASX 200 organisations that report to the agency had set a target for their board. 


    "We believe more needs to be done to further increase that number and we are confident our new policy will help achieve that, at a faster pace," Mr Brogden said. "We believe that the director community setting its own 30 per cent target is a better approach than a mandated quota imposed by government." 


    He said the AICD would ask all boards to adopt the target and regularly report on their progress. The AICD publishes monthly statistics on the number of women on ASX 200 boards.


    This article written by Nassim Khadem originally appeared here.

  • 20 Apr 2015 1:58 PM | Louise Stokes

    Originally appeared on Collaboration for Impact blog on April 10, 2015 by Olivia Wright


    Dr Andrew Young, CEO of The Centre for Social Impact shares some thoughts on collaborative approaches.

    Two weeks ago we had the enormous privilege of announcing Burnie, Tasmania as Australia’s most promising early stage Collective Impact initiative.


    The Search – an initiative offering up to $1 million in support to an Australian community working to address society’s biggest challenges – commenced in June last year. 49 communities applied and in November eleven were shortlisted. On March their Excellencies Peter and Lady Cosgrove generously hosted the announcement of Burnie’s success at Admiralty House in Sydney.


    On behalf of CSI’s partners in The Search, I think I can say we are optimistic that all of these communities have the potential to fundamentally change how we address complex social issues in Australia.


    Why are we optimistic? After all, the concept of collaborative approaches to difficult issues is hardly new. In Australia in the 1980s and 90s we called it community development. In the late nineties and early this century we called it place-based approaches. While many examples of these approaches may have made progress for a time, on the whole they failed to revolutionise how we do things.


    Three reasons for optimism


    I have at least three reasons to be optimistic.


    My first was neatly expressed by a member of one of the communities I visited as a Search judge. I asked why they felt hopeful, given that this community has been involved in previous attempts to resolve the same issues they face today. This person was active in at least two of these previous efforts. She said: “because this time it’s different. There is more in it: More commitment. More resource. More structure. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re in it for the long haul.”


    I’ve since described this as “realistic optimism” – many of the leaders in these communities share this positivity, grounded in real understanding of the challenges.


    Second, we’re seeing governments are starting to do some unusual things.


    State Governments in all states are grappling with at least one “Collective Impact” community approach. I am hearing some really constructive questions from bureaucrats including “I am convinced that approaches like this are fundamentally important to our future. However, I can also see these approaches challenging how we think about funding, accountability and control. How can we work with five or ten approaches like this, let alone hundreds?” More importantly, I am starting to sense real commitment to working out the answers.


    And the funding tide is turning: a year ago if you’d asked me how funding for Collective Impact approaches might work, I’d have said that funding for the “backbone” of the effort would likely come from philanthropy. I would have said that if communities could even start to influence Government funding for service delivery over the mid-term (several years) that’d be amazing progress.


    I was wrong. The key funders for backbone resourcing in several communities will be Governments; for example, GoGoldfields in Victoria has received a commitment of $2.5 million from the Victorian Government. This is huge.


    The Commonwealth Government is in some different examples also exploring locally-led collaborative approaches. The Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples report was recently launched, and while the Government has yet to respond in detail the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion expressed his support for the new approach, recognising this kind of thinking is required to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage.


    My third reason for optimism may sound like a negative: we’ve run out of money. I’ve spoken previously about the implications of our ageing population and slowing growth. For the first time in decades we have no choice but to seriously consider new approaches that might – in time – deliver more social outcomes and potentially at less cost. I think Commonwealth and State Governments are recognising collaborative, community-based approaches as one idea worth genuinely testing.


    Learning opportunities


    The final eleven communities in The Search were very diverse; it’s hard to imagine a community in Australia that can’t learn from the successes and challenges of one or more of these. The shortlisted communities included large urban areas (like Logan, Qld), large regional cities (like Geelong, Vic), small cities (like Burnie) and remote communities (like Bourke in NSW and Halls Creek in WA). You can read more about the communities here.


    The eleven communities will also form a learning community; they will support and challenge each other. One of CSI’s overall goals is that learnings from these communities will support the collaborative efforts of many others.


    The broader learning has well-and-truly started. All the tools you need to begin are right here. We hope the Collaboration for Impact community of practice flourishes in years to come.


    We also hope to conduct research alongside some of these communities to develop more nuanced understandings of the keys to success of collaborative approaches for complex social issues. With thanks to the Macquarie Group Foundation, we’re also working with The Hive at Mt Druitt in Western Sydney, another collective impact approach involving the ten20 Foundation, United Way and FACS NSW.


    Challenges for funders


    I touched earlier on the challenges for governments in thinking about empowering communities in collaborative approaches in the future. These are very difficult questions; whole new frameworks for thinking about outcomes, funding, “commissioning”, risk and accountability are needed.


    There is also a significant opportunity for philanthropists, whether individuals, companies or foundations, and it’s an opportunity so far largely missed (notwithstanding the leadership of the ten20 Foundation and The Search partners including the Westpac Foundation).


    In my view, to have real and lasting impact, philanthropy needs to be catalytic; it needs to invest in ideas that can be system-changing.


    In short, I can’t think of a better opportunity than these collaborative approaches. Where else does an investment of around $2m over a few years have such potential: to not only leverage but completely transform existing annual program funding of $100m or more?


    Game-changing philanthropists: please apply.

  • 20 Apr 2015 11:57 AM | Louise Stokes

    Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says today’s announcement from Air New Zealand regarding the commencement of flights between Houston in the USA and Auckland, is a spectacular one for the industry. 

     

    “Visitor arrivals from the USA have been a stand-out performer in recent years, driven in large part by Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand’s work to capitalise on the Americans’ love of The Hobbit Trilogy,” says Kevin.

     

    “This new service will enable us to broaden New Zealand's reach into the USA and the states that already deliver our second, third and fourth largest arrival numbers namely Texas, New York and Florida. 

     

    “Residents of southern states are known to travel during their summer to avoid the heat, which aligns perfectly to Tourism New Zealand’s strategy to encourage shoulder season travel.  

     

    “By providing visitors with an alternative to LA or San Francisco gateways we know that this announcement will have a significantly positive impact on the industry.

     

    “It provides a meaningful market change that will help us to sustain the double digit growth we've been achieving.”

     

    USA holiday arrivals for the year-ending February 2015 are up 13.8 per cent while holiday spend was up 32 per cent for the year-ending December 2015. 

     

    For the past two years, Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand have delivered joint marketing activity internationally under a MOU valued at $20 million each year. 

     

    ENDS

     

    Contact Emma Carter, Senior Communications Advisor, Tourism New Zealand

    emma.carter@tnz.govt.nz; phone +64 21 243 0386


  • 20 Apr 2015 11:53 AM | Louise Stokes

    Should provisional tax estimations be scrapped in favour of working it out as you earn?  This is one of many ideas the Government is seeking your view on. At a time when you can use your cell phone to order a movie or buy a plane ticket the Government thinks that Inland Revenue can do much more to make your tax simpler. Over the next couple of years Ministers of Finance and Revenue will be looking at ways to reduce the cost of doing your tax, improve speed and make tax part of normal day to day business processes. They want your feedback on their ideas before they make changes.


    What could this mean for you? 

    One idea is that accounting software could exchange information directly with Inland Revenue, so that: 

    • more accurate GST, PAYE and related information could be provided to Inland Revenue automatically – with less time needed to fill out forms
    • provisional tax could be managed more like PAYE and calculated as you earn your income.

    How would direct information exchange with Inland Revenue affect you?

     

    Another idea is to help small businesses get their tax right from the start.

     

    Join the discussion:


    Right now the Government wants your views on these ideas, and how technology can be used to make things simpler. You’ll find more ideas on the consultation website or in the discussion documents.

     

    Go to makingtaxsimpler.ird.govt.nz to see what others are saying and make your own views heard. 

    • Discussion on Better Digital Services – closes 15 May
    • Discussion on the plan for the Tax Administration – closes 29 May


The Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE)

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