Doing good for something you care about

I recently presented at a week-long series of workshops held by the Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei District Councils. The topic was “Funding and Resources” and the events were well attended by many community groups in Mangawhai, Kaikohe, Kaitaia, Dargaville and Whangarei. I was asked to attend because of my background in Not For Profit education. Presenters shared their resources, including eligibility and information about how communities can access funding, followed by the opportunity to have one on one conversations to discuss specific projects. 

On the very first day someone asked me why I was there. “Surely someone is paying for your time as accountants don’t work for nothing.” While I was taken back, I wasn’t surprised. Yet he was the one shocked by my answer. No-one was paying me to be there and I definitely didn’t let that get in the way of helping lots of other community-mind individuals that stopped by to ask for my advice.

One of our core values at PKF Kerikeri is coaching. We do this through education and informing. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction and ‘feel good’ from helping our community. Late last year I ran a free education series on how to build confidence in your Not for Profit and Charity finances. The presentation included the role of the treasurer, benefits and obligations of registered charities, changes to reporting standards and how to prepare your accounts for audit and save you money. We are currently taking expressions of interest to hold this event again.

PKF are offering 6 months free Xero for registered Charities and Not for Profit organisations to subscribe to the online accounting platform. Join before 30 June 2019 to receive 6 months free Xero. Ongoing discounts are available off the standard Xero pricing.

The majority of conversations I had over those five days were around audit services. It’s generally seen that paying for an audit is a necessary evil. It’s an expensive box ticking exercise that achieves nothing.

Contrary to popular belief, the value in an audit is not from the audit report. An auditor worth your time and money, should provide you with an additional management report or letter that provides feedback from their evaluation of your systems and highlights areas of possible weakness or where improvements can be made. For PKF audits, each weakness identified will be accompanied with practicable recommendations from our many years’ experience and tried and true examples of best practice. That’s what you should be paying for.

Our fee philosophy is simple – to make sure our clients are satisfied that there is value for money in all services we provide. We believe we achieve this through providing significantly greater partner and manager involvement than our competitors. 

All firms claim to offer value for money, but PKF’s unique mix of senior personnel, value for money rates and recognition from our clients confirm this claim. Client service is something very personal to our firm, and we are dedicated to providing an exceptional service experience and delivering on time.

If you want your audit to challenge, add value and provide recommendations, please contact Jancy Stott at PKF Kerikeri for a non-obligation quote.