From Compliance to Confidence: What Advisory Really Means for Forestry and Transport Businesses
11 August 2025
If you're running a business in forestry or transport, you already know the numbers matter - but so does the bigger picture. It’s not just about staying compliant with tax and paperwork (though that’s important). It’s about making smarter decisions with the help of someone who understands your industry, your challenges, and your goals.
At Gunson McLean, we want to help rural operators across Northland to shift from reactive accounting to proactive advisory - turning uncertainty into clarity, and pressure into progress.
Compliance vs. Advisory: What's the Difference?
Compliance is about keeping you on the right side of the law - filing GST, paying the right amount of tax, meeting deadlines, and producing financial statements.
Advisory, on the other hand, is about looking ahead. It’s where we work with you to make sense of your numbers and use them to support smarter decisions, reduce risk, and help your business grow in the right direction.
Think of it this way:
- Compliance looks backwards.
- Advisory looks forwards.
For Transport Operators: Planning for the Long Haul
Margins are tight in the transport industry. Rising fuel costs, new compliance rules, and aging gear all put pressure on cash flow.
With advisory support, we can:
- Help you decide when to replace or finance new vehicles
- Forecast your cash flow so you’re never caught short
- Build a buffer to manage fuel cost volatility
- Plan for driver shortages or operational slowdowns
Rather than reacting to problems when they hit, advisory helps you prepare in advance.
For Forestry Operators: Navigating Cycles and Complexity
The forestry cycle isn’t just seasonal - it’s multi-year. That means your financial strategy has to be just as long-term.
With advisory, we can work with our clients to:
- Map income and expenses across planting, thinning, and harvest phases
- Understand the cash flow impact of different harvest timings
- Explore carbon credit opportunities (or implications)
- Structure business and land ownership to support succession planning
We get into the detail — and help you step back to see the bigger picture.
So What Does Advisory Actually Look Like?
It’s not just a buzzword. At Gunson McLean, advisory looks like:
- Regular check-ins, not just annual meetings
- Forecasts and “what if” planning, so you can make informed decisions
- Strategic insights tailored to your industry, not generic advice
- Support with major decisions, from land purchases to asset finance
- A sounding board who understands your business (and where it’s heading)
Confidence Comes From Knowing Where You’re Going
Most rural businesses don’t need more complexity - they need clarity. That’s the goal of good advisory. It’s about helping you go from “How do I get through this year?” to “Where do I want to be in five?”
How often do you get to the end of a working day and wonder where the time went? Perhaps you never got to item 3 (or even item 1!!) on your to-do list. How can you solve this problem without working longer hours? The answer is very simple, but the art in the solution is where the gold is. The answer to free up time is to delegate more – either to existing team members, new people you recruit, or externally to outside contractors. However, if delegation were that easy, everyone would be doing it now, right? So, what is the art of delegation? We say art, because delegation is not an exact science; different approaches are needed depending on who the ‘delegate’ is. Time and effort are required to effectively pass on tasks to others. Often, the time the delegator needs to put in initially is greater than if they did the work themselves – that’s why so many people don’t delegate. The view that ‘it’s quicker for you to do it yourself’ holds you trapped and unable to be more productive and effective yourself. It also stops others from developing better ways to do things than you already know, i.e. if you teach them your way, then they can master that AND add their own value – two minds being better than one. Here are some essential principles to apply to help you to delegate (as opposed to abdicate!): Delegation Assess the task, issue to the right person and support - helps build trust and respect Be specific and crystal clear for greater communication Request they repeat back instructions, so you know you were understood, enabling higher productivity Set a time frame and request clarification that the task has been achieved, ensuring jobs are completed on time and are profitable Both parties to review - opens the door for future work Abdication Issue tasks to anyone and forget about it - shows distrust and a lack of respect Giving unclear and little information results in poor communication Don’t ask if you were understood - results in low productivity Don’t set a time frame – it can mean jobs are delayed and over budget Different expectations can result in disgruntled clients No review results in no future work Delegation is a skill to be learned; applying these principles consistently will ensure long-term success. “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit” – Andrew Carnagie Action list: Which tasks am I currently doing that I could delegate to others? What can I do with the time I free up? Who are the best people for me to delegate these to? (Make sure they want to do these as part of their career development). What is the best way to document what is expected and how it should be done? What support and review process is needed to ensure success?
Logbooks are useful records of business expenses relating to work vehicles and this is important when calculating what tax deductions you can claim. Depending on your business entity type, different tax rules apply when you use motor vehicles to earn income, and you might use a logbook to track expenses in different ways. Sole traders and partnerships can claim income tax deductions for motor vehicle expenses if the vehicle is used to help earn income for the business. If you don’t use the vehicle exclusively for business, you can’t claim 100% of vehicle expenses. You need to work out the business use of the motor vehicle to calculate what deduction you can claim. You can do this either by using a logbook to track actual costs or using a logbook over a test period to establish the average business usage. Companies are a bit different. Where company vehicles are used partly to earn income and partly for private use, vehicle costs associated with private use are liable for FBT. Companies can use logbooks to keep track of work-related costs and show either that the vehicles are work-related vehicles which don’t attract FBT where used for work purposes only, or that FBT is accounted for correctly where there is some private use of other vehicles. The logbook becomes a record of work-related use and of private use subject to FBT. Where a company restricts private use of the vehicle, a logbook is used as evidence that employees have complied with the restriction. Whatever type of business structure you have, we can advise you on keeping good records and understanding what you can claim.
Major changes to KiwiSaver were announced in Budget 2025. The KiwiSaver voluntary savings scheme is aimed at helping New Zealand workers save for retirement or buy a first house. But with the rising cost of living, action was needed to make KiwiSaver fit for purpose and more fiscally sustainable as a savings scheme. How will these changes affect your employees and your small business? Let’s take a look at the details of these KiwiSaver changes. Changes affecting your employees First off, let’s outline how the initial changes announced in Budget 2025 will affect your employees and other Kiwi workers: Since 1 July 2025: Younger workers will qualify for government contributions: People aged 16 and 17 will qualify for government contributions, so long as they meet other eligibility requirements. Prior to 1 July 2025, members must be 18 or older to qualify. Government contributions to halve: The government KiwiSaver contribution will halve, reducing the maximum government contribution from $521.43 to $260.72 each year. High earners to lose government contributions: People who earn more than $180,000 of taxable income in a year will no longer qualify for government contributions. No change to 2025 government contributions: There’ll be no change to government contributions for the year ending 30 June 2025. These will be paid in July and August at the current government contribution rate. Changes affecting your small business Next, let’s lay out the KiwiSaver changes that will directly affect your business: From 1 April 2026: Employer contributions will rise to 3.5%: From April 2026, the default KiwiSaver contribution rates for both employers and employees will rise to 3.5% – up from 3%. Employees can choose to remain contributing at 3%: Employees who are members of the KiwiSaver scheme will be able keep their contributions at the current rate. They can apply for a temporary rate reduction from 1 February 2026, if they want to continue contributing at 3% from 1 April 2026. Employers can match the rate reduction: As an employer, you’ll be able to match your employee’s temporary rate reduction. Once your employee moves to a higher contribution rate, you’ll need to increase your employer contributions to the default 3.5% rate. Inland Revenue will notify you of this change. Younger workers will qualify for KiwiSaver contributions: People aged 16 and 17 will qualify for employer contributions. If they contribute to KiwiSaver from their wages, you will need to start making employer contributions. From 1 April 2028, the default contribution rates for employers and employees will rise again to 4% (up from 3.5%). Getting ready for the KiwiSaver changes These amendments to KiwiSaver could have a significant impact for your small business. Increased employer contributions will increase your payroll costs and stretch your cashflow, as will making contributions for younger workers in the 16 to 17-year-old age bracket. You'll also need to update your payroll software and processes, to ensure you’re making the correct contributions for the right people, at the right rates.
To discuss all your account matters please call us on 09 438 1001
