News

GST increase and The BankLink Service

As you know, from 1 October 2010 GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%.

We have been working with the IRD to understand what changes will be required to The BankLink Service and ensure that BankLink Practice continues to offer you the best possible solution for your GST processing.   

We will be releasing an upgrade to BankLink Practice in August containing minor enhancements to address the changes to GST. You will need to upgrade your BankLink Practice software in order to implement these changes.

We will notify you as soon as this upgrade is available and provide you with full instructions for upgrading your practice and your clients. 

BankLink and MYOB - New strategic supplier agreement

BankLink has agreed to supply bank transaction data to MYOB for a range of new products, soon to be released.  MYOB’s new products will be aimed at small businesses who want to operate their own accounting system.  The new MYOB products will feature the “Data by BankLink” logo.

“By providing BankLink data to MYOB’s new products, we are able to extend our data offering into a new market, those small businesses who want to manage their own accounting solutions,” says Richard Reese, Chief Operating Officer for BankLink, “This will not divert our attention from our main focus, the 4,000 accounting practices across Australia and New Zealand who use The BankLink Service to help small business clients who lack the time, skills or desire to operate their own accounting system. We will continue to provide our complete range of BankLink products and services, including some exciting new products due to be released later this year.”

"This is an exciting opportunity for BankLink" says Richard, "it is a significant endorsement of our technology and expertise in the secure collection and delivery of data. It is also an opportunity to extend into a new market while staying focussed on what we do best. We believe that this new supplier agreement with MYOB will provide accountants with more choice on how they can work with their small business clients"

For FAQ's on this agreement click here

 

BankLink Practice 2010 Software Release

We are delighted to announce the release of BankLink Practice 2010!

Now with over 4,000 practices using the service for over 200,000 small business clients, BankLink continues to lead the way in time saving tools for accountants. This latest version has been specifically designed to enable you to remain in control of your clients, their accounts and the way you communicate with them. Particular focus has been given to enhancing the quality and timeliness of the data and information you recieve for your clients.

What's new in BankLink Practice 2010?

You'll find new features and enhancements to existing functionality in many areas of the software, including:

Bank Account Maintenance Custom documents
Account code updating Headers and footers
GL chart migration Coding Efficiency

For a full list of what's new in BankLink Practice 2010 please click here.

Upgrading your practice software is simple and free. Once you have upgraded to BankLink Practice 2010, your BankLink Books and BankLink Notes clients will be prompted to upgrade their software next time they receive a file from you.

For further information on the upgrade process click here. Alternatively, follow the links below for a full list of upgrade instructions for each BankLink product.

If you have any queries or feedback on the latest enhancements email us at support@banklink.co.nz or call us on 0800 226 554.

BankLink helps practices achieve 34% higher Net Profit per equity partner...

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of the accounting profession. Business Fitness (2009)

n: 258 Australian practices

Every year Business Fitness produce a report called "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of the accounting profession". This report is based on results generated in the Australian market, but is equally relevant to New Zealand. The results of last year's report will be of particular interest to those Partners, Practice Managers or other staff charged with reducing costs and increasing profitability.

The report shows that over 68% of those who responded use BankLink to gather electronic copies of bank statements (with other suppliers making up only around 2%).

What's more, those practices who use The BankLink Service achieved 34% more Net Profit per equity Partner than those who did not!

We also see from 2008 results that practices using The BankLink Service continue to increase the margin between their year on year performance than those who are yet to discover the benefits of The BankLink Service.

This independent report highlights the potential growth that can be achieved through maximising the use of The BankLink Service. The opportunity to increase Net Profit by over a third represents a compelling reason to ensure that your practice is collecting as many of your clients' transactional data as possible via BankLink.


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BankLink PayablesPlus now available!

This easy to use solution for managing creditors will allow your clients more time to focus on running and building their business. In conjunction with BankLink InvoicePlus, you will be able to offer your clients a simple solution for managing debtors and creditors without the complexity of a full accounting system. BankLink PayablesPlus will also add value to your BankLink Books and BankLink Notes clients.

Find out more about our range of client tools.

A key feature of BankLink PayablesPlus is the ability to supply clients with your Chart of Accounts so they can attribute payments to specific account codes. Your client can then return this information to you in a pre-coded transaction report.

 

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New BankLink Sponsorship

For the past 12 months we have been sponsoring young Kiwi racer Mitch Evans in the Formula Ford Series, as he competes against some of the best up and coming drivers in Australasia. Mitch enjoyed a fantastic debut season in the series and is now coming home for the summer to continue his development racing in New Zealand.


From November 1 this year, we entered into a new agreement to sponsor Mitch and older brother Simon as they take on the cream of New Zealand racing in the Toyota and Porsche series’ respectively.


As sons of NZ land speed record holder and motorsport enthusiast Owen Evans, Simon and Mitch were born into a motorsport mad family and have racing in their blood.


Simon began his career in karts aged just 8 and at 15 won his first NZ championship. He is well on his way to becoming a top NZ driver and will be looking to prove it in the Porsche series between now and April.


At 15, Mitch is delivering results above and beyond his young age. Last year he became the youngest person ever to race in the Formula Ford series in Australia, the youngest to claim a podium place, and the achieved the highest ever championship finish from a debutant. In 2010, Mitch will be racing in the Toyota series as he continues to be groomed for another season in the Formula Ford Series and on to Europe in 2011.

What level of support are we providing?

BankLink recognise Simon and Mitch as two up and coming Kiwi stars and want to help them reach their full potential. Like the NZ Rowers, Simon and Mitch share values with us that will drive their success:

Both drivers are mature beyond their years and are committed to reaching the pinnacle of their field and BankLink want to support them in their efforts.

If you would like to know more about Simon or Mitch, visit their websites:

www.simonevansrace.com


www.mitchevans.com

 

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Financial Institutions Update  

Providing a wide range of accurate and reliable data is at the heart of what we do. To this end, our data team are constantly working towards providing you more sources of data, in formats that are most beneficial to you. We have made important ground in both these areas recently.

Wairarapa Building Society

We are delighted to announce that WBS are the latest data supplier to join The BankLink Service. This locally owned and operated financial services organisation has been supporting the Wairarapa region for over 130 years and we look forward to working with them to streamline the accounting process for their members.

If you have any clients with WBS accounts, get their signed Third Party Authority Forms to us as soon as possible so we can begin collecting their data.

As our list of data suppliers continues to grow, keep an eye on our Financial Institutions list to see which other clients you could benefit from having on The BankLink Service.

National Bank credit card data

This has been one of our most commonly requested data sources from clients and we are delighted that we are now able to provide it. We have already received plenty of Third Party Authority Forms from clients requesting data so don't delay getting yours completed and returned to us.

PGG Wrightson formats

Our efforts are not just focused on the main trading banks. The rural data we supply helps many of our clients offer great service to the farming community. That is why we have been working hard with PGG Wrightson to improve the quality of the format we provide. We now provide you with transaction descriptions that allow you to code clients' data more efficiently.

In the face of a recession, the time your farming clients spend doing their own books is better spent focusing on their businesses. More and more practices find that using The BankLink Service for farming clients allows them to improve the services they provide, adding value and allowing their clients more time to work in their business instead of on it.

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Congratulations Rowing New Zealand

Rowing New Zealand have been celebrating once again as the 2010 Halberg Awards recognised their most successful season ever with four major awards

Four time World Champion sculler Mahe Drysdale pipped team mate and three time lightweight champion Duncan Grant to the male athlete title, which also included the Black Cap's Daniel Vettori and All Black Richie McCaw.

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray went undefeated throughout the 2009 season en route to the World Championship title in the mens pair. They took home the Sports Team of the Year Award ahead of the All Whites and lightweight double scullers Peter Taylor and Storm Uru, who also won the World Championships on the back of an undefeated season.

Having won back to back Olympic Gold Medals in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, as well as multiple national and world titles, the mighty Evers-Swindell twins were presented with the Team of the Decade award to add to their impressive collection of trophies.

The architect of much of the success of New Zealand's rowers in the past decade, Richard Tonks, secured the Coach of the Year Award for the second time. Further acknowledgement that the quiet man from Wanganui is one of the sports all-time greatest coaches.

Having sponsored Rowing New Zealand since 2006, we have been lucky to witness all of the athletes go from strength to strength and continue to do the nation proud  with their tremendous results. It is a great privilege for BankLink to be a part of such a successful team and we look forward to continued success in 2010 for all of our World Champions and elite rowers at the Rowing World Championships at Karapiro in October this year.

Click here to view our congratulatory message to Rowing New Zealand in the NZ Herald.

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Taking over a new BankLink client?

If you are taking over new client who is already on The BankLink Service, make sure you send us a completed Third Party Authority form as soon as possible and contact BankLink Client Services, to ensure you don't end up with a break in their transactional data feed.

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