Category Archives: Compliance

11/12/2009 Posted in Business and the Environment, Compliance, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand 22 Comments

Lobby Groups, Vested Interests and Short Sightedness

By Ben Kepes

(Warning – off topic, but still important) Despite statements to the opposite, New Zealand is a country that gains significant wealth from agriculture and horticulture. That we do so, such a long distance from our main markets, is in part testament to the fact that we’re blessed with significant rain

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28/11/2008 Posted in Compliance, IT, New business, New Zealand, Strategy 8 Comments

Diligent Shareholders Consider Fight

By Ben Kepes

Around the same time that Xero listed on the NZX, fellow tech company Diligent Board Books did also. Diligent is a web enabled service that provides board members with all the information they require, while still meeting all the requirements of Sarbanes Oxley in terms of record keeping and audit.

10/06/2008 Posted in Compliance, Design, IT, Strategy Leave a comment

iPhone maximum price, data plans and contracts…

By Ben Kepes

There been a lot (actually a huge amount) of talk about the iPhone 2. But the pricing and contract situation caught my eye. Firstly I have some queries about the “USD199 maximum worldwide” promise. For a start, and in New Zealand at least, it is against the law for a

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16/10/2007 Posted in Business, Compliance, Efficiency, My businesses, New business, New Zealand Leave a comment

Small business and IFRS

By Ben Kepes

The nightmare that is the new international accounting standards, IFRS, has been exempted for NZ small businesses until the government finishes its review next year. Over on the Xero blog there is a post about it and I’d concur with Hamish’s comment for small businesses to keep an eye on

03/08/2007 Posted in Business, Compliance, Governance, New Zealand, Strategy 4 Comments

Liquidators hunting for Feltex directors….

By Ben Kepes

News yesterday that the liquidators of failed carpet maker Feltex are intending to sue it’s ex-directors for over $20mill relating to their actions regarding a potential takeover that didn’t eventuate in 2005 which, if it had occurred, could have seen creditors and shareholders receive their money back. Given the recent

29/07/2007 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Compliance, Economic Development, Manufacturing, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 2 Comments

Are our heads in the sand….

By Ben Kepes

A friend (OK OK a facebook contact) sent me this link. Without being all right wing and going on and on about how ACT was sent here to save our souls (god forbid!) it does have to be said that some of the dichotomies mentioned on the page are indeed

23/07/2007 Posted in Business, Compliance, Efficiency, My businesses, New Zealand 4 Comments

If only the IRD had a customer service focus…

By Ben Kepes

I received a phone call this morning from the IRD. It seems one of the GST returns I did from the February/March 07 period (bear in mind I do GST returns for half a dozen different entities) had an issue with it. I vaguely recall a GST adjustment I made

11/07/2007 Posted in Business, Compliance, IT, SaaS, Strategy 3 Comments

Google, kings of SaaS, up the ante….

By Ben Kepes

News yesterday that Google has acquired Postini solutions. Postini provides archive, security and compliance services and dovetails nicely with Google apps. Google apps has seen a following develop since it combined Writely functionality with some of the core Google stuff. Iit is now at the point where it’s value has

24/06/2007 Posted in Business, Compliance, Economic Development, Efficiency, Governance, New business, New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

Phil O’Reilly has some answers….

By Ben Kepes

Phil’s opinion piece in the NZ Herald brings out some of the traditional answers to competitiveness building for NZ businesses given the high value of the dollar. Some of his suggestions are a little naive, however one area I agree entirely with him is where he calls for better analysis

06/05/2007 Posted in Business and the Environment, Compliance, New business, Society 2 Comments

Rod Oram on Carbon Zero…

By Ben Kepes

In today’s Sunday Star Times, Rod Oram wrote this opinion piece about what an opportunity Carbon Trading (or at least a carbon trading market) would be for New Zealand. While his rationale is sound – the fact that we are geographically isolated, need a new business idea that we can

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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