By ELLEN READ
With compliance grumbles top of the list of small business owners' complaints and New Zealand having more than 7000 Acts and regulations, a book aimed at helping businesses cut red tape was never going to be small.
Launched this week, Compliance and Your Business is a weighty collaboration between
legal publisher Brookers and law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts.
It aims to save small business owners having to go to several different sources to get their answers to compliance questions.
It covers employment, health and safety, privacy, tax, property, marketing and sales, corporate governance, the environment and contracts.
Those buying the book also get access to all the information on an accompanying website: www.businesswise.co.nz.
The site has a diagnostic tool allowing business owners to assess their level of compliance risk.
More than 95 per cent of businesses in this country are SMEs, and the majority of these simply cannot afford the time and money of a tailored legal compliance programme, said Neil Story, Brookers managing director.
"The risks to these businesses of non-compliance are significant and a tool such as this book and website go a long way to meeting the needs of the sector."
The book is sponsored by the Bank of New Zealand.
Mike Skilling, the bank's general manager of business financial services, said customer feedback and research in the public sector underlined the compliance challenges facing SMEs.
"The range and complexity of legislation, along with time and costs associated with compliance, are proving a very real burden," he said.
Small businesses still face the same compliance requirements as the corporates and Robert Falvey, MinterEllisonRuddWatts partner specialising in due diligence and risk management, said this could be a huge challenge for them.
"Issues small and medium sized businesses get tangled up with are most likely to be those not core to their business. Many business managers are unaware of either the need to comply or the extent of compliance required resulting in large fines and potentially imprisonment."
