Make$:Cents is a New Zealand accounting and business advisory firm with offices in Upper Hutt (serving the Wellington region) and Masterton (serving the Wairarapa), operating under the purpose of making "accounting makes sense while adding value to your business." The firm is also fully mobile, offering to meet clients at their own premises as well as in-office.
Make$:Cents works with clients on a one-on-one basis, offering service plans ranging from Business Basics (covering compliance) to Business Buddy (more strategic planning) and Business Builder (ongoing monthly work to help a business grow). Core offerings span bookkeeping and accounting, budgeting, cashflow forecasting, payroll services, and software support across MYOB, BankLink and Xero, alongside tax services covering GST, Fringe Benefit Tax and end-of-year income tax accounting.
The firm also provides more specialist services including business start-up structuring and registration, business benchmarking against industry data, management consulting, and support with acquisitions and mergers, charitable trusts, company secretary duties, farm accounting, rental property, and trust management. The firm states that phone advice is free and doesn't attract a charge as part of its service.
For business owners in the Wellington region and the Wairarapa, Make$:Cents positions itself as a local accounting firm built around a simple purpose: making accounting make sense while adding real value to the businesses it works with. With offices in Upper Hutt and Masterton, and a fully mobile service that can come to a client's own premises, the firm aims to remove some of the friction around getting practical financial advice.
Rather than offering one-size-fits-all accounting, Make$:Cents structures its work into three service tiers. Business Basics covers the core compliance work every business needs. Business Buddy adds more strategic planning on top of the basics. Business Builder goes further still, with the Make$:Cents team working alongside a client on a monthly basis specifically to support growth. This tiered approach reflects the firm's stated focus on building a one-on-one relationship with each client so advice can be tailored to their specific business.
Day-to-day, the firm covers the fundamentals: bookkeeping and accounting, budgeting, cashflow forecasting, and payroll services, with support across accounting software including MYOB, BankLink and Xero. On the tax side, Make$:Cents manages Fringe Benefit Tax, GST, and end-of-year income tax accounting, aiming to handle tax as efficiently as possible so clients aren't paying more than they need to.
Beyond core bookkeeping and tax, Make$:Cents offers a broader set of specialist services: business acquisitions and mergers, charitable trust accounting, company secretary duties, farm accounting, IT-related business support, rental property accounting, advice on selling a business, and trust management. This breadth means the firm can support clients through more complex or occasional business events, not just routine annual compliance.
One distinct offering is the firm's Business Benchmarking Service, which compares a business's financial performance — covering measures like sales, turnover, gross profit, occupancy costs, wages, net profit, owner remuneration and staffing levels — against the median, average, and top and bottom 25% of similar firms in the same industry. Submissions are anonymous, so a business's own figures are never published, but the comparison can clearly highlight where a business differs from its peers.
For entrepreneurs starting out, the Business Startup Plans service helps decide on the right structure — sole trader, partnership, or limited company — and handles registration with the Companies Office, Inland Revenue and other regulatory bodies, working in partnership with the client through the setup process.
Testimonials on the Make$:Cents site describe a firm that keeps clients' best interests at heart. One Wellington client thanked the team for consistently providing advice when needed and praised their customer service. A Wairarapa client, running a tiling business, credited Make$:Cents with simplifying the process of setting up their business and ensuring systems were in place from the start to support growth while staying within their financial capacity.
Make$:Cents can be reached on a free phone number, 0800 866 399, or directly at either the Upper Hutt or Masterton office, and offers what it describes as an obligation-free meeting to discuss how it can help a business get started.