Unbelievable… December Is Here!

The Christmas and New Year break is fast approaching. We’re sure you are all looking forward to a much deserved break as much as our team is; spending precious time with family and friends in the sunshine while putting your feet up.

So, what have we had for 2022? Another tough year has been dealt to us. We managed through the Covid restrictions of the past with a degree of ease however, this year we have fought more interruptions than normal with sicknesses and staffing shortages putting additional pressure on the team and our workflow schedule. From our desks, there has been a lot of positivity out there and our practice continues to see positive growth from internal and external measures. Our clients continue to develop, grow and succeed even through certain industry pressures especially amongst horticulture, construction and investment to name a few as well as the ever evolving legislation changes for other industries such as rental investment clients; we think a general conclusion is that it has been a long and hard year!

So, what does the 2023 year hold for us? Well that’s a million-dollar question that no one is willing to take a gamble on. We are hearing that 2023 will create a difficult and confusing environment with uncertainty being certain! With so many predictions in the past that have not essentially gone to plan due to contradicting impacts, the question is pain now or pain later? And this is softened by creating smaller accidents now rather than a train wreck at the end? The continued increase of the OCR (to 4.25% 23 November 2022) has quickly overshadowed the extremely low rates we’ve experienced and there are predictions the OCR could peak at around 5.5% - 5.75% yet, so more pain is on the way. This has a number of impacts on businesses and households such as interest rate rises, the pricing of goods or services which affects spending, wage pressures are impacted, movements in the unemployment rate putting pressure on the escalating labour shortages and wealth or profitability becoming either squished or widened – depending on what side of the fence you sit

Firstly, we thank you for your understanding and patience while we have worked through this year, it's not yet over and with 3 months remaining of the financial year we still have a lot to achieve as well as a strategy to nail to ensure we slide into the  new financial year with ease. Lastly, we wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable break over the Christmas/New Year period. We do look forward to working together for a prosperous 2023.