Bookkeeping and payroll in Dunedin
Visory provides bookkeeping services and payroll for growing Dunedin businesses. A dedicated team keeps your books current and runs every pay run remotely, inside your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, to New Zealand rules on PAYE, KiwiSaver and holiday pay, including the Otago Anniversary Day your agreements set. Delphi AI takes the repetitive parts, overseen by the team. Visory charges one flat monthly fee.
Who we work with in Otago
Otago was the only region in New Zealand with more employees at February 2025 than a year earlier, up 0.3% to 126,500, and its business locations grew 2.1% (Stats NZ business demography statistics, 2025). In Dunedin City, health care and social assistance and education and training together employ almost a third of the city’s 61,000 employees.
New Zealand rules
Seven employer rules set by New Zealand, each with the instrument that sets it and what it does to your month. Your team works to them every pay run and every close.
Employer contributions are a cost on top of wages, so each step shows up in the monthly numbers, and payroll settings have to change on the right pay date.
Employers contribute at least 3.5% of gross pay for KiwiSaver members, up from 3% for pay dates on or after 1 April 2026, and the default employee rate is 3.5%. Both rise to 4% on 1 April 2028. Employers now also contribute for members aged 16 and 17. An employee on a temporary rate reduction to 3% may be matched at 3%, at the employer’s choice.
KiwiSaver Act 2006, as amended by the Taxation (Budget Measures) Act 2025; 3.5% from 1 April 2026.Sources Inland Revenue, KiwiSaver changes Inland Revenue Tax Policy, Taxation (Budget Measures) Act 2025
Annual leave is paid at the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, so the payroll file has to hold an accurate earnings history, and the move to hours in 2028 needs planning now.
Employees are entitled to at least 4 weeks of paid annual holidays after each 12 months of continuous employment, and 10 days of sick leave a year once they have worked 6 months, with up to 20 days carried over. The Employment Leave Act 2026 received Royal assent on 6 August 2026 and replaces the Holidays Act on 6 August 2028, with leave earned in hours. Until then the Holidays Act applies.
Holidays Act 2003; Employment Leave Act 2026 in force from 6 August 2028.Sources Employment New Zealand, sick leave Employment New Zealand, taking annual holidays Employment New Zealand, Employment Leave Act 2026
Where local custom varies, the agreement is the record, and the payroll file should hold the same date so holiday pay and alternative holidays follow it.
New Zealand has 11 national public holidays and a twelfth: the anniversary of the province, as locally observed. Otago Anniversary Day marks 23 March, and Employment New Zealand lists it on Monday 23 March 2026 and Monday 22 March 2027. Because Otago has no single settled day of local observance, it says employers and employees should rely on the employment agreement or their custom and practice.
Holidays Act 2003, s 44(1)(k); 2027 date published by Employment New Zealand.Sources Employment New Zealand, public holidays and anniversary dates New Zealand Legislation, Holidays Act 2003, section 44
The earnings on your payroll become the July invoice, so a clean payroll lets the ACC invoice be checked against the books instead of taken on trust.
ACC sets each employer’s work levy from its industry classification unit and the liable earnings on its payroll. For 2026/27 the rate runs from $0.03 per $100 of earnings for accounting services to $0.99 for residential aged care, before GST. ACC invoices in July: a final levy for the year just ended and a provisional levy for the current one.
Accident Compensation Act 2001; rates from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.Sources ACC, calculating your levies ACC, understanding levies if you work or own a business ACC, Levy Guidebook 2026/27
Any pay rate near the minimum has to change from the first pay date in April, and rates set as a margin above the minimum move with it.
The adult minimum wage rose from $23.50 to $23.95 an hour on 1 April 2026. The starting-out and training minimum wage is $19.16 an hour, 80% of the adult rate.
Minimum Wage Order 2026; 1 April 2026.Sources New Zealand Legislation, Minimum Wage Order 2026 Beehive, minimum wage increase balances business and worker needs
It is worked out from their earnings and reviewed each April, so the contribution that reaches their fund is the gross amount less the right tax.
Employer superannuation contribution tax is deducted from employer KiwiSaver contributions at a rate set by the employee’s salary plus employer contributions for the previous tax year: 10.5% up to $18,720, 17.5% to $64,200, 30% to $93,720, 33% to $216,000 and 39% above.
Income Tax Act 2007; thresholds from 1 April 2025.Source Inland Revenue, employer superannuation contribution tax
Rosters, part-time patterns and alternative holidays owed all need recording in the payroll file, not in a manager’s head.
An employee who works on a public holiday that is an otherwise working day is paid at least time and a half and earns an alternative holiday. One who does not work that day is paid their relevant daily pay. Employees are entitled to a maximum of 12 public holidays a year, including their regional anniversary day.
Holidays Act 2003.Source Employment New Zealand, public holidays rights for employees
Rules last checked 8 October 2026 against the sources at the foot of this page. General information only. It does not take your circumstances into account.
Beyond Dunedin
The same team works with businesses in the cities around Dunedin. Each has its own economy; these are the details that change a month there.
Queenstown sits in Otago, but its businesses have long split between the Otago and Southland anniversary days.
Southland observes its anniversary on Easter Tuesday, which turns Easter into a five-day break.
How it works from anywhere
Yes. Visory’s head office is in Melbourne and its team works with New Zealand businesses remotely, inside your own accounting file, so nothing about the work depends on where your office is.
Your books stay in your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file. Your team works inside it, so you see the same numbers they do, whenever you look.
A dedicated team runs the work, led by a Business Performance Partner. You meet them by video call, and you always know who to ask.
Visory’s head office is in Melbourne, and its team works with New Zealand businesses remotely, from Dunedin to Queenstown and Southland. Your books and payroll stay in your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, and your team works inside it with you. Every pay run and every close is checked against the rules on this page.
Your team works 9am to 5pm Melbourne time on business days, all year round: 11am to 7pm in New Zealand for most of the year. The Visory platform is open to you around the clock.
What we run for Dunedin businesses
Bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payable, and accounts receivable, run end to end by a dedicated team with Delphi AI working under their oversight. Flat monthly fee. No hourly billing.
Every transaction coded and reconciled, month-end closed on schedule.
Explore bookkeepingPay runs prepared, checked, and paid on time, every cycle.
See how payroll runsBills captured, checked against what's already paid, and paid when you say so.
See accounts payableInvoices out on schedule, overdue accounts followed up in your name.
See accounts receivableOnce a month: what changed, what it means, and what to do next.
See how Insights worksA named partner who walks you through the numbers and the next move.
How your partner worksVisory Insights
Clean books are the start. Every month, Insights turns them into a plain-English report, and a named Business Performance Partner walks your leadership team through what they mean for the year ahead.
On our arithmetic, each half-point step adds $5,000 a year to the employer cost of a $1 million wage bill. Insights helps a leader see the 2028 step in the wage forecast before pricing and budgets are set.
ACC invoices once a year, in July, on the earnings you filed. Your Business Performance Partner helps you see the work levy accrued month by month, so the invoice lands as an expected cost, not a surprise.
Untaken annual leave is paid at the employee’s rate when it is taken, so the liability grows with every pay rise. Insights helps you see what owed leave is worth each month, ahead of the 2028 move to hours.
Looking for a virtual CFO in Dunedin? Visory has no standalone CFO offer. That work sits inside Visory Insights and your sessions with a Business Performance Partner. See Visory Insights
What customers say
“Having Visory as a flexible partner to handle our day-to-day has meant real relief for our CFO. From an economies of scale perspective, the outsourced model is cost-effective compared to bringing someone in-house, and the handoff to our external accountant for tax has been noticeably smoother than it was before.”
Common questions
Straight answers about bookkeeping and payroll for a Dunedin business, from a team that works remotely.
Visory’s head office is in Melbourne and our team works with New Zealand businesses remotely, so we support Dunedin businesses the same way, with the same service, as Australian ones. A Dunedin business gets a dedicated team you know by name, who work inside your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file and meet you by video call.
Your team works 9am to 5pm Melbourne time, all year round, on business days. In Dunedin that is 11am to 7pm for most of the year, or noon to 8pm for about a week in late September, when New Zealand daylight saving starts before Melbourne’s. Outside those hours, the Visory platform is your 24/7 access point for your financial information.
Visory charges one flat monthly fee for the scope we agree, the same way for New Zealand businesses as for Australian ones, with no hourly billing and no timesheets. The fee reflects the services you take, from bookkeeping and payroll to Insights, and the volume of work. You get the quote in writing after a discovery call.
See how pricing worksYes. Your team works inside your own file, and many New Zealand businesses run on Xero, so nothing has to move to a new system. MYOB and QuickBooks work the same way. Payroll runs in the payroll software connected to your file, and Delphi AI, overseen by your team, is there if you choose it.
Yes, since 1 April 2026 employers contribute for KiwiSaver members aged 16 and 17 as well, and the minimum employer rate rose from 3% to 3.5% of gross pay on the same date, rising to 4% on 1 April 2028. Your team keeps each member’s rate and ESCT correct in payroll.
Employees earn at least 4 weeks of annual holidays and 10 days of sick leave a year, and up to 12 public holidays, including Otago Anniversary Day on the date your agreement or custom sets. Holiday pay is worked from earnings history. The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act on 6 August 2028.
Visory has no standalone CFO offer: that work sits inside Visory Insights, which gives you monthly plain-English reporting and structured sessions with a named Business Performance Partner, which covers what many growing businesses look for when they search for a virtual CFO. For a seasonal business, that means wages read against the trading year.
See Visory InsightsGetting started
Three steps, in whatever rhythm suits you. Each one is useful on its own.
An obligation-free conversation about your goals and what you want the numbers to tell you.
Obligation-free
A senior member of the Visory team will analyse your financials and show you where your finance function can improve. It is free, and it is your own numbers.
Free · your own numbers
A clear commercial proposal for the scope we agree, on one flat monthly fee. No hourly billing. You decide whether to go ahead.
Flat monthly feeGet started
Start with a discovery call. We will listen first, then show you what your own numbers have been trying to tell you.
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