Parish Pulse Newsletter - March 2025
- rlist7
- Mar 27
- 7 min read
It’s been a very busy start to the year. Our team has been working hard with you to finalise December annual reports, kick off 2025 accounts prep and make a start loading your budgets.
This edition of the Parish Pulse contains details on exciting changes to our accounting system. We are well underway with planning for this game-changing transformation.
Covered in this newsletter:
How’s the start of 2025 going?
We’re upgrading to Xero!
No payments in the week after Easter
What’s going on in the Investments world
Donation Receipt process for 2025
Share your success stories with us
Parish Accountant profile – Ankita Thaper
How’s the start of 2025 going?
The parish team came back from the Christmas holiday refreshed and in good shape thanks to the hard work put in with your teams prior to the break.
One of our parish accountants left us before Christmas to spend time with his new family, and we’ve just welcomed a new member to our team (Mel Wang).
We are excited to share some impressive statistics with you:
95% of draft December accounts were provided before the end of February
95% of Annual Reports were delivered by mid-March.
This marks a significant improvement over last year’s timeline. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the parish treasurers and administrators for their timely assistance in providing us the necessary information, enabling us to achieve these results.
You will be receiving February year to date accounts from us in the coming few weeks (if you haven’t already). We’re also getting ready for the timely delivery of donation receipts following 31 March (see details below).
Through this time the parish team will continue loading your budgets and working with the auditors to get the 2024 Consolidated Audit completed.
As a reminder on contact details, your first port of call for any queries should always be your parish accountant. If you can’t get hold of your them, and your matter is urgent, please reach out to the relevant Finance Team Lead:
Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki – Ankita Thaper - athaper@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 221 348, Diocese of Auckland – Priya Singh - psingh@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 714 341.
Should all these avenues fail, please reach out to the Head of Finance - Parish Accounting, Marie Nickalls (mnickalls@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 820 649).
We’re upgrading to Xero!
As a result of thorough requirements gathering, we can confirm 2025 will be the year we introduce Xero to support your accounting needs.
At Trust Management, we’re dedicated to delivering ongoing improvements, and we’re thrilled to announce that we’re upgrading our finance systems to Xero—the leading cloud-based accounting software. Here’s how this change benefits you:
Real-Time Viewing and Collaboration: Access your financial data anytime, anywhere.
Automation: Say goodbye to manual tasks! Invoicing and reporting will get a whole lot easier.
Clear and Informative Reports: Xero’s intuitive and clear financial reports help you make informed decisions for your Parish.
This will happen in two stages:
Initially, we’ll transition all accounts to the Xero platform, improving accounts payable processes, reporting, and more. There will be no changes to the accounting service levels we provide during this phase.
Once we’ve migrated all accounts to Xero, we’ll collaborate with the Diocean Managers to identify ways to enhance your access and oversight of daily transactions while maintaining the necessary centralised control for consolidation and audit.
This upgrade means better service, enhanced insight, and more time to focus on what really matters: your parish and community.
We’ll keep you updated on key dates and progress over the coming weeks and months. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us! We're here to help every step of the way.
No payments in the week after Easter
This is a preliminary notice to inform you that we will not be processing the standard weekly payment batches during the week between Easter and ANZAC Day this year.
Easter Friday falls on 18th April. All payments for that week will be issued on Thursday, 17th April.
The following week, Easter Monday is on 21st April
Trust Management offices will also be closed on Tuesday, 22nd April, as has been the practice in previous years.
ANZAC Day is on Friday, 25th April, leaving just two working days during that week.
As anticipated, many of our team members have chosen to take leave on these two working days to enjoy an extended break. We will have skeleton staff working during this period. Rest assured, there will be no impact on payrolls. Payrolls will be pre-scheduled for that week, with adjustments made to ensure payments are processed earlier if they coincide with public holidays. Similarly, all IRD payments will be processed on time.
We will have staff available to handle urgent payment requests, but please understand that with a limited team, we may need to ask additional questions to assess the urgency of such requests.
We’ll send out a reminder or two before Easter to make sure you’ve got enough time to arrange payments in the weeks before.
What’s going on in the Investments world?
We asked our investments team to provide a brief update on what they’re seeing in the market. If you’d like further information on what our investments team can do to support your parish with better returns on your funds (particularly now interest rates are trending downwards), please reach out to investments@trustmanagement.co.nz.
Year in review
2024 was a strong year for the investment portfolios managed by Trust Management. Global shares rose by 28% (50% hedged to NZD), supported by continued strength in the US economy, and the outperformance of the ‘mega-cap’ tech stocks such as Nvidia and Meta. Local shares rose 8%, supported by lower interest rates and expectation of further cuts to come. Bonds also performed well as central banks for major economies began to cut interest rates leading to gains from bond investments. Commercial property had a difficult year with valuations under some pressure from higher interest rates. The investment team have a positive view oin the outlook for property from here.
2025 has started with some ups and downs. A new AI software from China, DeepSeek, impacted sentiment towards the tech industry, while global trade worries and geopolitical uncertainties have contributed to market volatility. As we move through 2025, Trust Management remains focused on building well balanced investment portfolios that provide sustainable income and align with our clients' values.
A Visit from CCLA Investment Management
This month, Trust Management hosted Peter Hugh Smith, CEO of CCLA Investment Management (‘CCLA’), in Auckland. CCLA has very similar DNA to Trust Management, and focuses on ethical investing, and working with churches, charities, and local groups in the UK.
During his visit, Peter met with investors, advisors, and industry leaders. He also spoke at a breakfast event about ‘Faith-Consistent Investing’—a way to ensure investments reflect ethical and faith-based values.
This philosophy closely aligns with Trust Management’s approach—delivering strong financial returns while ensuring the investment portfolio’s settings reflect the values of those we serve.
To learn more about investing with Trust Management, please reach out to our team at investments@trustmanagement.co.nz.
Donation Receipt process for 2025
The end of March brings with it the end of the Tax Financial Year, and the annual delivery of Donation Receipts.
We assist with this process for most of the Auckland parishes. A recent request was sent asking you to confirm who will review the giver list prior to 31 March.
Our next steps before 31 March are:
Send giver details to your nominated reviewer to confirm giver details are accurate.
Confirm who will receive giver number and amount information following 31 March (if it is a different person to your nominated reviewer of giver details)
Confirm manner of distribution, either:
We email direct to givers (preferred); or
We post physical copies direct to givers; or
We send physical copies to you in individual envelopes for distribution; or
We send all in a pdf for you to print / email yourselves.
If you have not yet come back to us with this information, please do so as it will speed up the processing of your donation receipts.
Once we have obtained March donation information from your treasurer, we will process these as quickly as possible. From here we will send the list of 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 donation records to your nominated contact.
Share your success stories with us
We often have parishes come to us with questions about what other parishes are doing, wanting to share knowledge. We would love to hear some of your success stories – allowing us to share great ideas across the parish networks of Auckland, Waikato and Taranaki.
From how you manage your hall hire, great ideas for fundraising or managing appeals, to any fabulous local initiatives that bring your community together year after year.
Please reach out to your Parish Accountant, respective Finance Team Lead or Marie with anything you’re willing to share.
Get to know your Parish Accountants - Meet Ankita!
Beach or Snow? Snow - having grown up in the busy, warm city of Mumbai, I have always been fascinated by snow covered landscapes.
Favourite thing about your role? What I enjoy most about my role is when I get an opportunity to tackle complex problems with my innovative ideas and finding effective solutions.
What was your first job? My first job was as an Accounts professor, teaching B.Com students in India.
Favourite movie? The Devil Wears Prada. It’s both inspiring and entertaining, with its mix of ambition, personal growth, and a touch of humour.
Best holiday destination? Paris, it's been on my travel list for quite some time. There is something enchanting about its history, art, and romance that makes it so appealing.
Any fur babies or human babies? None yet, but I have a special love for fur babies. They bring so much love and warmth!
Share a quote with us: Here is a meaningful quote my dad shared with me: "No matter where you reach, do not forget your roots—that will keep you humble." It's a piece of wisdom I carry with me always.
We hope this has been helpful for you! If you have any questions or would like to have a chat, then please don't hesitate to reach out to your Parish Accountant or Marie.
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