Nasi Tuan improves accounting capacity with business service support and Xero
Location is no barrier for modern business tools. With an office based on a remote Vanuatu island, Nasi Tuan is now using Xero, a world-leading business and accounting software, and other cloud-based tools to maintain a global reach with business advisory support from Barrett and Partners.
Sean Harbour, Director of Audit and Accounting for Barrett & Partners, works with Nasi Tuan and recently visited their office on the island of Tanna to help integrate their business processes into a new top of the range Xero system. In this blog, Sean gives Business Link Pacific (BLP) his insight into how Nasi Tuan is benefiting from business advisory support from Barrett and Partners and a free 12 month Xero subscription subsidized by BLP.
Nasi Tuan is a Christian based charitable association that is moving to establish itself as being self-sufficient by operating as an innovative, cooperative style community enterprise. The association supports local Tanna farmers with training and resources and buys their organically grown agricultural food. Then Nasi Tuan on-sells the organic raw goods as well as processing products under the Nasi Tuan brand. Nasi Tuan organic packaged roasted peanuts are currently available in stores and resorts around Vanuatu, and its delicious coffee is processed in Tanna and exported internationally.
The scale of Nasi Tuan’s operation and the potential for growth isn’t immediately obvious upon arrival at the main office in Middle Bush, but the reach of the association is wide both locally and internationally. The office uses sustainable solutions such as solar power and mobile internet to operate their business functions and has recently completed Xero set up and training with Barrett and Partners.
Nasi Tuan has proven itself as a highly successful community development organisation that played an important role in supporting the local population after Tropical Cyclone Pam in 2015. The capability and potential of the association is well recognised and has attracted financial support from Tearfund (NZ) and more recently the New Zealand Government. Naturally, this support comes with high expectations. Nasi Tuan must demonstrate the delivery of defined outcomes, and account for all project expenditure against detailed budgets. This is where our work with the association has been strategic in taking their project management and reporting to the next level with Xero.
Barrett and Partners has been working with the Nasi Tuan since 2017 to improve on their accounting practice through the support of Tearfund (NZ). In our most recent workshop, I was very impressed with the Nasi Tuan organisation and their people. Everyone involved participated eagerly as we redefined business processes to reduce effort, enhance reporting, and improve financial controls.
Xero was set up for Nasi Tuan with a free 12-month subscription with support from BLP as part of their work with Barrett and Partners supporting growing businesses such as Nasi Tuan to thrive. Using Xero means Nasi Tuan can now provide the detail required to professionally acquit their donor funding, as well as neatly manage their accounting of large amounts of small cash handling for multiple activities.
To a large extent, Xero is seen as the last administrative piece of the puzzle to enable Nasi Tuan’s different business areas to operate efficiently together. Xero provides an important foundation to support the organisation to continue to grow its global reach, while still delivering locally to rural Tanna farmers.
And continued growth for the association is already guaranteed. The association is extending the reach of the sale of peanut products and coffee and is already well progressed with other programs that will deliver agritourism, vanilla production, and the supply of market vegetables to distributors in Port Vila. Nasi Tuan is an organisation to watch and learn from.
Barrett and Partners is the largest chartered accounting and consulting firm in Port Vila, Vanuatu. We have a reputation for providing efficient, high-quality accounting practice, auditing, consulting, insolvency and management services to our clients, both locally and internationally. We provide business advisory support services to a range of BLP clients in Vanuatu. Sean Harbour can be contacted at Barrett and Partners via email on [email protected]
The Nasi Tuan team busy reconciling the peanut bank account in Xero in their solar powered training room.