Since bringing Paymasters on board seven years ago, it’s been smooth sailing for Lee Fish when it comes to managing the company’s payroll.
Lee Fish is a boutique fishing company based in the small coastal village of Leigh, about an hour’s drive from Auckland. Founded in 1956, it has established itself as one of New Zealand’s premier fish producers. The company employs about 30 staff and exports fresh chilled fish to Australia, the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. It also supplies fish to some high-end New Zealand restaurants.
Lee Fish began using Paymasters in 2011, following a company restructure. After some online research and discussions with trusted business advisors, Group Financial Officer Karen Butterfield says Paymasters began to stand out as the best option for payroll services. “They had a great reputation and their rates were very competitive. It just made sense for us.”
She says the transition from Lee Fish’s previous in-house payroll system to Paymasters was seamless. “The whole thing was pretty easy. We just had to provide details like names, addresses and year-to-date balances and Paymasters set everything up at their end. They even prepare all of our PAYE documentation, so all we have to do is pay it on.”
By using Paymasters, Karen knows that Lee Fish’s payroll data is secure and confidential – an important consideration in a competitive industry. She says Paymasters’ concise reporting has also been essential in delivering robust financial information to stakeholders.
“They have made our payroll allocation and leave movements so clear that they are easy to use for our accounting requirements and annual reports,” Karen says. “Paymasters has even designed specific reports for us to show leave movements. It was something that had been tricky for us in the past.”
Lee Fish began using Paymasters just before the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake but Karen says, “despite all the upsets it caused for Christchurch people, there were never any breaks in service from Paymasters”.
“They had all of their data backed up securely and gained access to their files quickly. I’m sure there must have been some pressure points in their office but we never saw them. It was a great example of business continuity.”
In the same way, Karen says the 1100 kilometre distance between the two companies has never caused any issues. “I initially didn’t know Paymasters was based in Christchurch and the distance has made no difference to our service. They’re always available via email or over the phone, so they could just as easily be down the road.”
“I’d absolutely recommend them – wherever you are in the country.”
