Group miffed by time-wasting figures

Business New Zealand is miffed at suggestions its members may be overestimating how long they spend dealing with red tape.

The lobby group for employers and manufacturers' associations is upset that comparisons have been made between a compliance cost survey it carried out with KPMG last year and independent research by the University of Otago.

The Otago study surveyed 25 small companies in Dunedin with annual turnovers ranging from $50,000 to $1.5 million and found they spent about an hour a week dealing with red tape. The Business NZ survey of nearly 1000 enterprises, many in the primary and manufacturing industries, concluded respondents spent more than five hours a week on compliance.

Business NZ says there is no comparability between the sample populations of each study. Attempts to match them are like comparing "apples and oranges".

In a response posted on its website, Business NZ said there were also differences in the groups surveyed and in the definition of "compliance cost".

The Otago survey might have been done during a quiet period, missing key tax filing and payment periods, or might have covered businesses that were "unaware of the full extent of their compliance obligations, resulting in their spending less time on compliance".

Otago University researchers are standing by their study.

- NZPA