Hawkes Bay Hockey

The situation.

Hawkes Bay Hockey is an incorporated society. Two full-time employees. A facility portfolio to manage, a growing player base, a seasonal calendar with predictable peak loads. The organisation runs on a sustainable community hockey model – meaning financial sustainability and operational continuity matter as much as the sport itself.

The structural exposure for any small not-for-profit with this profile is the same. The manager doing the books is the manager not doing community work. The institutional knowledge of how the accounts run lives inside one person. If they take leave, retire, or move on, the next person starts from cold.

Andi Cullen, Hawkes Bay Hockey's Community Manager, was doing the books. It was taking 10 to 12 hours a week. Worth noting: she was good at it. The problem was not capability, it was opportunity cost. Every hour on bank reconciliation is an hour not on the community work that the organisation exists to do.

She also flagged the continuity question explicitly. Seasonal sport means staff turnover. Outsourcing the accounting function meant the next manager would not be starting from scratch on the books.

What we changed.

Selection process surfaced a difference between providers. Where competitors quoted off a standard package, Admin Army went into the books, did the data analysis, and quoted on what the work actually was. That sequence – understand the operation, then price – is what surfaced as the differentiator.

Once engaged, the bookkeeping function moved out of Andi's seat entirely:

• Weekly Xero bank reconciliation
• Accounts payable, including batch payment preparation for authorisation
• GST processing and filing with IRD
• Manual journals as required

The structural change was not "Admin Army does the books". It was that Hawkes Bay Hockey stopped being one person's leave plan away from a bookkeeping problem.

The outcome.

Andi's 10 to 12 hours a week came back. That time now goes to the work the organisation exists to do – community, players, facilities, governance.

The accounting function runs to a predictable schedule. The accounts are accurate at period close because both sides see them. The continuity risk that comes with seasonal staff turnover is no longer attached to the books.

In Andi’s words.

"If I had to do it all now, it would take me 10–12 hours per week. I'm now free to do other stuff and better serve the organisation. I can just flick you an email and you get it, and it's done, even if I don't know how to do it."

"We have a solid assurance that the accounts are done completely. At the end of each period, the accounts are pretty accurate with both sets of eyes on it."