Danny Pritchard
September 10, 2026
It's always a joy to watch our clients take their businesses overseas and reach new international markets. But almost every one of them hits the same stumbling block on the way: profit starts leaking.
And it's not always obvious at first. The exchange rate your bank quietly builds in. The fee on every transfer. The card spend across three currencies that takes half a day to reconcile at month end.
None of it shows up as a line in Xero called "money we lost moving money around." It just sits inside your cost of sales, when it could be sitting in your pocket.
This is one of the most common things we see once a New Zealand business starts trading across borders. You grow into overseas markets, or you start buying from overseas suppliers, and somewhere profit goes missing.
The frustrating part is that it seems invisible. A bank's exchange rate margin doesn't arrive as an invoice. It's mixed into the number, so it never gets questioned. Multiply that across every transfer, every supplier payment, and every foreign card transaction, and the "small" cost of doing business internationally becomes a genuine dent in your margin.
If you're buying from overseas, or selling into Australia, the UK or the US, this is worth looking into properly. Because the money you're losing here is often pure profit, and that should be in your pocket.
To give our clients a better option, we've become an official Airwallex partner and teamed up with the Airwallex team here in New Zealand.
Together we're helping New Zealand businesses simplify global payments, manage multi-currency spend, and access smarter tools for cards, expenses and international growth, all in one place. Here's what that actually means for you:
Local currency accounts in the markets you trade in. Hold and collect in AUD, USD, GBP, EUR and more, so you're not converting back and forth (and paying for the privilege) every time money moves.
Exchange rates that don't punish you. Access to interbank-style FX rates instead of the margin most banks build in, on transfers large and small.
Multi-currency business cards, issued in minutes. With real-time spend tracking and limits, so foreign card spend stops being a month-end mystery.
Expenses that reconcile themselves. Airwallex plugs straight into Xero, so that half-day reconciliation job disappears, and you get your time back!
It's another way we're helping our clients operate with more confidence, flexibility and control. Less time wrangling admin, more time actually running the business.
Honestly, it depends on how much of your money crosses a border.
If you occasionally pay one overseas invoice a year, your bank is probably fine. But if you're importing stock, paying overseas contractors, running ad spend in USD, or selling into Australia, the UK or the US, the numbers usually stack up quickly. The more currencies you touch, the more a tool like Airwallex tends to pay for itself, both in saved fees and in the hours you get back!
We'll tell you if it's not worth the switch for your situation. But for most of our clients trading internationally, it is.
Here's the thing we want to be clear about: sorting out your global payments isn't an IT job or a banking job. It's a margin decision, and margins are our territory.
Plugging a profit leak in your cost of sales is exactly the kind of unglamorous, high-return work that moves the numbers without you selling anything more. It sits right alongside the rest of what we do: getting your cash flow under control and building the financial engine to scale properly rather than just getting busier.
If you're expanding into a new market, juggling multiple currencies, or paying overseas suppliers, let's have a look at what it's really costing you. Most owners are surprised by the answer.
Talk to us about your global payments and let's find out how much of your profit is currently leaking out the door, and how much of it we can get back in your pocket. Then if you’re ready for Airwallex we can help get you started.
You can also sign up for an Airwallex account here.
We’re Bring On Monday, an accounting and business advisory team for NZ small business owners (turning over $250K - $10M) who want more than just a filing service.
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If after three months we haven’t made your business life easier, we’ll donate your subscription fees to a New Zealand charity of your choice. Because we back what we do — and we believe you should feel the difference.
