It’s that busy time of the year for business owners as the end of the financial year is nearing. Yet EOFY is also the best time for business owners to re-calibrate processes in the next 12-month period.

If you are still getting organised, here is an EOFY checklist of the documents and other things you need to prepare for bookkeeping.

  1. Reconcile your accounts

This includes bank accounts, accounts payable and receivable, assets, and leases to name a few. Reconciling your accounts prior to EOFY ensures that:

  • There are no discrepancies or systemic issues
  • You have an accurate amount of cash flow
  • Payable transactions are posted
  • Bad debts are monitored

Provide your trusted bookkeeper with all your outstanding receipts and documents for the financial year. Documents with detailed income, profit and loss, balance sheets, expenditure, or deduction claims make the word easier.

It is also the best time to chase open invoices from customers with outstanding balances. This lets you avoid or minimise bad debts.

Read: 6 Ways to Avoid Bad Debts

reconcile accounts

  1. Payroll

The lack of an efficient payroll process risks your business to government penalties and disgruntled employees. EOFY is the best time to run through your payroll, tax, outstanding leaves of employees, and superannuation obligations.

Business owners must use the Single Touch Payroll to send all information to the ATO. With the recent STP2, there are key changes when lodging information. Read our previous article to know more about these changes.

  1. Stocktake of inventory

Businesses that carry stock must complete their stocktake of inventory by 30 June. Provide your bookkeeper with the information on any adjustments to your records such as:

  • Stock quantities
  • Identified spoilage
  • Description, location, quantity, and damage to plant and equipment
  • Asset register

  1. Check Business Activity Statements

BAS is one of the first areas of concern to tick off your EOFY checklist. It is best to go through your BAS with a qualified BAS agent. Make sure that you provide them with all the required information like GST, salaries and wages, Paygo instalment, and fuel tax credits. It gives them enough time to prepare and lodge on time.

  1. Run the following reports on your accounting software

It is a good idea to invite your bookkeeper as a user if you have accounting software. They can help you set things up, consolidate files, go through bills, reconcile bank accounts, and many more.

Do not forget to run the following reports to prepare for EOFY ahead of time:

  • Aged receivables summary, to see if customers have outstanding bills
  • GST reconciliation, to ensure no sales or purchases are reported incorrectly
  • Trial balance report, to see any discrepancies in account totals
  • Establish a cash flow forecast

accounting software

Keep in mind that the trial balance report can be a complex task. It is better to let your trusted bookkeeper do the job for you.

Let Focus Bookkeeping help you with your bookkeeping needs

Call us today for a free discussion with Fabiana Silva, a registered Bookkeeper and BAS agent.

Read more about Fabiana Silva and Focus Bookkeeping.