EOFY preparation checklist
1. Review your financial records
As you approach year-end, your bookkeeping should be fully up to date. Check that all sales invoices for the year have been raised and all expenses have been accurately recorded.
This means reconciling bank accounts, ensuring receipts are uploaded or attached, and checking that transactions are categorised correctly. Incomplete records can destroy your profit figure and create delays when accounts are being prepared.
2. Check debtors
Outstanding invoices count as income, even if the cash has not arrived. At EOFY, this can quietly inflate profit and tax.
This is the point to assess whether outstanding debts are genuinely recoverable. If a customer has gone quiet, is in financial trouble, or has shown no progress despite follow-up, it may no longer be appropriate to treat that invoice as income.
Before 31 March, ask yourself:
- Would you still expect to collect this in six months?
- Has any recovery action actually worked?
- Is this a genuine receivable or simply optimism?
Bad debts usually need to be written off before EOFY to be deductible. Waiting until later can mean paying tax on income you never receive.
3. Ensure liabilities are fully recorded
Missed creditors are one of the most common EOFY errors and often leads to overstated profit.
Check whether all bills incurred before 31 March have been entered, including professional fees, interest or supplier invoices received late. Accurate liabilities help ensure your tax position reflects reality.
4. Clean up your fixed asset register
Fixed asset registers often contain items that no longer exist or are no longer used. Electronic devices that are obsolete or have been upgraded are a classic example.
Go through the list and check whether assets have been sold, upgraded, scrapped, or are no longer in use. Removing obsolete assets can unlock deductions and simplify depreciation in future years.
5. Treat stocktake as a financial exercise (if applicable)
For businesses holding stock, EOFY stock values directly affect taxable income. This is the time to identify obsolete, damaged, or slow-moving stock and ensure it is valued appropriately. Overstated stock is one of the fastest ways to overstate profit.
6. Confirm vehicle logbooks
If you claim vehicle expenses, EOFY is when usage assumptions are tested.
Confirm that your logbook is still valid and up to date, that business-use percentages still reflect reality, and that any changes in use are documented. Without proper records, claims are restricted to 25% regardless of actual usage. This can make a big difference to your tax return.
Reminder: a logbook should record all business and personal kilometres for at least 90 days, and can be used for up to 3 years provided there’s no significant change in the vehicle’s use.
7. Ensure GST filings are up to date
If your business is GST-registered, all GST returns covering the financial year should be submitted and aligned with your bookkeeping.
Unfiled returns, inconsistencies, or missing documentation can delay accounts preparation and trigger follow-up work.
8. Review payroll
Payroll records should be reviewed ahead of year-end. This includes checking that payroll reports are complete and employee records are accurate. You should also ensure that all payroll journals have been posted for the year.
9. Organise documents for the questions that often come up
Most EOFY delays are caused by missing or unclear documentation. Preparing these early saves time later and reduces back-and-forth during tax return preparation.
Focus on documents related to:
- Asset purchases and major repairs
- Loan and lease agreements entered during the year
- Insurance policies and renewals
- Legal or restructuring costs
If an expense is large, unusual, or new, expect it to be queried.
We recommend keeping these sorts of documents stored in an easily accessible location to avoid any scramble to find them later.
10. Review your business and tax structures
Before year-end is a good time to review whether your current business structure is still the right fit. Do you need all those entities and tax structures? Maybe you need two companies and three trusts, maybe you don’t. Maybe it might be time to move from a sole trader to a company.
Reviewing this before year-end allows all compliance to be wrapped up for the current year, with any changes starting cleanly in the new year. Changing structures at another point in the year creates additional filing and reporting obligations for every structure that existed during that period, which is why year-end is the simplest and best time to make these decisions.
11. Reflect on performance and plan ahead
Preparing to close off the financial year is also a chance to step back and assess how the business has performed. Reviewing income, costs, and cash flow patterns can highlight trends that are easy to overlook during the year.
Many business owners use this point to produce a high-level budget or forecast for the next financial year. Even a simple one can help guide decisions as the new year begins.
