The End of Financial Year is an important time for all businesses. You'll need to make sure your books are up to date, complete tax returns and plan for the new financial year.
Here’s some handy tips and resources to assist you:
Before you start
Make sure you do these things before the financial period being closed:
• Fully reconcile all of your bank accounts and ensure they agree with the balances from your bank statements.
• Enter and approve all invoices, bills, and expense claims.
• Bank all payments you’ve received.
At Year End
You can do these simple year-end tasks yourself.
• Reconcile all accounts on your Balance Sheet:
o Run an Aged Receivables Summary and an Aged Payables Summary. Xero ensures the balances of your aged receivables and payables match your general ledger at all times. Let us know if you need to write off any bad debts.
o Check your GST Return and balance for the period.
o Ensure you know what makes up the balance of all accounts in your balance sheet, including loans and fixed assets.
• Run a GST Reconciliation report and review the GST Audit report for each period. Check each GST category for any coding and GST treatment that looks incorrect.
• Confirmation you've reviewed your debtors' ledger and all are still recoverable.
• Reconcile and analyse your credit cards, if not already done via your accounting software.
Do you need to do a stock take? If so, update your inventory records.
It’s good practice to keep all of your business records throughout the year, as we might need to ask you about them to clarify points. If you are using Xero, a good idea is to upload these things to your Files folder. This is more secure than sending them via email.
Items to upload include:
o Completed & Signed Client Questionnaire
o PDF bank statements or a screenshot of closing bank balances on 31 March 2024.
o Copy of loan statements
o Copies of any ACC invoices
o Invoices and/or confirmation of period of any insurance payments.
o Invoices and/or nature of any legal expenses incurred.
o Details of any transactions you were unsure of how to treat during the year, including the invoice if available.
o Details of any business funds or assets used or appropriated privately during the year.
o Notification of any new investments or borrowings.
How does the End of Financial Year Process Work with Nairn Fisher?
We will send you a Client Questionnaire to complete so you can provide us with a snapshot of the year-end. It's also a great opportunity for you to let us know if there has been any recent changes to your business.
When you have completed your year-end tasks and uploaded your documents, including your signed Client Questionnaire, let us know.
Your help in completing and uploading all necessary data is appreciated and avoids additional time and costs.
Once all the data has been received, your accounts will be assigned into the next available position with your Account Manager.
Additional Resources that might be useful:
Xero has collated a quick 10-step checklist to help you cover your bases at the end of FY24.
See all the key dates and deadlines for the financial year at a glance with this handy tax-year calendar.
*Please note that this article contains generic information only. Nairn Fisher is not responsible for any loss sustained by anyone relying on the contents of this article.