End-of-financial-year bookkeeping checklist for Australian small businesses

The 30 June scramble doesn't have to be a scramble

Most small businesses spend the back half of July reconstructing receipts they should have filed in March. The good news is that there is a predictable rhythm to Australian financial year-end, and if you treat it as a series of weeks rather than a single panic-week, it's calm. This guide walks through the rhythm.

The 12 months between 1 July and 30 June are your tax year. Everything you earn during those 12 months is taxable income; everything you legitimately spend is potentially deductible. The accounting system you use (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, even a spreadsheet) records the transactions. The receipts back them up. Your accountant takes both and prepares your tax return.

The work that has to happen before the books are "closed" is the cleanup work: making sure every transaction is recorded, every receipt is on file, and every adjustment (depreciation, opening/closing stock, accruals) is in.

Six weeks out, mid-May

Start the receipt sweep now. Open every email account, every Google Drive folder, every Dropbox, and every phone gallery. Pull any receipt or invoice that's missing from your books. The pattern most often missed is the quarterly subscription that auto-renews and only sends an email confirmation, never a paper trail. Software subscriptions in particular hide in plain sight.

If you're using TidyBooks, the inbox-scan and cloud-drive-scan features have already done this for you. You're looking for outliers: anything paid from a personal card you haven't surfaced yet, anything settled in cash, anything that came in via WhatsApp from staff in the field.

This is also the moment to talk to your accountant. Most accountants offer a free pre-EOFY meeting in May or early June. Use it. Ask them what their priorities are for your return this year, whether there are any tax-position decisions to make (e.g., timing of major purchases for instant write-off purposes), and what format they want the export in.

Three weeks out, early June

Reconcile every bank and credit-card account through to today. Unreconciled transactions older than a month are bad news; they get harder to remember the more time passes. If your accounting tool has a "find and match" feature, run it.

Now is when you decide on big-ticket purchases that benefit from being booked in this financial year. If you've been thinking about a new laptop, a vehicle, or office equipment that qualifies for the instant asset write-off, getting the invoice dated on or before 30 June matters. Talk to your accountant before pulling the trigger; the threshold and rules change year to year.

For inventory businesses, do a stocktake. The difference between opening and closing stock is a major P&L impact.

The week of 30 June

Make sure all expenses for the year are recorded. Don't let June receipts roll into July's books. If a supplier invoice is dated 28 June, it's a FY this-year expense; if their payment hasn't cleared yet, it's still a current-year expense (assuming accrual accounting).

Do a final bank reconciliation as of 30 June (or the last business day if it falls on a weekend). Lock the period in your accounting tool if you can, so subsequent transactions can't accidentally get backdated.

The first two weeks of July

Three deadlines stack up here. First, BAS for the April–June quarter is due 28 July. Second, quarterly super for the April–June quarter is due 28 July, and late super is not deductible. Third, if you employ people, STP finalisation is due 14 July.

These are non-negotiable. Set calendar reminders, give your accountant the heads-up the moment you can, and pay early if cash flow allows. The ATO charges interest on late lodgements and, in the case of super, you lose the deduction entirely.

After year-end, the lodgement window

Self-lodgers have until 31 October. Tax-agent-lodgers have a longer window via the agent's lodgement program (typically through to mid-May the following year, depending on the agent's category). Use that time.

The cleanest hand-off to an accountant is: reconciled accounting file (Xero, MYOB, or QuickBooks), full receipt archive (PDF or in the cloud, with each receipt linked to its transaction), and a depreciation schedule for any assets bought during the year. TidyBooks customers export this entire pack in a couple of clicks.

A note on common traps

Late super: not deductible. Don't be late.

Personal-card business spend: deductible if legitimately business, but only if you have the receipt and a clean record. Reimburse yourself through the books rather than absorbing it.

Home office: if you work from home, there are several methods to claim part of your home running costs. Track utility bills, rent, internet, and the area of your home you use for business. Talk to your accountant about which method gives you the best result.

Vehicle: cents-per-km method or logbook method. The logbook method is more record-intensive but typically yields a larger deduction for high-business-use vehicles.

GST: every BAS lodged through the year is a building block. Get them right; correcting later is more work than getting them right the first time.

What "ready for the accountant" actually looks like

A clean accounting hand-off is, more than anything, a complete one. Every transaction reconciled. Every receipt filed. Every adjustment journal entered. Closing stock counted. Depreciation schedule current. STP finalised. Super paid.

Your accountant has seen plenty of messy hand-offs and will charge accordingly. A clean one means they can spend their billable hours on tax-strategy questions, not on data entry. That is the real value you get from doing the prep work yourself.

EOFY checklist, step by step

1. Confirm GST and BAS lodgement status. Make sure your June BAS is reconciled and lodged. Quarterly BAS due dates fall on 28 July, 28 October, 28 February, and 28 April.
2. Capture every June receipt. Sweep all email, cloud drive, and phone-camera receipts dated on or before 30 June. Missing receipts mean missing deductions.
3. Reconcile bank accounts. Match every bank transaction to a categorised income or expense. Unreconciled items create year-end headaches.
4. Run the depreciation schedule. For any asset over the instant-asset-write-off threshold, your accountant needs the asset, purchase date, and cost. Provide a list with backup receipts.
5. Finalise STP for employees. If you employ people, lodge your final Single Touch Payroll event by 14 July. Mark the year as final in your payroll system.
6. Pay super on time. Quarterly super for the April–June quarter is due by 28 July. Late super is not deductible.
7. Provide a clean export to your accountant. Export reconciled data from your accounting tool. If you use TidyBooks, the receipts and classifications hand off to your accountant directly.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Australian financial year-end?

30 June. Australian businesses lodge their income tax return for the year that ends on 30 June (e.g., FY26 runs 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026). The lodgement deadline is generally 31 October if you self-lodge, or later if a tax agent lodges for you on the lodgement program.

Do I need a tax agent?

Not legally. But most small businesses with a turnover above $50k use one because the time saved and risk reduction is worth more than the fee. For very simple sole-trader setups under that threshold, MyTax (the ATO's free portal) is fine.

What's the difference between accrual and cash accounting for GST?

Cash accounts for income when paid and expenses when settled. Accrual accounts for them when invoiced or due. Most very small businesses elect cash; once turnover passes $10M cash basis is not available. Choose at GST registration; changing later requires ATO approval.

---

Prageeth Silva is co-founder of TidyBooks. He's spent a decade close to small-business bookkeeping in Australia and built TidyBooks because the receipt drawer was a national disgrace.