Preparing your business and personal End of Financial Year (EOFY)
Preparing your business and personal End of Financial Year (EOFY) information can often feel stressful. There are invoices, purchase orders, bank statements and receipts to sort out, reports to review, and you need to make sure you have all the necessary information about your income and expenses. It can be overwhelming, and it can make the EOFY feel intimidating.
The end of the financial year is not the time to be collect receipts and find invoices, however. It is also a time to reflect on how your past year went, what went well and what didn’t, and what you can change for next year.
Here are three pre 30th June tips so you can make the most of your end of financial year.
1. Look at your Admin
One of the most overwhelming parts of the end of the financial year is finding all the invoices, receipts and reports you need so you can properly prepare your business and personal returns. Pay attention to how easy it was—or wasn’t—to find what you needed his past year.
Did you have to search 15 different places for all your receipts? Did you have a combination of online and physical invoices? Did you have clearly labelled folders for everything? Did you leave everything for the last minute?
If you found yourself searching high and low for every piece of paper you needed, you might want to consider revising your paperwork so it’s easier and less time consuming to manage.
Can you keep track of everything through our accounting software and apps? Is there technology or equipment that can help you? Is it worth investing in a VA to manage your filing cabinet?
The effort you put now into sorting your paperwork will pay off hugely every year when you can quickly and easily find all the information you need. Let’s face it, you’ll come up against the end of the financial year every year so you may as well be systematic about it.
2. Reflecting on your year
This period prior to end of financial year is a perfect time to reflect on how this 2022/2023 year went. Celebrate your business’ big wins, but remember to focus on other victories as well. Even if you didn’t meet your financial targets, did your business survive this particularly tough year – post pandemic re-awakening, inflationary pressures, etc? Did you manage to pivot your business and try a new model? Did you take some risks and learn from them? Did you grow your business or expand your offerings?
It is great to have goals for each year and celebrate when you achieve them, but it’s also important to look at where things didn’t go according to plan and how you grew from those situations. You may need to refine your business plan if you’re not meeting your financial targets, or rethink how your business is expected to arrive at its goals in the first place.
Do this before you start planning the 2023/2024 year ahead, so you can revise your strategies going forward.
3. Planning for the future
Now that you’ve reflected on what went well and what went sideways this financial year, you can better plan for the 2023/2024 year. Research upcoming events in your business sector and schedule your marketing calendar. Plan ahead to address those slower times or to ensure you have the logistics to cope with the busy periods.
If your business didn’t meet its financial targets last year, either change how you set your goals or your strategies for achieving them.
Many businesses offer discounts at the end of the financial year. Does it make sense for you to make a purchase right now? Should you buy new equipment, technology or other goods at this time? It may actually be worth it, if you have the money to do so and you need those items.
Although the end of the financial year can feel stressful, it’s also a fantastic time to reflect on the past year and celebrate your achievements. So, once June 30th hits, make sure you can take the time to plan ahead and incorporate the lessons you learned from the past year to make the upcoming year your most successful.