How to complete your end-of-financial-year checklist

Why use an end-of-financial-year checklist?

Completing this checklist helps you provide accurate financial information to your accountant, making the preparation of your financial returns more efficient.

Your accountant will likely provide an end-of-year questionnaire, and having your Farm Focus data accurate and up to date will help answer many of the questions easily.

What to check

1. Needs Action page

• Make sure the Needs Action page is up to date.
• Ensure invoices from the completed financial year are not still sitting in Needs Action. They should be matched to the corresponding bank transaction and appear on the Completed page.
• Verify that there are no unmatched or uncoded transactions from the completed financial year.
• NOTE: If an invoice hasn't been paid (or you haven't yet paid it), it still needs to remain in the Need Action page so your accountant can include it in the closing accounts receivable and payments report.

2. Bank account balance

• Go to Balancing > Balancing page and check that your bank account balance is correct as of the last day of your financial year.
• Attach a copy of your closing bank statement to the last transaction displayed on the Balancing page.

3. Coding accuracy

• Navigate to the Completed screen > Coded lines and check for any coding mistakes.
• Update any missing information, such as kilograms of wool or tonnes of fertiliser.

4. Livestock tallies

• Ensure that livestock tallies are correct and that stock transactions (sales and purchases) are coded properly.
• Record all tallies for births, deaths and missing animals.
• Use the Livestock Reconciliation report to confirm that your Year End tallies are accurate.

What else do I need to do?

Invite your accountant

• If not already done, invite your accountant to access your Farm Focus farm business.
• This allows them to view reports, such as the Accountants Annual Report, and gather the necessary information.

5. Attach supporting documents

• Your accountant may need documentation, such as bills, dividends, bank statements, and rebate statements, to complete your financial accounts.
• Create a folder in Document Storage called EoFY Documents and attach all appropriate documents to minimise the need for follow-up requests or
• Attach these documents to the relevant transaction or invoice in Farm Focus.

Allocating transactions to the correct financial year

Adding an invoice date

• If a completed transaction does not have a matched invoice, add an invoice date to allocate it to the correct financial year:
  1. Go to Actuals > Completed.
  2. Find the transaction and select the three dots on the right-hand side.
  3. Click Add Invoice Date and enter the date.
  4. Click Apply to save.

Changing an existing invoice date

• If the invoice date is incorrect:
  1. From the Completed screen, click into the transaction and select Go to matched Invoice.
  2. Edit the invoice date within the invoice.

NOTE: The invoice date determines which financial year the transaction is allocated to. If an invoice is to be paid in the next financial year, ensure the date reflects this correctly.