SAP Concur launches EOFY checklist for Australian businesses

While also coming to grips with a rapidly-changing economic environment, Australian businesses need to ensure compliance does not fall by the wayside at the end of the financial year as the Australian Tax Office (ATO) clamps down on record keeping and work-related expenses.

To help organisations navigate their end of financial year (EOFY) processes, Software as a Service (SaaS) company SAP Concur has released a new EOFY checklist for Australian businesses, which aims to provide some tips and tools that businesses can use to make their EOFY process faster, smoother, and more cost effective.

"Australian businesses have done it tough over the past few years with the combined impacts of sustained business interruptions caused by COVID-19, ongoing market volatility, and floods," says SAP Concur Australia and New Zealand managing director small and medium business, Fabian Calle.

"Many organisations are doing their best just to keep the doors open and ATO compliance is a necessary factor, even though business resources may be stretched at this time.

"Increased ATO scrutiny on recordkeeping, work-related expenses, rental property income, and capital gains means the 2022 EOFY process is likely to be more time consuming and complex for most organisations compared to previous years."

The 2022 checklist contains some simple but methodical steps, as well as considerations for when businesses are reviewing recordkeeping tasks, plus guidance on how to ensure financial information complies with current tax requirements.

The checklist also provides guidance about how businesses can avoid being targets of tax time scams. 

"Unfortunately, EOFY is also like Christmas to unscrupulous actors who take advantage of business owners and their employees through highly targeted, tax-related scams," Calle adds.

"In July last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported that scammers stole more than $7.2 million by gaining access to home computers.

"With many employees now working either part-time or full-time from their home office, this creates a significant risk for Australian businesses."

In addition to helping businesses prepare for the end of the 2022 financial year, the SAP Concur checklist provides guidance about how businesses can get a fast start to the 2023 financial year. It covers topics such as reviewing the overall business position and where automation can improve efficiencies to reduce operating costs.

"Australian businesses are on the road to recovery. Businesses that can redefine processes and improve operational efficiencies through automation are likely to recover and move to growth much faster than those that continue to rely on manual processes," Calle explains.

"In the digital economy, and with federal government agencies fully adopting e-invoicing from 1 July, the start of the 2023 financial year will provide a unique opportunity for businesses to take advantage of government incentives to digitally transform.

"EOFY lets businesses reset, refresh, and improve their operations. It shouldn’t be a time of year where business owners and employees are bogged down in paperwork. Instead, EOFY should be as simple as any other report a business needs to produce and, instead, provide the focus needed to drive growth in the coming financial year. This is something that automation will increasingly deliver as cloud capabilities continue to evolve."

On Thursday, 16 June at 11am AEST, Business News Australia will be hosting a webinar sponsored by SAP Concur titled Harnessing automation and tech to lift productivity and staff satisfaction. Click here for more information.