Are you guilty of these slip-ups when it comes to getting your end-of-financial-year paperwork in order?
Miscoding transactions and failing to provide enough detail with their end of financial year paperwork are the most common slip-ups made by business owners, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) member survey conducted by MYOB.
According to the survey, the top mistakes business owners make with their end of year paperwork were:
- Miscoding transactions (65 per cent)
- Not providing enough detailed or supporting information (64 per cent)
- Not keeping accounts and records up-to-date throughout the year (62 per cent)
- No contacting accountants during the financial year (42 per cent)
- Not fully trained up on accounting software functionality (39 per cent)
Accountants ranked ‘responding to requests for additional information in a timely manner’ as the most important step a business owner could take to prepare for EOFY and to help avoid the mistakes.
‘Keeping accountants advised of major transactions as they occur’ and ‘handling financial reports in on time’ were also highlighted by the accountants surveyed as the best way for businesses to navigate the overwhelming time of year.
Business owners were also surveyed and rather unsurprisingly, 56 per cent of respondents had said that getting ready for EOFY was stressful and worrisome while nearly two-thirds cited EOFY compliance as too much of a burden.
32 per cent of business owners surveyed cited the difficulty in keeping up with the legislative and compliance changes relevant to their businesses as a barrier.
