End of Financial Year checklist for accountants & bookkeepers: how to prepare for the EOFY (New Zealand Edition)

Download our free EOFY Checklist (NZ Edition).

An EOFY checklist, plus tips to help you check those boxes before the EOFY sneaks up on you

The End of Financial Year is a common stressor in the accounting and bookkeeping community. It’s that time of year when the time pressure is on and you’ve got to get your clients’ financial data analysed and organised on time. 

The EOFY is quickly approaching in New Zealand - the 31st of March is just around the corner.

So how can you be more prepared and proactively organise your clients’ finances ahead of time, so that when the EOFY arrives, you’re ready? 

In this article and downloadable checklist, we’ve put together 4 EOFY tips to help you be less reactive and more proactive, while preparing for the EOFY. And it’ll hopefully help you feel less stressed too!

Download our free EOFY checklist below, to get a head start!

4 EOFY tips to get you started

1. Have a clear plan of what needs to be done & when

When preparing for the End of Financial Year chaos, the first thing you’re going to want to do is have a clear plan of what needs to be done. 

Our pre-prepared EOFY checklist, which you can download for free above, will significantly help you with getting your head in the EOFY planning mindset. 

You’ll need to start preparing for setting up workpapers in Xero, completing GST reconciliations, organising your clients’ taxes…and the list goes on. 

The most efficient and stress-free EOFY is one that is proactive. Make sure you have a clear plan.

2. Optimise modern, cloud technology

The next thing you’re going to want to do is ensure your accounting/bookkeeping tech stack is up to date. 

Gone are the days that you have to organise your clients’ finances manually via stacks and stacks of paper, or copious spreadsheets. Modern technology makes this easy for you! 

With a powerful accounting tech stack, you can organise your clients’ finances and get everything organised for the End of Financial Year ahead of time. 

We recommend using Xero and Aider together for the most complete accounting software capabilities available on the market.

Don’t waste time sifting through all of your clients’ data to discover overdue taxes and inconsistencies that will make your EOFY a chaotic nightmare. Xero and Aider can do this for you!

Xero takes care of the financial data management and Aider takes care of the data analysis and advisory. Together, they’ll help you power up your practice and avoid the EOFY chaos. 

3. Think about what else you can do to help your clients

This step helps you go that extra mile for your clients. 

It is in this step, where you should brainstorm what else you can do after you’ve completed your clients’ accounts. (Which hopefully you’ve completed ahead of time, with the help of our free EOFY checklist.)

In our downloadable EOFY checklist above, we have included a section that has a list of questions that you can ask yourself. 

Whether your client is looking for advice on growth, leading indicators, digital tools, or support in creating clear, achievable goals – it is in this step that you should figure out what your client needs help with, and be proactive with your advice. 

Once the accounts are in, and you’re feeling confident that you’ve beaten the EOFY chaos, do some research and brainstorm some ideas of how you can help your clients scale their businesses and implement tools to surpass their competitors. 

4. Don't stress! You've got this.

Our last piece of advice for you when preparing for the End Of Financial Year is to not stress!

With a background in accounting, we understand firsthand just how stressful preparing for the EOFY can be. 

That’s why we created this downloadable EOFY Checklist to help you feel more in control before the EOFY sneaks up on you.

In fact, that's why we created Aider. 

We created Aider to provide accountants & bookkeepers with an effortless software solution

Aider’s Advisory Software connects seamlessly with Xero, pulls your clients’ data, pre-analyses it for you, and presents it to you in an intuitive, proactive platform.

It provides you with a clear view of all of your clients’ finances, it streamlines compliance, it alerts you of things that require your attention, ahead of time - and so much more. 

Why? So that you can be a more proactive advisor – and feel less stressed while doing so!

Ready to take control & get prepared for the EOFY?

Start your 14 day free trial.

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