End of financial year (EOFY) can be an incredibly busy time across all industries, especially for Payroll and HR reporting teams. Pressure, stress and long hours are common occurrences in the weeks leading up to year-end transition and do take time away from focusing on business goals.
This time of year is something that all organisations need to ensure they are ready for so undue stress and extra work time is alleviated. Preparation and planning is essential in order to ensure a successful submission and to set up a strong start for the upcoming financial year. Here are some tips to make your year-end transition a smooth one.
#Refresh and Plan
The best way to prepare for your EOFY requirements is by refreshing your team on the process and being up to date with any legislative changes that need to be incorporated. Check if there is any new legislation that might impact your EOFY requirements as new legislation could impact the data you are preparing for the tax office. Ensure that you and your team remain compliant with legislative requirements.
Developing and having a preparation plan in place means the team can hit the ground running and complete all EOFY requirements before any deadlines. Your leaders and support teams across the organisation also need to know what they are required to do to support the process. For example, if your team is working extended hours, you may need to have the Helpdesk available to ensure work outside office hours is issue free. You may also need to hire extra support with temp workers to help ease the pressure on the organisation’s regular team during this time.
#Payroll Data and STP
For businesses who DO NOT report through STP yet: EOFY means going through 12 months of payroll data, so it’s crucial that errors in the processing of all this information are picked up early. Go through your payroll calendar to ensure all payments required to be reported within the current financial year are processed in time. Review data so that the payment summaries are correct and files ready to be uploaded. Having a trial run with enough time before the deadline will help you and your team identify any errors in data that you can rectify before the actual run. Payment Summaries are required to be provided to staff by 14 July.
For businesses who HAVE BEEN reporting through STP in 18/19: EOFY means an easier process all round due to your business undertaking STP reporting. As you have been lodging pay events to report on the income, super and PAYG being paid to staff throughout the year, your payroll data should be up to date. However, ensure that any payments required to be reported within the current financial year are processed in time and pay events lodged to the ATO before 30 June. There is also no need now to produce payment summaries by 14 July. Instead, an income statement will be made available to you through ATO online services via myGov and finalised by 31 July. However, as a transitional measure, you may elect to at least make Payment Summaries available to staff in addition to them accessing their online income statement.
#Fair Work Compliance
It is essential that employers stay informed and compliant with the changes that come into effect on or after 1 July. Workplace compliance can be complex and confusing however it is essential to get the right advice to avoid paying employees too little.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) reviews the National Minimum Wage and base pay rates under Awards yearly. Approved increases are to be paid to staff on award rates, on the first full pay period on or after 1 July. While there are different base rates for different job types under Awards, each of these stems from one core minimum wage which all businesses in Australia must abide by.
Also, some penalty rates will further change from 1 July in some hospitality and retail awards following the Fair Work Commission decision of 2017. If this applies to your organisation, you need to ensure you make the required changes.
#Budget and Goals Review
The new financial year is a great time to review and adjust, if necessary, your goals and strategy for the remainder of the calendar year. Monitoring and reviewing finance and performance to help you understand where you are positioned now in relationship to the bigger picture is a great alignment tool. Structured planning can make all the difference to the growth of your business. It will enable you to concentrate resources on improving profits, reducing costs and increasing returns on investment.
#Workers’ Compensation Review
As an employer, you are required to submit wages information to your workers’ compensation insurer. You will need to provide accurate information on the new financial year wages expenses. Your budget and goals review will give you an accurate projection regarding employee numbers and wage growth.