May 27, 2024 • 35 mins
End-of-year financial year often equals chaos and overwhelm and as we approach that business milestone for another year here in Australia, we're sharing how to manage it without the headache.
In this episode, Justine delivers practical and actionable advice to help you navigate EOFY without the drama and set yourself up for success in the new financial year.
It's a must listen for anyone about to tackle EOFY without the headache.
This episode is brought to you by Become A Business Money Magnet - Simple habits to manage your money and supercharge your profits!
Want 30 Ways to Save Money in your Business? Download the guide here.
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Host: Justine McLean – Flossi Creative
Producer: Leah Stanistreet – Snappystre...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast, your go-tosource for business tips, tricks
and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
and profitable business.
We chat to the best minds inbusiness about their journey.
It's my business and I'll do itmy way, how they started,
rather than going harder to getmore focus on growing more with
(00:25):
what you have.
What they learned along the way.
How long are you going to givethis?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What compromises are you going to make?
Just because you can do itdoesn't mean that you should do
it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
It's really important to remember that it's a long
game and, of course, we'll askthem for their secret sauce for
creating a successful business.
If you're not failing, you'renot doing it right.
You should be struggling attimes.
That is part of the journey.
Join us as we take a sneak peekbehind the curtain, talk
solutions for those businesspain points, working smarter,
not harder, mindset and thechallenges of fitting it all in
(00:57):
with the demands of today's busylifestyle.
If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
your business journey, thispodcast is for you.
Now here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
justine McLean from FlossieCreative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
Let's dive into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to thepodcast.
(02:06):
Well, the end of financial yearit's one of those times of year
in business and probably for alot of people too who have jobs
where there are shivers headingdown your spine, maybe something
that you're not looking forwardto because it just seems really
overwhelming.
And certainly I know a lot ofpeople who feel exactly that way
about the end of financial year.
But I am all about nailing youryear end finances through just
(02:30):
a few simple hacks, and in thisepisode today, I want to share
those with you.
So end of financial year herein Australia is the 30th of June
, but this episode, you know,earmark it for the closer to the
end of your financial year.
It will be the same no matterwhat part of the world that you
are in.
So the part of the reason thatpeople dislike end of financial
(02:54):
year so much is because we'resubmitted or subjected to a
whole bunch of advertisingtelling us what we should do,
what we shouldn't do.
We're told that we need tocollect all these things so that
we've got everything in oneplace and we can get our tax
returns in really quickly andhopefully we'll get a refund.
(03:15):
But a lot of people look atthis time of year with absolute
trepidation and worry and it'salmost like they become
paralyzed about putting in theirreturn because the concern is
that maybe they have reallystuffed something up throughout
the year and that they're goingto be hit with a tax bill that
they weren't expecting, thatthey can't afford, and for that
(03:38):
reason a lot of people will puttheir head in the sand and
completely avoid anything to dowith the financial year.
And honestly, I have so manystories from accountants and
from former clients who, whenthey first came to me, would be
like oh, taxes.
Yeah, no, I haven't put thosein for a year, two years, or you
(03:58):
know.
I just got it to my accountantit's only seven months late.
So I think the first thing to dois just set that overwhelm
aside because, honestly, the endof financial year is nothing to
worry about if you areorganized and one of the best
ways to get organized as abusiness owner, in my opinion,
is to use cloud accountingsoftware.
(04:20):
So if you've got a system inplace fantastic.
Make sure that you have spokento someone who knows how to use
it and that you've got a systemin place, fantastic.
Make sure that you have spokento someone who knows how to use
it and that you've got all ofthe shortcuts and the
time-saving features absolutelynailed, that you know how to use
all of them, particularly ifyou're reconciling yourself and
if you are outsourcing yourbookkeeping and that person is
(04:43):
looking after your cloudaccounting system for you.
So that's Xero, myob, quicken,those sorts of things.
Make sure you have a chat withthem.
We're about a month out nowfrom end of financial year, so
now's a great time to have achat with them, just to make
sure that they've got it undercontrol.
The I's are dotted, the T's arecrossed.
It's all good.
(05:03):
If you are someone who's beenusing spreadsheets and that you
know for your business andkeeping tabs on your finances
that way, you might like tothink about setting up cloud
accounting software for the newfinancial year to start on 1
July, because I promise you,even though it is a business
expense, it will make your lifeso much easier.
(05:24):
I just put a client onto Xeroabout a month ago.
Now she's all set up, she'sready and raring to go and
cannot believe how much timeit's already saved her Just
those spreadsheets that she hadto sit down and fill in.
So really important to get thatsystem under control.
I think, apart from helping todeal with all of those
(05:47):
day-to-day finances, cloudaccounting systems are great for
processing payroll and dumpingbills into and, because they're
automated, they're definitelygoing to save you time.
So have a think about that.
If you have a look around,compare some of the cloud
accounting systems.
I'm a big Xero fan, but whatyou'll find, particularly,
compare some of the cloudaccounting systems.
I'm a big zero fan, but whatyou'll find, particularly as we
(06:08):
roll into the end of financialyear, everyone will have a sale
on, so take advantage of it.
The next thing to think about iswhether or not you need some
expert help, because quite oftenas business owners again, we
look at the experts on thefinancial side of business the
accountants, the bookkeepers asa bit of a luxury expense.
(06:29):
But the thing is, accountantsare people who are trained to
get you a fantastic taxdeduction.
They're probably more or morecapable of getting you that
extra few bucks in yourdeduction than you even realize.
I have seen on a few Facebookforums recently people
complaining about the cost oftheir accountant because they
(06:51):
might be getting a $900 returnand the accountants charge them
$300 or $400 and so they feellike they're kind of losing half
of it.
And look sure, maybe if theydid the return themselves they'd
be able to get just as much ofa refund.
But I don't know.
I'm a registered BAS agent.
I still get an accountant to domy return because I just like
(07:11):
the checks and the balances thatgo into that.
It means that I know I cansubmit my return with absolute
confidence that everything iscorrect, and I also know that I
am getting the best returnpossible on my business because
my accountant is on my team.
He is looking to find all ofthe deductions, but as he goes
(07:33):
through, he's also able to giveme advice on things that he
might see in my business that Ijust haven't seen.
So, for my money, definitelyworth every cent that I pay to
my accountant, and I wouldencourage you to either book a
discovery call and talk to a fewdifferent accountants, ask how
they can help your business grow, or to consider, if your
(07:56):
accountant you feel that they'renot really helping you, to
consider using a differentaccountant.
If you're doing things yourself,please just investigate what it
would be like to work with anaccountant.
If you're doing things yourself, please just investigate what
it would be like to work with anaccountant.
It doesn't mean that you haveto do that, but it's really
helpful, particularly at the endof financial year.
Of course, you need to makesure that person is on your team
.
You don't want to be workingwith someone who is going to
(08:18):
belittle you or make you feellike your business is just a
little side hustle or hobby orhopeless.
You want to work with someonewho is prepared to be on your
team, who is a registeredprofessional, and you can find
out whether they're any good ornot by asking for some
testimonials.
See what other people think ofthe accountant that you're
interviewing.
Remember, working with afinance professional or like any
(08:41):
expert, is a partnership, it'snot a dictatorship.
So you need to make sure thatyou are happy and feeling
confident about your choice.
Now the next part of thispodcast, and for the rest of it,
I'm going to cave you withsaying that I am not aware of
your personal or financialcircumstances and because I
don't know what they are, theadvice that I'm going to give
(09:04):
you from now on is just generalin nature.
If you're not sure about this,please talk to a professional
about it, whether it's youraccountant or whether you go and
seek advice directly from thetax office.
Very important to not make anydecisions unless you are 100%
sure that they are correct andwithin the law.
(09:24):
So the biggest tip I can giveyou, apart from getting
organized and having everythingin one place for the end of
financial year.
So, like I said, if it's not acloud accounting system, it's a
spreadsheet.
It's getting all of thebusiness bits and pieces
together in one place so thatit's easy to send off to an
accountant.
Or if you're choosing to dealwith yourself, so that you've
(09:47):
got everything that you need inone place.
It's really important tounderstand what you can and
cannot claim, particularly ifyou are choosing to put a return
in on your own.
There are some things that youmight think you can claim, but
the law has changed so you can'tclaim them, or maybe you can't
claim as much as you would liketo.
(10:07):
It's really important tounderstand what you can claim
and make sure that you claimeverything that you can.
So this can include things likeequipment membership fees,
subscriptions, accounting andbookkeeping fees are tax
deductions.
Your subscription to cloudaccounting software like Xero or
MYOB another tax deduction.
(10:28):
Things like insurance, bankfees, further education might be
a tax deduction.
Your wages and yourcontractor's wages,
superannuation these are allthings that could be a tax
deduction.
Now, hand in hand with this isthe fact that here in Australia,
tax rates are going to changeon the 1st of July.
That's personal tax rates, andif you're a solopreneur and
(10:51):
you're listening to this,remember everything that you
earn is essentially taxable.
So the more tax deductions youhave mean it lowers that income
that you're earning and the lesstax you have to pay.
But, as I said, on the 1st ofJuly, tax rates are going to be
reduced right across the board,and so that means that next
(11:12):
financial year you're going tobe paying less tax than you
would have paid this financialyear.
So, purely from a taxationpoint of view and you might've
heard this on the news or onsocial media, I know there's
been talk going around aboutthis but if you are going to pay
tax, if you are liable for taxthis year, and if your business
and cashflow can afford it, itmight be smart to buy things
(11:36):
that you need for your businessthis financial year rather than
next financial year, becausethis financial year you'll have
more tax that you owe, more taxthat you have to pay, and so a
bigger pool of money where youcan claim a tax deduction,
whereas next financial yearthere'll be less because of the
reduced tax rates, and so you'llhave less money that you can
(11:59):
draw back from.
People always get confused abouttax deductions.
Can I just say that you knowthey'll say things to me like
well, I just bought a brand newcomputer that was $1,000, so the
government's going to give me$1,000 back.
That's not right.
Basically, what happens with atax deduction is, first of all,
you can only get money back thatyou've paid in tax.
(12:19):
So if you're below the taxthreshold or your business is
run at a loss and you have zerotax to pay, then the government
is not giving you any money backbecause you've paid zero tax.
The only way you get money backon your taxes is if you have a
tax liability, so if you havemoney to pay.
(12:40):
So, for example, if you have$2,000 that you owe in tax, you
aren't going to get $1,000 backon your computer.
What that $1,000 is going to dois it's going to reduce your
taxable income by $1,000.
And that will reduce your taxliability by whatever percentage
(13:02):
that works out at.
It's probably only going to beabout 20 or 30%.
So that is probably all you'regoing to get back on that
computer.
So always think about that,particularly when you're
thinking, oh okay, what is itthat I can claim at the end of
financial year.
And then you hear those storiesabout how you should spend up
all this money and people go outand they go a bit crazy.
(13:23):
It's not necessarily going toget you back what you think it
will, and that's why I alwayssay that you should keep tabs on
your expenses.
So, whether they're things thatyou're choosing to buy at the
end of financial year or whetheryou're sitting down getting
prepared for the end offinancial year and so for that
reason, you're looking at all ofyour expenses.
(13:43):
Really important to take a lookand see what you're spending
your money on in your business.
And I would challenge everybodywho's listening and I say this
all the time but see if there'sone obsolete expense in your
business, something that you'vedoubled up on something that
you're paying for, that you cando for free.
Maybe you're paying suppliersand you could get a better deal
(14:04):
from them.
Perhaps if you pay up front,they'll give you a discount.
If you are paying for utilities, for example, or you've got a
phone plan, reach out to thosesuppliers and see if you can get
a deduction or a reductionsorry in that cost of doing
business.
And a word to anybody listeningwho is a retailer or who
(14:24):
carries stock this is a greattime of year to really liquidate
as much of that stock as youcan so that you can get some
extra money in.
But, more importantly, if youare someone who carries back
orders so if you are ordering inadvance and you've got back
orders that might be coming intoyour business via your
suppliers, it's definitely worthchecking in and seeing what is
(14:47):
going to land before the end offinancial year, because really
important to keep tabs on thoseexpenses at all times.
If you look at your numbers, ifyou look at your profit and
loss and you are carrying a hugeprofit and you know that you're
going to be paying a lot of taxand you want to reduce your tax
liability for this financialyear, it could be worth not just
(15:08):
buying equipment and things foryour business, but it could be
worth pre-paying some of yourexpenses, so paying things like
your rent or your utilities amonth or so ahead in June, may
or June so that you'll have lessto pay in the new financial
year and it will count as moreof a tax deduction this
financial year.
Again, that would only be ifthe cash flow could afford it
(15:30):
and if you know 100% for surethat you are going to have a
large tax bill to pay.
So again, another reason tohave a chat to your accountant.
If you have a retail business oryou carry product in your
business, now is a fantastictime to do a stock take.
I know that any retailerslistening to this will be
(15:52):
rolling their eyes because stocktakes are horrendous.
Being someone who had tworetail stores and an e-commerce
store.
I know exactly how horrendousthey are, but believe me, the
day or maybe two days that itwill take you is to take us a
couple of days to do our stocktake totally worth it, because
not only can you identify astock that you can liquidate,
(16:14):
but you will pull out brokenstock that you can claim as a
tax deduction.
You can write it offEverybody's heard about a tax
write-off so you can write itoff as a tax deduction and it
also might uncover theft.
If you have a retail store, abricks and mortar store, we used
to find thousands and thousandsof dollars worth of missing
stock and the only reason we didthat was because we did a stock
(16:36):
take and we were able to reducethe amount of money sitting in
our cost of goods sold poolbecause that stock was no longer
available for us to sell.
So again, another opportunityto find a good tax deduction.
If you need some money for theend of financial year, you might
like to chase up those peoplewho aren't paying you.
(16:58):
Of course, if you don't needmoney for the end of financial
year because you've already gota big tax liability that you
know you have to pay, you mighthold off on sending out some
invoices until the new financialyear.
So really have a look at whereyou sit in terms of how much
money you might owe and thendecide whether or not you're
(17:20):
going to be chasing up slowpayers, whether or not you're
going to be sending bills out orwhether you're going to be in a
holding pattern until you getto the new financial year.
The other thing to do to makelife easy for your accountant
and to make your end offinancial year life easy is to
set up an asset register so youcan set this up at any time as
(17:43):
you go through your businessyear, and a good time to do that
is when you buy something newfor your business, so a new
computer, a new printer, forexample, telephone, whatever it
happens to be furniture, any newequipment in your business.
That is a big, a large cost toyour business.
So I'd say anything that's overa thousand dollars.
As the rule of thumb, justcreate a simple spreadsheet and
(18:06):
set up an asset register soyou'll need to put down what the
item is, how much it cost, thedate of purchase.
If you have a cloud accountingsystem some of them, xero does
this, for example you canactually set up an asset
register inside of Xero and youcan attach things like the
invoice so that if you ever hadany issues warranty issues
(18:28):
you've got all the informationright there at your fingertips.
So definitely worth doing thatbecause if you can hand your
accountant an asset registeragain, they know exactly what
they can depreciate for you andit's another tax deduction.
So my big tip for you is to payyour super before the end of the
(18:48):
financial year and it's best tohave that money leave your
account before the middle ofJune if you're here in Australia
.
Why?
Because for some reason I stillcan't understand or explain at
the end of the financial year ittakes the super houses a very
long time to process the superthrough.
So if you want your taxdeduction, your super annuation
(19:11):
tax deduction, to count by theend of financial year whether
you're paying super through apayroll or whether you're
choosing to top up your personalsuper get that done by the 15th
of June.
It's only going to count as atax deduction if it reaches your
fund before the 30th of June.
So most clearing houses superclearing houses have cutoff
(19:34):
dates, but I think that themiddle of June is a great rule
of thumb If you've got someextra money and you are feeling
generous, make a donation.
There are so many needy anddeserving organizations around
right now that need our help, soit's definitely worth doing
that.
And, again, it's a taxdeduction if you are sending
(19:56):
money to a registered charity.
So they're all my tips for sortof getting organized and being
really prepared for the end offinancial year.
I want to mention, though, a fewbits of housekeeping.
So, as you're approaching the30th of June, or once you hit
the 30th of June keeping in mindthat, for people who are really
(20:17):
well-organized, a lot of peoplewill send off their financial
statements and have all theirbusiness updated, reconciled
rearing to go ready and rearingto go in that first week in the
new financial year.
And even if you're doing yourtax yourself, a lot of people
are really tempted to submittheir tax as fast as possible
because they obviously want thetax deduction.
However, it can take up tothree weeks after the end of
(20:40):
financial year, sometimes alittle bit longer, for your
information to hit the taxoffice.
So think about things like ifyou're working for someone else,
your payment summaryinformation is not due until the
middle of July to the ATO, soit can take additional time
(21:00):
after that for the ATO, the taxoffice here in Australia, to
have the information they needto be able to sign off on your
refund, basically to be able tocompare what your employer is
saying with your return you'veput in and say yep, that's right
, we're going to grant thatrefund, for example.
Also, things like interest frombanks, share information,
(21:23):
superannuation information it'sall very automated now.
There is definitely that giveand take and sharing of
information between the taxoffice and a whole lot of
agencies around shareorganizations, superannuation
houses, et cetera and it takestime for that information to
reach the tax office.
(21:44):
So a lot of accountants willactually take July off because
they know that when they getback in August, it's all systems
go.
All the information technicallyshould have reached the tax
office and they can startprocessing returns and actually
get those returns through,processed and back to their
clients within just a few weeks.
So keep that in mind in yourrush to get things finalized.
(22:07):
You probably don't need to putas much pressure on yourself as
you think.
The things to do, though, is,once you hit the 30th of June,
it's really helpful for youraccountant and also for yourself
, if you're doing your returnyourself to grab a copy of your
bank statements so that itclearly shows what was in your
account on the 30th of June.
(22:27):
Put those to one side, ready tosend off to your accountant.
If you are running a payroll,you need to get that sorted out
and have your single touchpayroll information to the tax
office by the middle of July.
That's really important, notjust for your business but for
all of those people who work foryou that you have put through
(22:49):
your payroll, because theyobviously want to get their
returns.
So if you are slow with yourinformation going out and
remember that includes thingslike the tax that you've
collected on their behalf, thesuperannuation you have
collected on their behalf thenit's going to slow down them
getting back their refunds andI'm sure there are lots of
people who will be lookingforward to refunds in the second
(23:12):
half of the year just so theycan give their bank accounts a
bit of a boost In terms ofsuperannuation.
Here in Australiasuperannuation will increase by
half a percent come 1 July.
So we'll not just have taxdeductions but we will have an
increase of half a percent onthe 1st of July.
So SIPP goes up to 11 and ahalf percent and if you are
(23:34):
running your payroll through aregistered product like MYOB,
xero, for example, or some ofthe payroll products that are
around and you need to.
By the way, if you're employingstaff and you are locked into
single touch payroll, then thesewill just update automatically
for you, so you don't you won'tneed to worry about those.
(23:55):
I think, another thing to reallylook at as we get to the end of
a financial year and again it'sworth a conversation with your
accountant about what yourbusiness might look like in the
year ahead.
And this is a conversation youmight not be able to have until
your current year's taxes areprocessed.
It just depends on therelationship you have with your
(24:18):
accountant and how familiar theyare with your business.
But it's worth noting that yourcompliance obligations might
change at the end of thefinancial year.
So, for example, if you aresomeone who has been earning
under $75,000 here in Australia,but in this last financial year
you have turned over or earnedover $75,000, you will have to
(24:41):
register for GST and you'll have21 days to do that from the
time you hit that 75K mark.
So if you're unsure what youare liable for going into the
new financial year, definitelyworth having a chat to your
accountant.
There are so many differenttaxes that you need to pay here
(25:01):
in Australia if you are runninga business and if you are
employing staff, so it's reallyup to you to understand what
they are, when they are due andhow much on average, you're
going to need to put aside tocover off those commitments.
And when you know thatinformation, you can plan ahead,
you can put those dates in yourdiary and you can make sure
(25:23):
that as you go forward, you'resaving as you go to pay those
taxes, because there is nothingworse than being in tax debt.
I promise you, I have beenthere and it's not nice.
Last things that you will needto do if you are employing staff
in your business or you have acompany and you are paying
workers comp is to not onlyreview that insurance and review
(25:47):
all of your insurances, by theway, particularly if they're due
at the end of the financialyear but if you are paying
workers comp, then you need tosend off an actual workers comp
declaration because you mighthave underpaid your insurance,
your workers comp insurance, youmight have overpaid your
workers comp insurance.
So when you send the actualsoff to the workers comp
(26:08):
organization, what will happenis they will work out whether
you owe the actuals off to theworkers' comp organisation.
What will happen is they willwork out whether you owe them
money or whether you are due arefund.
Now they won't chase you forthis.
They are notorious for notgiving refunds unless you put
your hand up and ask for one.
So really important to declarethose wages.
But, more importantly, keep aneye out for the new information
(26:30):
around your workers comp,because it can often end up in
junk and get absolutely lost.
So the last thing I want to talkabout is once you're through
the end of financial year andeven prior to the end of
financial year, when you're inthe flow, it's definitely worth
setting aside a day, half a day,if you can do it quickly, but I
(26:51):
always like to set aside a daywhere I do some serious business
planning for the year ahead ona financial level.
So not only am I looking at mybusiness as a whole, deciding
what stays, what goes, whatoffers I continue with, what
offers I'm going to close downor change, in that I'm looking
at my pricing and my expensesand all those sorts of things,
(27:12):
but in conjunction with that, Ilook at a budget for the new
financial year.
So I have an idea of what Iwant to earn, what I'm happy to
spend, and with that in mind, Icreate a brand new cash flow
forecast.
And so doing that just gives methe peace of mind that I'm
always going to know what I haveto pay and when.
And I'm doing that with the newvision for my business and for
(27:35):
what's ahead for me in the yearyou know at the top of my mind.
So think about.
You know, as you're doing this,not just what's working and
what isn't in your currentbusiness, but some of those
opportunities that you knowmight be coming up in the year
ahead that you can really takeadvantage of.
And that plan then becomes thejumping off point for your
(27:57):
marketing and everything elsethat you're going to do in your
business as you move forward.
So really important to take thespace, take the time and to do
that work.
Another good thing to do whileyou're doing that is some tax
planning.
So, particularly if yourbusiness has done really well
maybe it's not done so well, buttax planning is always a great
(28:18):
idea.
It helps you to think aboutyour financial goals, which I
always love.
I love adding a financial goal.
So you know, by that I meanfinancial goals could be just
getting better organized on yourfinance, really taking time to
understanding, you know,understanding your finances, or
making that commitment.
It could be about hitting arevenue target.
It could be about launching aproduct like a book or a course,
(28:41):
for example.
There's lots of differentfinancial goals that you can put
in place.
But when you do that inconjunction with some tax
planning and you might need torope your accountant in for that
once you know what your goalsare for the financial year, the
new financial year that's ahead,it really helps you set the
course for success, in myopinion.
So definitely worth doing thosecouple of things.
(29:03):
And, of course, you know, end offinancial year, new financial
year always a good time toreview your prices, I think you
know.
It's also a good time to thinkabout the profit number.
What profit do you want to earn?
But pricing is a big thing,especially now I've discussed it
in my last couple of podcastsabout when times are a bit tough
and we're not getting the leadswe want.
(29:24):
The temptation is to cut prices, to discount, but sometimes,
rather than doing that,reviewing an offer and coming up
with a new offer that has lessstuff in it, that is going to
take you less time to deliverand you can deliver at a more
reasonable price, is a great wayto help you still make the
(29:46):
money you need to make for everyhour of your work.
That's going to cover all ofyour costs, because the last
thing you want to be doing isdiscounting a product, that is,
you know that is going to takeyou a lot of time to deliver.
And then you get to the end ofthat and you think, well, okay,
I've worked.
Instead of working for $70 anhour, I've worked for $35 and I
(30:06):
haven't covered the cost of mybusiness and so on.
So always think about thatbefore you discount.
But end of financial year greattime to really take a deep dive
in and have a look at that.
The other thing that I'd reallysuggest that you do is to have a
look at your rainy day account,because I know for a number of
business owners, they have hadno choice but to dip into their
(30:26):
rainy day account over the lastfew months, and that is
completely understandable.
That is exactly what the rainyday account is there for, but
it's then worth making somedecisions about what that
account is going to look like asyou move forward.
So what is it you can do toboost that rainy day account, to
get it back up to where youwant it to be, so reimbursing
(30:49):
some of those savings that youmight've taken out.
Or, if you don't have a rainyday account, maybe starting one,
and so a good way to do that is, if you get a tax return, you
can pop it into your rainy dayaccount a great way to start
your rainy day account.
Or you might just take apercentage of everything you
earn and choose to pop that intothe rainy day account as well.
(31:10):
So definitely think about thatrainy day savings account
Starting small.
You'll be surprised how fastyou can grow that account.
I've said this before, but whenI started my rainy day account,
I was in a $42,000 debt messwith the ATO, but I literally
started it by collecting coinsbecause I didn't have enough
(31:30):
money to go down and open aseparate bank account.
So there are ways to start.
There are ways to grow thataccount, but just keep that in
mind as something you might wantto do as you go into the new
financial year.
And the other thing to keep inmind as you hit the new
financial year is that there arelots of business grants around
(31:51):
that sometimes will kick off onthe 1st of July.
So here in Australia you canget grants at all different
levels of government, so that isfederal, state and local
government.
Most of those grants will be onbusinessgovau.
That's the website you can headto to check out those grants.
But if you Google grantsbusiness grants in whatever
(32:14):
country you are in hopefully youcan find some grants that might
be great for your business.
I think being organized for theend of financial year, like
everything, is about taking thetime not to just work in your
business day after day, buttaking that time, setting
(32:35):
yourself some specific time tostep back and work on your
business and get super organized, because that is the way that
you are going to create abusiness.
That speaks to your definitionof success.
And while we're on that, itwould be remiss of me not to say
that, as we finish onefinancial year and we head into
(32:56):
a brand new financial year, it'sa great idea to re-evaluate
what success is going to looklike for you in the financial
year ahead, because, as someonesaid to me the other day, it
seems like nobody got out offirst gear in this financial
year, particularly here inAustralia, that a lot of us have
been overwhelmed by the bigissues that we've seen locally
(33:20):
and around the world and thathas stymied us and our business
as we've gone into this year,and I think there's probably
something in that.
So if you are feeling like thisis you as you go into the new
financial year, then definitelytake some time and think about
(33:41):
what success looks like for youas you go forward.
And just to give you that bitof a boost, it might be a great
idea to find a group, find yourtribe, find your community of
business owners that are goingto give you that positive energy
that you need as you go intothis next financial year, so
(34:03):
that you're fired up, you canget your business singing and
make the money and, moreimportantly, the profit that you
deserve to make.
So if you need help with yourbusiness, why not check out my
brand new book Become a BusinessMoney Magnet Simple Habits to
Manage your Money andSupercharge your Profits?
(34:26):
It's available now in all goodbookstores and I hope you have
found some great tips in thisepisode for end of financial
year and that your end offinancial year is a breeze and
your new financial year is evenbetter.
Okay, until next time.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(35:05):
Catch you next time.
You're listening to the Secrets of Successful
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and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
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(00:25):
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Speaker 1 (00:33):
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(00:57):
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If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
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Now here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
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Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
Let's dive into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to thepodcast.
(02:06):
Well, the end of financial yearit's one of those times of year
in business and probably for alot of people too who have jobs
where there are shivers headingdown your spine, maybe something
that you're not looking forwardto because it just seems really
overwhelming.
And certainly I know a lot ofpeople who feel exactly that way
about the end of financial year.
But I am all about nailing youryear end finances through just
(02:30):
a few simple hacks, and in thisepisode today, I want to share
those with you.
So end of financial year herein Australia is the 30th of June
, but this episode, you know,earmark it for the closer to the
end of your financial year.
It will be the same no matterwhat part of the world that you
are in.
So the part of the reason thatpeople dislike end of financial
(02:54):
year so much is because we'resubmitted or subjected to a
whole bunch of advertisingtelling us what we should do,
what we shouldn't do.
We're told that we need tocollect all these things so that
we've got everything in oneplace and we can get our tax
returns in really quickly andhopefully we'll get a refund.
(03:15):
But a lot of people look atthis time of year with absolute
trepidation and worry and it'salmost like they become
paralyzed about putting in theirreturn because the concern is
that maybe they have reallystuffed something up throughout
the year and that they're goingto be hit with a tax bill that
they weren't expecting, thatthey can't afford, and for that
(03:38):
reason a lot of people will puttheir head in the sand and
completely avoid anything to dowith the financial year.
And honestly, I have so manystories from accountants and
from former clients who, whenthey first came to me, would be
like oh, taxes.
Yeah, no, I haven't put thosein for a year, two years, or you
(03:58):
know.
I just got it to my accountantit's only seven months late.
So I think the first thing to dois just set that overwhelm
aside because, honestly, the endof financial year is nothing to
worry about if you areorganized and one of the best
ways to get organized as abusiness owner, in my opinion,
is to use cloud accountingsoftware.
(04:20):
So if you've got a system inplace fantastic.
Make sure that you have spokento someone who knows how to use
it and that you've got a systemin place, fantastic.
Make sure that you have spokento someone who knows how to use
it and that you've got all ofthe shortcuts and the
time-saving features absolutelynailed, that you know how to use
all of them, particularly ifyou're reconciling yourself and
if you are outsourcing yourbookkeeping and that person is
(04:43):
looking after your cloudaccounting system for you.
So that's Xero, myob, quicken,those sorts of things.
Make sure you have a chat withthem.
We're about a month out nowfrom end of financial year, so
now's a great time to have achat with them, just to make
sure that they've got it undercontrol.
The I's are dotted, the T's arecrossed.
It's all good.
(05:03):
If you are someone who's beenusing spreadsheets and that you
know for your business andkeeping tabs on your finances
that way, you might like tothink about setting up cloud
accounting software for the newfinancial year to start on 1
July, because I promise you,even though it is a business
expense, it will make your lifeso much easier.
(05:24):
I just put a client onto Xeroabout a month ago.
Now she's all set up, she'sready and raring to go and
cannot believe how much timeit's already saved her Just
those spreadsheets that she hadto sit down and fill in.
So really important to get thatsystem under control.
I think, apart from helping todeal with all of those
(05:47):
day-to-day finances, cloudaccounting systems are great for
processing payroll and dumpingbills into and, because they're
automated, they're definitelygoing to save you time.
So have a think about that.
If you have a look around,compare some of the cloud
accounting systems.
I'm a big Xero fan, but whatyou'll find, particularly,
compare some of the cloudaccounting systems.
I'm a big zero fan, but whatyou'll find, particularly as we
(06:08):
roll into the end of financialyear, everyone will have a sale
on, so take advantage of it.
The next thing to think about iswhether or not you need some
expert help, because quite oftenas business owners again, we
look at the experts on thefinancial side of business the
accountants, the bookkeepers asa bit of a luxury expense.
(06:29):
But the thing is, accountantsare people who are trained to
get you a fantastic taxdeduction.
They're probably more or morecapable of getting you that
extra few bucks in yourdeduction than you even realize.
I have seen on a few Facebookforums recently people
complaining about the cost oftheir accountant because they
(06:51):
might be getting a $900 returnand the accountants charge them
$300 or $400 and so they feellike they're kind of losing half
of it.
And look sure, maybe if theydid the return themselves they'd
be able to get just as much ofa refund.
But I don't know.
I'm a registered BAS agent.
I still get an accountant to domy return because I just like
(07:11):
the checks and the balances thatgo into that.
It means that I know I cansubmit my return with absolute
confidence that everything iscorrect, and I also know that I
am getting the best returnpossible on my business because
my accountant is on my team.
He is looking to find all ofthe deductions, but as he goes
(07:33):
through, he's also able to giveme advice on things that he
might see in my business that Ijust haven't seen.
So, for my money, definitelyworth every cent that I pay to
my accountant, and I wouldencourage you to either book a
discovery call and talk to a fewdifferent accountants, ask how
they can help your business grow, or to consider, if your
(07:56):
accountant you feel that they'renot really helping you, to
consider using a differentaccountant.
If you're doing things yourself,please just investigate what it
would be like to work with anaccountant.
If you're doing things yourself, please just investigate what
it would be like to work with anaccountant.
It doesn't mean that you haveto do that, but it's really
helpful, particularly at the endof financial year.
Of course, you need to makesure that person is on your team
.
You don't want to be workingwith someone who is going to
(08:18):
belittle you or make you feellike your business is just a
little side hustle or hobby orhopeless.
You want to work with someonewho is prepared to be on your
team, who is a registeredprofessional, and you can find
out whether they're any good ornot by asking for some
testimonials.
See what other people think ofthe accountant that you're
interviewing.
Remember, working with afinance professional or like any
(08:41):
expert, is a partnership, it'snot a dictatorship.
So you need to make sure thatyou are happy and feeling
confident about your choice.
Now the next part of thispodcast, and for the rest of it,
I'm going to cave you withsaying that I am not aware of
your personal or financialcircumstances and because I
don't know what they are, theadvice that I'm going to give
(09:04):
you from now on is just generalin nature.
If you're not sure about this,please talk to a professional
about it, whether it's youraccountant or whether you go and
seek advice directly from thetax office.
Very important to not make anydecisions unless you are 100%
sure that they are correct andwithin the law.
(09:24):
So the biggest tip I can giveyou, apart from getting
organized and having everythingin one place for the end of
financial year.
So, like I said, if it's not acloud accounting system, it's a
spreadsheet.
It's getting all of thebusiness bits and pieces
together in one place so thatit's easy to send off to an
accountant.
Or if you're choosing to dealwith yourself, so that you've
(09:47):
got everything that you need inone place.
It's really important tounderstand what you can and
cannot claim, particularly ifyou are choosing to put a return
in on your own.
There are some things that youmight think you can claim, but
the law has changed so you can'tclaim them, or maybe you can't
claim as much as you would liketo.
(10:07):
It's really important tounderstand what you can claim
and make sure that you claimeverything that you can.
So this can include things likeequipment membership fees,
subscriptions, accounting andbookkeeping fees are tax
deductions.
Your subscription to cloudaccounting software like Xero or
MYOB another tax deduction.
(10:28):
Things like insurance, bankfees, further education might be
a tax deduction.
Your wages and yourcontractor's wages,
superannuation these are allthings that could be a tax
deduction.
Now, hand in hand with this isthe fact that here in Australia,
tax rates are going to changeon the 1st of July.
That's personal tax rates, andif you're a solopreneur and
(10:51):
you're listening to this,remember everything that you
earn is essentially taxable.
So the more tax deductions youhave mean it lowers that income
that you're earning and the lesstax you have to pay.
But, as I said, on the 1st ofJuly, tax rates are going to be
reduced right across the board,and so that means that next
(11:12):
financial year you're going tobe paying less tax than you
would have paid this financialyear.
So, purely from a taxationpoint of view and you might've
heard this on the news or onsocial media, I know there's
been talk going around aboutthis but if you are going to pay
tax, if you are liable for taxthis year, and if your business
and cashflow can afford it, itmight be smart to buy things
(11:36):
that you need for your businessthis financial year rather than
next financial year, becausethis financial year you'll have
more tax that you owe, more taxthat you have to pay, and so a
bigger pool of money where youcan claim a tax deduction,
whereas next financial yearthere'll be less because of the
reduced tax rates, and so you'llhave less money that you can
(11:59):
draw back from.
People always get confused abouttax deductions.
Can I just say that you knowthey'll say things to me like
well, I just bought a brand newcomputer that was $1,000, so the
government's going to give me$1,000 back.
That's not right.
Basically, what happens with atax deduction is, first of all,
you can only get money back thatyou've paid in tax.
(12:19):
So if you're below the taxthreshold or your business is
run at a loss and you have zerotax to pay, then the government
is not giving you any money backbecause you've paid zero tax.
The only way you get money backon your taxes is if you have a
tax liability, so if you havemoney to pay.
(12:40):
So, for example, if you have$2,000 that you owe in tax, you
aren't going to get $1,000 backon your computer.
What that $1,000 is going to dois it's going to reduce your
taxable income by $1,000.
And that will reduce your taxliability by whatever percentage
(13:02):
that works out at.
It's probably only going to beabout 20 or 30%.
So that is probably all you'regoing to get back on that
computer.
So always think about that,particularly when you're
thinking, oh okay, what is itthat I can claim at the end of
financial year.
And then you hear those storiesabout how you should spend up
all this money and people go outand they go a bit crazy.
(13:23):
It's not necessarily going toget you back what you think it
will, and that's why I alwayssay that you should keep tabs on
your expenses.
So, whether they're things thatyou're choosing to buy at the
end of financial year or whetheryou're sitting down getting
prepared for the end offinancial year and so for that
reason, you're looking at all ofyour expenses.
(13:43):
Really important to take a lookand see what you're spending
your money on in your business.
And I would challenge everybodywho's listening and I say this
all the time but see if there'sone obsolete expense in your
business, something that you'vedoubled up on something that
you're paying for, that you cando for free.
Maybe you're paying suppliersand you could get a better deal
(14:04):
from them.
Perhaps if you pay up front,they'll give you a discount.
If you are paying for utilities, for example, or you've got a
phone plan, reach out to thosesuppliers and see if you can get
a deduction or a reductionsorry in that cost of doing
business.
And a word to anybody listeningwho is a retailer or who
(14:24):
carries stock this is a greattime of year to really liquidate
as much of that stock as youcan so that you can get some
extra money in.
But, more importantly, if youare someone who carries back
orders so if you are ordering inadvance and you've got back
orders that might be coming intoyour business via your
suppliers, it's definitely worthchecking in and seeing what is
(14:47):
going to land before the end offinancial year, because really
important to keep tabs on thoseexpenses at all times.
If you look at your numbers, ifyou look at your profit and
loss and you are carrying a hugeprofit and you know that you're
going to be paying a lot of taxand you want to reduce your tax
liability for this financialyear, it could be worth not just
(15:08):
buying equipment and things foryour business, but it could be
worth pre-paying some of yourexpenses, so paying things like
your rent or your utilities amonth or so ahead in June, may
or June so that you'll have lessto pay in the new financial
year and it will count as moreof a tax deduction this
financial year.
Again, that would only be ifthe cash flow could afford it
(15:30):
and if you know 100% for surethat you are going to have a
large tax bill to pay.
So again, another reason tohave a chat to your accountant.
If you have a retail business oryou carry product in your
business, now is a fantastictime to do a stock take.
I know that any retailerslistening to this will be
(15:52):
rolling their eyes because stocktakes are horrendous.
Being someone who had tworetail stores and an e-commerce
store.
I know exactly how horrendousthey are, but believe me, the
day or maybe two days that itwill take you is to take us a
couple of days to do our stocktake totally worth it, because
not only can you identify astock that you can liquidate,
(16:14):
but you will pull out brokenstock that you can claim as a
tax deduction.
You can write it offEverybody's heard about a tax
write-off so you can write itoff as a tax deduction and it
also might uncover theft.
If you have a retail store, abricks and mortar store, we used
to find thousands and thousandsof dollars worth of missing
stock and the only reason we didthat was because we did a stock
(16:36):
take and we were able to reducethe amount of money sitting in
our cost of goods sold poolbecause that stock was no longer
available for us to sell.
So again, another opportunityto find a good tax deduction.
If you need some money for theend of financial year, you might
like to chase up those peoplewho aren't paying you.
(16:58):
Of course, if you don't needmoney for the end of financial
year because you've already gota big tax liability that you
know you have to pay, you mighthold off on sending out some
invoices until the new financialyear.
So really have a look at whereyou sit in terms of how much
money you might owe and thendecide whether or not you're
(17:20):
going to be chasing up slowpayers, whether or not you're
going to be sending bills out orwhether you're going to be in a
holding pattern until you getto the new financial year.
The other thing to do to makelife easy for your accountant
and to make your end offinancial year life easy is to
set up an asset register so youcan set this up at any time as
(17:43):
you go through your businessyear, and a good time to do that
is when you buy something newfor your business, so a new
computer, a new printer, forexample, telephone, whatever it
happens to be furniture, any newequipment in your business.
That is a big, a large cost toyour business.
So I'd say anything that's overa thousand dollars.
As the rule of thumb, justcreate a simple spreadsheet and
(18:06):
set up an asset register soyou'll need to put down what the
item is, how much it cost, thedate of purchase.
If you have a cloud accountingsystem some of them, xero does
this, for example you canactually set up an asset
register inside of Xero and youcan attach things like the
invoice so that if you ever hadany issues warranty issues
(18:28):
you've got all the informationright there at your fingertips.
So definitely worth doing thatbecause if you can hand your
accountant an asset registeragain, they know exactly what
they can depreciate for you andit's another tax deduction.
So my big tip for you is to payyour super before the end of the
(18:48):
financial year and it's best tohave that money leave your
account before the middle ofJune if you're here in Australia
.
Why?
Because for some reason I stillcan't understand or explain at
the end of the financial year ittakes the super houses a very
long time to process the superthrough.
So if you want your taxdeduction, your super annuation
(19:11):
tax deduction, to count by theend of financial year whether
you're paying super through apayroll or whether you're
choosing to top up your personalsuper get that done by the 15th
of June.
It's only going to count as atax deduction if it reaches your
fund before the 30th of June.
So most clearing houses superclearing houses have cutoff
(19:34):
dates, but I think that themiddle of June is a great rule
of thumb If you've got someextra money and you are feeling
generous, make a donation.
There are so many needy anddeserving organizations around
right now that need our help, soit's definitely worth doing
that.
And, again, it's a taxdeduction if you are sending
(19:56):
money to a registered charity.
So they're all my tips for sortof getting organized and being
really prepared for the end offinancial year.
I want to mention, though, a fewbits of housekeeping.
So, as you're approaching the30th of June, or once you hit
the 30th of June keeping in mindthat, for people who are really
(20:17):
well-organized, a lot of peoplewill send off their financial
statements and have all theirbusiness updated, reconciled
rearing to go ready and rearingto go in that first week in the
new financial year.
And even if you're doing yourtax yourself, a lot of people
are really tempted to submittheir tax as fast as possible
because they obviously want thetax deduction.
However, it can take up tothree weeks after the end of
(20:40):
financial year, sometimes alittle bit longer, for your
information to hit the taxoffice.
So think about things like ifyou're working for someone else,
your payment summaryinformation is not due until the
middle of July to the ATO, soit can take additional time
(21:00):
after that for the ATO, the taxoffice here in Australia, to
have the information they needto be able to sign off on your
refund, basically to be able tocompare what your employer is
saying with your return you'veput in and say yep, that's right
, we're going to grant thatrefund, for example.
Also, things like interest frombanks, share information,
(21:23):
superannuation information it'sall very automated now.
There is definitely that giveand take and sharing of
information between the taxoffice and a whole lot of
agencies around shareorganizations, superannuation
houses, et cetera and it takestime for that information to
reach the tax office.
(21:44):
So a lot of accountants willactually take July off because
they know that when they getback in August, it's all systems
go.
All the information technicallyshould have reached the tax
office and they can startprocessing returns and actually
get those returns through,processed and back to their
clients within just a few weeks.
So keep that in mind in yourrush to get things finalized.
(22:07):
You probably don't need to putas much pressure on yourself as
you think.
The things to do, though, is,once you hit the 30th of June,
it's really helpful for youraccountant and also for yourself
, if you're doing your returnyourself to grab a copy of your
bank statements so that itclearly shows what was in your
account on the 30th of June.
(22:27):
Put those to one side, ready tosend off to your accountant.
If you are running a payroll,you need to get that sorted out
and have your single touchpayroll information to the tax
office by the middle of July.
That's really important, notjust for your business but for
all of those people who work foryou that you have put through
(22:49):
your payroll, because theyobviously want to get their
returns.
So if you are slow with yourinformation going out and
remember that includes thingslike the tax that you've
collected on their behalf, thesuperannuation you have
collected on their behalf thenit's going to slow down them
getting back their refunds andI'm sure there are lots of
people who will be lookingforward to refunds in the second
(23:12):
half of the year just so theycan give their bank accounts a
bit of a boost In terms ofsuperannuation.
Here in Australiasuperannuation will increase by
half a percent come 1 July.
So we'll not just have taxdeductions but we will have an
increase of half a percent onthe 1st of July.
So SIPP goes up to 11 and ahalf percent and if you are
(23:34):
running your payroll through aregistered product like MYOB,
xero, for example, or some ofthe payroll products that are
around and you need to.
By the way, if you're employingstaff and you are locked into
single touch payroll, then thesewill just update automatically
for you, so you don't you won'tneed to worry about those.
(23:55):
I think, another thing to reallylook at as we get to the end of
a financial year and again it'sworth a conversation with your
accountant about what yourbusiness might look like in the
year ahead.
And this is a conversation youmight not be able to have until
your current year's taxes areprocessed.
It just depends on therelationship you have with your
(24:18):
accountant and how familiar theyare with your business.
But it's worth noting that yourcompliance obligations might
change at the end of thefinancial year.
So, for example, if you aresomeone who has been earning
under $75,000 here in Australia,but in this last financial year
you have turned over or earnedover $75,000, you will have to
(24:41):
register for GST and you'll have21 days to do that from the
time you hit that 75K mark.
So if you're unsure what youare liable for going into the
new financial year, definitelyworth having a chat to your
accountant.
There are so many differenttaxes that you need to pay here
(25:01):
in Australia if you are runninga business and if you are
employing staff, so it's reallyup to you to understand what
they are, when they are due andhow much on average, you're
going to need to put aside tocover off those commitments.
And when you know thatinformation, you can plan ahead,
you can put those dates in yourdiary and you can make sure
(25:23):
that as you go forward, you'resaving as you go to pay those
taxes, because there is nothingworse than being in tax debt.
I promise you, I have beenthere and it's not nice.
Last things that you will needto do if you are employing staff
in your business or you have acompany and you are paying
workers comp is to not onlyreview that insurance and review
(25:47):
all of your insurances, by theway, particularly if they're due
at the end of the financialyear but if you are paying
workers comp, then you need tosend off an actual workers comp
declaration because you mighthave underpaid your insurance,
your workers comp insurance, youmight have overpaid your
workers comp insurance.
So when you send the actualsoff to the workers comp
(26:08):
organization, what will happenis they will work out whether
you owe the actuals off to theworkers' comp organisation.
What will happen is they willwork out whether you owe them
money or whether you are due arefund.
Now they won't chase you forthis.
They are notorious for notgiving refunds unless you put
your hand up and ask for one.
So really important to declarethose wages.
But, more importantly, keep aneye out for the new information
(26:30):
around your workers comp,because it can often end up in
junk and get absolutely lost.
So the last thing I want to talkabout is once you're through
the end of financial year andeven prior to the end of
financial year, when you're inthe flow, it's definitely worth
setting aside a day, half a day,if you can do it quickly, but I
(26:51):
always like to set aside a daywhere I do some serious business
planning for the year ahead ona financial level.
So not only am I looking at mybusiness as a whole, deciding
what stays, what goes, whatoffers I continue with, what
offers I'm going to close downor change, in that I'm looking
at my pricing and my expensesand all those sorts of things,
(27:12):
but in conjunction with that, Ilook at a budget for the new
financial year.
So I have an idea of what Iwant to earn, what I'm happy to
spend, and with that in mind, Icreate a brand new cash flow
forecast.
And so doing that just gives methe peace of mind that I'm
always going to know what I haveto pay and when.
And I'm doing that with the newvision for my business and for
(27:35):
what's ahead for me in the yearyou know at the top of my mind.
So think about.
You know, as you're doing this,not just what's working and
what isn't in your currentbusiness, but some of those
opportunities that you knowmight be coming up in the year
ahead that you can really takeadvantage of.
And that plan then becomes thejumping off point for your
(27:57):
marketing and everything elsethat you're going to do in your
business as you move forward.
So really important to take thespace, take the time and to do
that work.
Another good thing to do whileyou're doing that is some tax
planning.
So, particularly if yourbusiness has done really well
maybe it's not done so well, buttax planning is always a great
(28:18):
idea.
It helps you to think aboutyour financial goals, which I
always love.
I love adding a financial goal.
So you know, by that I meanfinancial goals could be just
getting better organized on yourfinance, really taking time to
understanding, you know,understanding your finances, or
making that commitment.
It could be about hitting arevenue target.
It could be about launching aproduct like a book or a course,
(28:41):
for example.
There's lots of differentfinancial goals that you can put
in place.
But when you do that inconjunction with some tax
planning and you might need torope your accountant in for that
once you know what your goalsare for the financial year, the
new financial year that's ahead,it really helps you set the
course for success, in myopinion.
So definitely worth doing thosecouple of things.
(29:03):
And, of course, you know, end offinancial year, new financial
year always a good time toreview your prices, I think you
know.
It's also a good time to thinkabout the profit number.
What profit do you want to earn?
But pricing is a big thing,especially now I've discussed it
in my last couple of podcastsabout when times are a bit tough
and we're not getting the leadswe want.
(29:24):
The temptation is to cut prices, to discount, but sometimes,
rather than doing that,reviewing an offer and coming up
with a new offer that has lessstuff in it, that is going to
take you less time to deliverand you can deliver at a more
reasonable price, is a great wayto help you still make the
(29:46):
money you need to make for everyhour of your work.
That's going to cover all ofyour costs, because the last
thing you want to be doing isdiscounting a product, that is,
you know that is going to takeyou a lot of time to deliver.
And then you get to the end ofthat and you think, well, okay,
I've worked.
Instead of working for $70 anhour, I've worked for $35 and I
(30:06):
haven't covered the cost of mybusiness and so on.
So always think about thatbefore you discount.
But end of financial year greattime to really take a deep dive
in and have a look at that.
The other thing that I'd reallysuggest that you do is to have a
look at your rainy day account,because I know for a number of
business owners, they have hadno choice but to dip into their
(30:26):
rainy day account over the lastfew months, and that is
completely understandable.
That is exactly what the rainyday account is there for, but
it's then worth making somedecisions about what that
account is going to look like asyou move forward.
So what is it you can do toboost that rainy day account, to
get it back up to where youwant it to be, so reimbursing
(30:49):
some of those savings that youmight've taken out.
Or, if you don't have a rainyday account, maybe starting one,
and so a good way to do that is, if you get a tax return, you
can pop it into your rainy dayaccount a great way to start
your rainy day account.
Or you might just take apercentage of everything you
earn and choose to pop that intothe rainy day account as well.
(31:10):
So definitely think about thatrainy day savings account
Starting small.
You'll be surprised how fastyou can grow that account.
I've said this before, but whenI started my rainy day account,
I was in a $42,000 debt messwith the ATO, but I literally
started it by collecting coinsbecause I didn't have enough
(31:30):
money to go down and open aseparate bank account.
So there are ways to start.
There are ways to grow thataccount, but just keep that in
mind as something you might wantto do as you go into the new
financial year.
And the other thing to keep inmind as you hit the new
financial year is that there arelots of business grants around
(31:51):
that sometimes will kick off onthe 1st of July.
So here in Australia you canget grants at all different
levels of government, so that isfederal, state and local
government.
Most of those grants will be onbusinessgovau.
That's the website you can headto to check out those grants.
But if you Google grantsbusiness grants in whatever
(32:14):
country you are in hopefully youcan find some grants that might
be great for your business.
I think being organized for theend of financial year, like
everything, is about taking thetime not to just work in your
business day after day, buttaking that time, setting
(32:35):
yourself some specific time tostep back and work on your
business and get super organized, because that is the way that
you are going to create abusiness.
That speaks to your definitionof success.
And while we're on that, itwould be remiss of me not to say
that, as we finish onefinancial year and we head into
(32:56):
a brand new financial year, it'sa great idea to re-evaluate
what success is going to looklike for you in the financial
year ahead, because, as someonesaid to me the other day, it
seems like nobody got out offirst gear in this financial
year, particularly here inAustralia, that a lot of us have
been overwhelmed by the bigissues that we've seen locally
(33:20):
and around the world and thathas stymied us and our business
as we've gone into this year,and I think there's probably
something in that.
So if you are feeling like thisis you as you go into the new
financial year, then definitelytake some time and think about
(33:41):
what success looks like for youas you go forward.
And just to give you that bitof a boost, it might be a great
idea to find a group, find yourtribe, find your community of
business owners that are goingto give you that positive energy
that you need as you go intothis next financial year, so
(34:03):
that you're fired up, you canget your business singing and
make the money and, moreimportantly, the profit that you
deserve to make.
So if you need help with yourbusiness, why not check out my
brand new book Become a BusinessMoney Magnet Simple Habits to
Manage your Money andSupercharge your Profits?
(34:26):
It's available now in all goodbookstores and I hope you have
found some great tips in thisepisode for end of financial
year and that your end offinancial year is a breeze and
your new financial year is evenbetter.
Okay, until next time.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(35:05):
Catch you next time.
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