Get your books right

Jeremy Tauri.

It's fast approaching March 31 and the end of the 2016 financial year.

While minds will turn to getting the books into the accountant for the taxman after this date, you'll need to do a couple of things beforehand to make sure your numbers are solid.

Do your stocktake: If you carry inventory over $10,000 you'll need to provide a stocktake to your accountant. The value you'll provide will be at cost, but if you have items that are hanging around that are worth significantly less then get rid of them. It's a good excuse to have an end of financial year sale.

Write-off money you're not going to receive: Got a few problem clients whom you're unlikely to receive funds from and you've tried everything short of begging them for the money? You might want to consider writing the debt off.

If it's in the 120-day-and-over column and you're not even getting any small payments, the likelihood of getting paid is zero. To ensure you don't pay tax on money you're unlikely to receive, you need to write them off out of your ledger before March 31, 2016.

Check your asset ledger for assets that are no longer there: It's surprising what nuggets you'll find in the asset ledger. Windows 98 computers, old vehicles or trailers that had been in accidents or are now rusting in the paddock are some of the things that shouldn't be in a current asset list. Check out this part of your financials to make sure that the list is up to date and current. Discuss the implications of removing these with your accountant.

Defer any invoicing to next year: So you've had a good year and the draft profit and loss results are looking positive for 2016. If you're looking at next year being slightly down because of depreciation and capital investment funded by loans into your business then you might want to defer invoicing to the next year.

- Jeremy Tauri is an associate at Plus Chartered Accountants.