Financial year end procedures: how to avoid common mistakes

As the financial year end draws closer, payroll and accounts departments across the country are hard at work, frantically trying to gather the last of their reports in order to complete the year-end financial statements of their businesses. While a number of statements need to be completed in order to determine the financial health of a business, the primary focus during financial year end procedures is usually on payroll taxes.

Owing to the complex nature of payroll taxes and high numbers of employees in many companies, financial year end procedures can often be time-consuming and stressful. But if you’re using QuickBooks Accounting Software, you’re already one step ahead because QuickBooks offers businesses an effective, hassle-free solution to payroll taxes and producing accurate year-end financial statements.

With the dawning of the financial year end right around the corner, it is also imperative to incorporate all payroll updates noted in the latest Budget Speech to your business’s financial year end procedures. With changes that include medical aid schemes and company travel allowances, one cannot afford to ignore the latest payroll update. With QuickBooks Accounting Software, you don’t have to. With a range of software packages that range from basic to advanced, QuickBooks Accounting Software is programmed with the latest automatic payroll update, which means that you no longer have to conduct manual calculations – QuickBooks will implement all payroll tax updates automatically provided you have downloaded the latest version of the software package.

To assist you during the annual year end rush, we’ve listed some valuable tips to help eliminate mistakes when performing financial procedures:

• Setting up employees: One of the first steps to performing year end procedures is setting up all employees on your accounting software system. When setting up employees in the QuickBooks system it is essential to include all tax information to every employee profile, including taxes paid by employer. This is because QuickBooks Accounting Software automatically calculates and tracks all payroll taxes on employee payslips, to ensure correct tax forms are printed and submitted.
   
• Timing: A common mistake most businesses seem to fall prey to is allowing too little time to prepare your financial year end tax forms. Make sure that you plan ahead and leave enough time to prepare your end of year tax returns, to ensure that they are submitted on time. With QuickBooks, preparing tax forms is quick and effortless because the process is automated. And with automatic payroll updates, your tax forms will always be compliant with the latest tax laws.
   
•  Printing: When printing your tax forms and year-end financial statements, always read through every bit of information to avoid common errors. Sometimes, businesses forget to update basic information in the QuickBooks system such as the current year, which causes the print-out tax forms to be printed in the incorrect year. Though it may not seem like a big error, it could cause complications in the tax return process and could slow down the year end procedure.

Eliminate the financial year end rush with QuickBooks Accounting Software

With QuickBooks SimpleStart, QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier, you can say goodbye to time-consuming, stressful paperwork that comes with manually submitting payroll tax forms for your business. The QuickBooks Accounting Software range boasts features that are designed to take the strain off financial year end procedures with its user-friendly interface. Whether you’re operating a start-up home-based business or own a large, established corporation, you’ll find a software package for you when browsing our selection of accounting software.