If tax time this year felt like a mad scramble of shoebox receipts and late nights, you are not alone — and it doesn’t have to be that way. The small businesses that sail through the financial year aren’t luckier than everyone else; they simply have better bookkeeping habits. With the new financial year now under way, this is the perfect moment to reset. Here are five habits the GGBAS team recommends to every client, and that we see pay for themselves over and over again.
1. Separate business and personal spending — completely
Mixing personal and business transactions in one account is the single biggest cause of messy books we see. Every blurred transaction has to be identified, queried and reclassified later, which costs you time and money. Open a dedicated business transaction account (and ideally a business credit or debit card), run every business dollar through it, and pay yourself a regular drawing or wage instead of dipping in ad hoc. Your BAS, your deductions and your cash flow picture all become dramatically clearer.
2. Reconcile weekly, not at BAS time
Reconciling means matching what’s in your accounting software against what actually happened in your bank account. Do it weekly and it takes ten minutes over a coffee; leave it for a quarter and it becomes an afternoon of detective work. Weekly reconciliation also means you spot problems early — a double payment, an unpaid invoice, a subscription you thought you’d cancelled — while they’re still easy to fix.
3. Capture receipts the moment you get them
The ATO requires you to keep records for five years, and faded thermal paper in a glovebox won’t get you there. Use your accounting software’s phone app (or a receipt-capture tool) to photograph receipts on the spot, so the record attaches itself to the transaction while it’s fresh. As a bonus, you’ll stop losing legitimate deductions — most business owners who go digital with receipts find claims they would previously have missed.
4. Put money aside for GST, PAYG and super as you earn it
The GST you collect and the PAYG withholding you deduct from wages were never yours — they’re simply passing through your hands on the way to the ATO. Treat them that way. A simple habit is to transfer a set percentage of every week’s takings into a separate “tax” savings account, along with each pay run’s super. When the BAS or super deadline arrives, the money is already there and the payment is a non-event rather than a crisis.
5. Review your numbers monthly — and actually use them
Good bookkeeping isn’t just about compliance; it’s the instrument panel for your business. Once a month, look at three things: profit and loss (are you actually making money?), aged receivables (who owes you, and for how long?) and cash flow (can you cover the next two months of commitments?). Fifteen minutes with those three reports will tell you more about your business than any gut feeling — and it turns your bookkeeping from a chore into a decision-making tool.
Want your books handled for you?
If reading this list felt more stressful than reassuring, that’s your sign. GGBAS provides expert bookkeeping, BAS lodgement, payroll and accounting support for small businesses right across Australia — so you stay organised, compliant and in control without doing the work yourself. With 20+ years of experience and a 98% client retention rate, we’d love to take the numbers off your plate.
Book your free 15-minute financial clarity call and let’s get your new financial year off to an organised start.
