EOFY: IT Prep Checklist to Avoid Last-Minute Stress
As the Australian financial year draws to a close on June 30, businesses across the country begin turning their attention to compliance, reporting, and tax planning. While finance teams often bear the brunt of EOFY workloads, the IT department plays a critical behind-the-scenes role in making sure systems are secure, data is backed up, and everything runs smoothly during this high-pressure period.
If you’re not already preparing your IT systems for EOFY, now is the time. Here’s a breakdown of what every business should be doing from an IT perspective to ensure a stress-free EOFY.
- Back Up Everything (Then Test It)
EOFY involves the generation of sensitive financial data, reports, and documents—none of which you can afford to lose. Before things get hectic:
- Perform a full system backup, including financial systems, payroll data, and client records.
- Test your backups—a backup is only useful if it restores properly.
- Ensure your backups are securely stored offsite or in the cloud.
- Audit User Accounts and Permissions
This is a great time to perform a user access review:
- Remove or deactivate old accounts for former employees.
- Ensure that only appropriate staff have access to sensitive financial data.
- Confirm that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled wherever possible but also for key systems like payroll, accounting, and cloud platforms.
This step helps prevent internal errors and minimises the risk of data breaches around critical financial information.
- Patch and Update Key Systems
With EOFY being a critical time for system uptime, now’s the moment to:
- Apply security updates and patches to servers, accounting software, and cloud apps.
- Make sure antivirus and antimalware software is up to date.
- Avoid scheduling major upgrades during EOFY itself—do it before or after the reporting crunch.
- Review and Archive Financial Emails
Your business likely has a high volume of financial correspondence—quotes, invoices, purchase orders—stored in email. Consider:
- Archiving or exporting relevant emails for long-term compliance.
- Cleaning up inboxes to improve email system performance.
- Ensuring you have email continuity and backups in place in case of an outage.
- Evaluate Asset Registers and Licensing
EOFY is the perfect time to check:
- Is your IT asset register up to date with hardware purchases and disposals?
- Are all your software licenses current and compliant?
- Have any new tools or platforms been added this year that need to be accounted for?
Many businesses can also claim deductions on eligible IT purchases—but you need accurate records.
- Plan for July 1
As soon as EOFY wraps up, the new financial year begins—so make sure your IT team is ready to:
- Roll over financial year settings in your accounting or payroll software.
- Update reporting templates and compliance documentation.
- Implement improvements that couldn’t be done during the EOFY freeze.
Final Thoughts
EOFY doesn’t just belong to accountants. IT is a critical enabler of a smooth, secure, and compliant financial year-end process. By taking the time to prepare now, your business will be in a stronger position to close out the year with confidence—and hit the ground running for the next one.
If you need help getting your IT systems EOFY-ready, now’s the time to talk to your managed service provider or internal tech team. If you don’t have one or you would like a second opinion reach out to the GroupSupport team on 08 9277 1768 or support@groupsupport.com.au
