Category: Blog

  • Your EOFY 2026 Checklist: A Bookkeeper’s Step-by-Step Guide

    Your EOFY 2026 Checklist: A Bookkeeper’s Step-by-Step Guide

    End of financial year always feels closer than you think. If June has snuck up on you, take a breath. This is your EOFY checklist 2026, the same one I walk my clients through every year. The next few weeks are about working through it one task at a time, so you head into 1 July with your books in order and money back where it belongs: in your business.

    Your EOFY checklist 2026 at a glance

    Six tasks to work through in June before 30 June. Print this out, tick them off, and book in time for each one rather than trying to do them all on the last weekend of the month.

    • Export 12 months of bank statements and comb through them
    • Confirm your PAYG instalments are paid
    • Make sure Single Touch Payroll is up to date
    • Prepare for Payday Super
    • Pay outstanding super by 30 June
    • Tidy your books and reconcile

    1. Export 12 months of bank statements and comb them

    This is the single biggest opportunity most small business owners miss.

    Log in to your personal banking and export the last 12 months as a CSV. Open it in a spreadsheet and read through every line. You are looking for any business-related transaction that came out of your personal account: subscriptions, fuel, tools, training, parking, a working lunch, a domain renewal, a piece of equipment, a courier fee.

    Highlight anything that should have been claimed. These are real deductions, and they often add up to thousands of dollars across a year. Most people genuinely forget what they spent personal money on, so the only reliable way to catch it is to look.

    2. Confirm your PAYG instalments are paid

    Pay As You Go (PAYG) instalments are how the ATO collects your income tax in advance through the year. Make sure every instalment has been lodged and paid. If you’ve fallen behind, get current now so you aren’t carrying the balance into your tax return.

    If you’ve had a slower year than expected, your instalments might be too high. You can vary them, but talk to your accountant first to make sure you don’t underpay and trigger interest charges later.

    3. Make sure Single Touch Payroll is up to date

    Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting must be current for every employee, including any directors paid through the business. Before 30 June, check that every pay event has been reported through your software and that your year-to-date figures match what you’ve actually paid.

    If anything looks off, fix it before you finalise your STP year-end declaration. Your employees will need their income statements to be correct so they can lodge their own returns.

    4. Prepare for Payday Super

    From 1 July 2026, superannuation is paid on payday, not quarterly. This is one of the biggest payroll changes in years.

    What that means in practice:

    • Weekly payroll = weekly super
    • Fortnightly payroll = fortnightly super
    • Monthly payroll = monthly super

    If you’ve been used to setting aside super and paying quarterly, this is a significant cash flow shift. Build the new rhythm into your forecasting before 1 July so it doesn’t catch you out. If you’re not sure your payroll system is set up to handle the change, now is the time to check.

    5. Pay outstanding super by 30 June to claim the deduction

    This one trips a lot of business owners up: super is only deductible in the financial year it is received by the employee’s fund, not the year you paid it. If you want a deduction in 2025-26, the super needs to be in the fund by 30 June 2026.

    Allow processing time. Build a buffer of several business days, and don’t lodge a payment on 29 June expecting it to clear in time.

    6. Tidy your books and reconcile

    Before you close out the year, do a final pass over your bookkeeping software:

    • Match every transaction to a category
    • Reconcile your bank accounts
    • Chase any outstanding invoices that you want paid before 30 June
    • Review and write off any genuinely bad debts so they don’t sit on your books another year

    Need a hand?

    If this list is making your shoulders climb up around your ears, you don’t have to do it on your own. I work with small business owners across hospitality, wine, service-based businesses and beyond, and EOFY is exactly the kind of crunch I’m built for. Get in touch and we’ll get your books and your head clear before 30 June.

    ~ Ami x

  • What the 2026 federal budget actually means for everyday business owners

    What the 2026 federal budget actually means for everyday business owners

    The 2026 federal budget was handed down on Tuesday 12 May, and the property changes are getting the loudest coverage. If you’ve been wondering whether to panic about your investment property, or what any of this means for your business, here’s the plain English version.

    A quick caveat: this is an announcement, not yet law. Draft legislation and detail are still to come, and some pieces could shift. Treat what follows as a guide. For anything that affects your specific situation, your accountant or tax agent is the right call.

    Property: the big headline

    If you already own an investment property, or signed a contract before 7:30pm AEST on Tuesday 12 May 2026 (5:30pm WA time), nothing changes for you. Existing rules continue indefinitely, including for properties under contract that haven’t settled. This is “grandfathering” and it’s the most important detail for current investors.

    For new purchases of established homes after that cut-off, from 1 July 2027 you can still claim all the usual deductions (interest, rates, insurance, repairs, depreciation) against rental income. You won’t be able to offset a net rental loss against wages or business income. Excess losses carry forward to future years against rental income or capital gains on rental property.

    New builds are carved out. Build or buy a genuinely new dwelling and negative gearing remains available, with a choice between the existing 50% CGT discount and the new system when you sell. The policy aim: keep encouraging investment in new housing supply while pulling back the tax advantage on existing housing.

    Capital gains tax

    From 1 July 2027, the flat 50% CGT discount is being replaced with an inflation-linked discount plus a minimum 30% tax on capital gains. This applies to most CGT assets, including shares as well as property.

    Only gains that accrue after 1 July 2027 are taxed under the new system. Anything your property gained before that date keeps the 50% discount. Sell in 2028, the gain is split at the 1 July 2027 line.

    Pensioners and income support recipients are exempt. The main residence exemption isn’t changing. Super funds aren’t affected.

    Small business: the helpful pieces

    Most of the property noise has drowned these out, but there’s plenty tucked into the budget for small business owners:

    • The $20,000 instant asset write-off is permanent from 1 July 2026 for businesses with turnover under $10 million
    • Loss carry-back is returning from 2026-27 (apply this year’s tax loss against tax already paid in an earlier year, generating a refund)
    • A new $1,000 instant work-related deduction is available for individuals from 2026-27, no receipts needed
    • A new permanent Working Australians Tax Offset worth up to $250 begins July 2027

    Trusts

    Discretionary trusts will pay a minimum 30% tax on taxable income from 1 July 2028, with some exceptions. Three-year rollover relief from 1 July 2027 is available for businesses that want to restructure ahead of the change. If you trade through a trust, start the conversation with your accountant well before 2028.

    What to do now about the 2026 federal budget

    If you already own an investment property, you’re grandfathered. No immediate trigger to sell.

    If you’re building or buying a new dwelling, your options on negative gearing and CGT are intact. Worth confirming with your accountant that what you’re building meets the eventual “new build” definition once detail is released.

    If you’re thinking about buying an established home as an investment after the cut-off, the maths from July 2027 onward looks different. Model it properly before you commit.

    On the small business side, the changes are genuinely useful, particularly the permanent instant asset write-off. You can buy the gear, the laptop, the espresso machine, and write it off in the year you bought it without wondering whether the rule will still be there next year.

    One last note: the next federal election is due by September 2028, only 14 months after the property changes start. Other countries have seen similar reforms wound back by incoming governments, so plan thoughtfully and try not to rush.

    If any of this leaves you with more questions than answers, that’s fair. Reach out and we can talk it through, or I can point you toward an accountant who can run the numbers properly.

    Ami x

  • When the back end eats the front end

    When the back end eats the front end

    It’s been a hard few weeks in Perth hospitality.

    The Young George closed its doors on April 2. And in October, after a beautiful run, Champagne and Gumboots will follow.

    Two venues. Two creative visions. Both gone within months of each other, in a city that loves its hospitality scene.

    I don’t pretend to know the full picture of either of these. But I do know what I see across the small hospitality businesses I work with, and I see the same thing every time. The back end of the business slowly eats the front end.

    Here’s what I mean

    When you start a venue, you start with a vision. The food. The wine list. The room. The way the music sits at 6.30pm versus 9.30pm. The kind of regular you want, and the kind of welcome they get when they walk in. That’s the front end. That’s the creative engine. That’s the reason the place exists at all.

    Then the bookkeeping starts. The supplier reconciliations. The BAS. The wage roll. The compliance. The chasing of receipts that someone definitely emailed but you cannot find. The end-of-quarter scramble. The inbox. The follow-up to the follow-up.

    And slowly, the back end starts to take more of your attention than the front. You’re not standing in the middle of the room reading the energy at 7pm anymore, you’re at the laptop trying to work out why your wages line doesn’t match your roster. You’re not tasting the new vintage with your sommelier, you’re chasing a missing invoice from someone who hasn’t replied since March.

    This is the drift. It does not look like a crisis. It looks like fatigue.

    Why this matters

    The creative front-end work is the work that grew the business and the work that will keep it alive. The minute the operator gets pulled out of that work and into permanent admin mode, the venue starts to lose the thing that made it itself.

    I started AmiWho specifically to sit on that back end so the operator does not have to.

    That’s the niche I am leaning into now. Hospitality. Wine. Service businesses where the magic lives at the front of the room, and the operator needs to be there, fully, to make it work.

    What that looks like in practice

    • Your bookkeeping handled on time, by someone who knows how a hospitality business actually moves through a week.
    • Your BAS and IAS lodged on the right dates, with the agent extension where it applies, and no last-minute scramble.
    • Your suppliers, reconciliations, payroll and compliance sitting with someone whose job is to make sure none of it pulls you off the floor.
    • A monthly check-in so you know what your numbers are saying, in plain language, without having to translate.

    A note on what this is not

    I’m not pretending this fixes every reason a venue closes. Rents are real and margins are real. The cost of everything is real. Hospitality is one of the hardest businesses in the country to run.

    But I do think a lot of operators are carrying admin work that should not be on their desk at all, and it is taking the energy that should be going into the room.

    If this is you

    If you operate a venue, or you care about someone who does, and you’re reading this and recognising the drift, please reach out. Even just for a conversation. The back end is what I do, so you can keep doing the bit only you can do.

    To The Young George, and to Champagne and Gumboots, thank you for everything you gave Perth. We were lucky to have you.

    ~ Ami x

  • Why your bookkeeper’s industry knowledge matters more than you think

    Why your bookkeeper’s industry knowledge matters more than you think

    Most business owners do not think too hard about whether their bookkeeper understands their industry. They think about whether the person is reliable, whether the work gets done on time, and whether the price is reasonable. Which is fair, as those things matter.

    But in hospitality, industry knowledge changes the quality of everything.

    I have spent years working with hospitality and wine businesses across Western Australia, and what I know from that experience is that the financial life of a venue, a cellar door, or a restaurant is genuinely different from almost any other type of business. The cost structure is different. The cash flow pressure is different. The payroll complexity is different. The margin conversation is different.

    When I look at a set of accounts for a hospitality business, I am not starting from scratch. I already understand what I am looking at. I know what healthy margins look like in this environment and what the warning signs are. I know how seasonal trading affects cash flow and how to plan around it rather than just report on it after the fact. I know the payroll nuances, the award conditions, the compliance obligations that catch operators out when they are not being actively managed.

    That context means the questions I ask are informed, the support I provide is more relevant, and you spend less time explaining your world to me and more time getting actual clarity.

    The WSET wine accreditation I hold adds another layer for businesses in the wine space specifically. Cellar doors, wine bars, restaurants with a serious wine programme: the financial decisions in these businesses are informed by an understanding of the product, the procurement, the margin implications of how a list is built. I bring that understanding with me.

    None of this is to say that a generalist bookkeeper cannot do a competent job. Many do. But there is a difference between competent and genuinely suited to your industry, and once you have worked with someone who truly gets your world, it is difficult to go back.

    ~ Ami x

  • What running a hospitality business actually takes

    What running a hospitality business actually takes

    There is a particular kind of tired that hospitality operators know all too well. It is not the tired that comes from a big week. It is the tired that comes from being across everything, all the time, with no clear boundary between where the business ends and where you begin.

    The floor, the roster, the suppliers, the numbers, the inbox, the compliance, the events, the follow-ups. Most owners are holding all of it because at some point they had to be, and the systems never quite caught up with the growth.

    AmiWho was built for that moment. A high-trust support service that integrates into the way a hospitality business actually runs.
    The core of what I do is bookkeeping. Invoicing, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, superannuation, bank reconciliations, BAS, IAS, debt collection. All of it handled accurately and on time, through cloud-based systems that give you real visibility into your numbers without requiring you to live inside them. In an industry where margins are tight and cash flow can shift quickly, that clarity is what allows you to make good decisions.
    But the support does not stop at the books.

    AmiWho also handles the operational and administrative layer that keeps a business running smoothly behind the scenes: diary management, client follow-ups, recruitment coordination, event logistics, travel, newsletters, and website maintenance. And increasingly, the digital side too. Meta advertising, Canva graphics, and content support for businesses that need a consistent, professional presence without adding another person to the payroll.

    Business setup and compliance rounds out the offering: ABN and TFN applications, GST and PAYG registrations, ATO payment arrangements, and ASIC obligations. Whether you are starting fresh or bringing structure to something that has outgrown its administration, that support is there when you need it.

    What changes when you have one person across all of it is hard to describe until you have experienced it. You stop re-briefing, and things stop falling through the cracks. You can stop carrying the mental load of remembering what needs to happen next, as someone else is already across it.

    That is what AmiWho provides. Not just tasks completed, but bandwidth returned.

    For businesses that want a defined scope of support from the outset, AmiWho now offers packages that bring the most in-demand services together in one place. If you want to know what that could look like for your business, the best place to start is here.

    ~ Ami x

  • I didn’t build AmiWho from a business plan. I built it from necessity

    I didn’t build AmiWho from a business plan. I built it from necessity

    The year I walked away from my marriage was the same year I lost the man who raised me. Two of the biggest losses of my life, arriving at the same time, while I was figuring out how to be a single mum and keep everything together for my daughter.

    I didn’t have a safety net and no one to hand the hard decisions to. I had to work out who I was, what I was capable of, and how I was going to build something real out of what was left.

    That experience changed everything about how I see business.

    When you have truly had to make every dollar count, when your daughter’s stability depends on the decisions you make this week, you stop tolerating anything that does not serve you, and you get very clear on what matters most. You learn to read the numbers not as abstract figures, but as real signals about the health of your life.

    I carried that into my work.

    When I started working with businesses across Western Australia, particularly in hospitality, I kept seeing venues that looked polished from the outside, but behind the scenes there was pressure, confusion, and owners who had no real visibility over what was actually going on financially. They were working incredibly hard, but the numbers were not telling the right story.
    That misalignment costs people. Not just money, but also time, energy, sleep and relationships.

    AmiWho was built to fix that.

    A bookkeeping service that is grounded and strategic. I come in, I look at what is actually happening beneath the surface, and I put the structure and clarity in place that allows a business to breathe and perform well again.

    Now, entering my eighth year, I know exactly who I am here to help and how.

    With a global WSET wine accreditation and years of experience working alongside hospitality and wine-focused businesses, AmiWho is positioned to support Western Australia’s industry in a way that goes beyond compliance. Financial visibility, operational precision, and long-term sustainability are the foundation.
    I am direct in how I work. This level of business does not have room for hesitation or guesswork.

    But I also understand what it feels like to be the one holding everything up as I have lived that, not just observed it.
    That is why AmiWho is not just a service.
    It is a standard.

    A standard for business owners who want transparency, control, and the ability to step back into what they have built knowing it is actually working for them.

    I know what it takes to build something from nothing, and I am here to make sure your business does not unravel while you are busy running it.

    ~ Ami x