EOFY planning for your business - reflect, reset and prepare

EOFY planning or small business - a useful reset

EOFY can feel like a sprint as you focus on closing out the financial year while keeping on top of day-to-day business demands. But it’s also typically one of the few predictable moments where leaders can take stock and plan what comes next.

Compliance obligations often force businesses to review records. So, it can also be a natural checkpoint for broader new year financial planning for small businesses.

Create space for a review to consider how your business is really going. This article will help you reflect and prioritise where to focus, with links to more detailed guides if you want to unpack topics further.

A chance to reduce pressure

You can use EOFY to think about what should stay the same and what needs to improve. It can help open space to explore where unnecessary pressure could be removed from your business.

Simply put, EOFY can be a chance to reset and reinvigorate your business for the new year.

Reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and where time disappeared

An EOFY review doesn’t need to be a big time‑consuming exercise. A short, honest review can help you identify friction points in how your business is running.

You can use these three questions to help you.

1. What did you set out to achieve this year?

Did you aim to win new customers and grow your business? Or were you more focused on efficiency and boosting productivity? It’s fine if you set out to do all of this and more. The important thing is to be clear on the context against which you’re assessing the past year.

2. How did things go over the past year?

Ask yourself:

• What felt easier this year and why?
• What felt harder than it should have? And why?
• Where did you consistently lose time or momentum?

If you have a team, explore these questions together.

3. Where are the main pressure points in your business?

Productivity, quality of work and customer experience can be impacted when processes aren’t clear or when people don’t have the clarity, tools or support they need.

Common pressure points can often include duplicated admin, manual workarounds, unclear hand off points between people and tech interruptions that can pull focus away from core work. Business technology reviews can also help surface issues and opportunities to improve operations.

Explore where time and effort can be quietly lost with productivity gaps. Request a callback from your local Telstra Business Centre if you’d like help with general business or technology advice.

Prioritise what matters most for the year ahead

To make EOFY planning more concrete and useful, it can be helpful to choose a clear focus for the year ahead.  

Many small business leaders feel pulled between competing priorities. Rather than trying to do everything at once, consider a headline focus for the year ahead. This will help you prioritise action for the year ahead.

Consider if any of these themes fit, or if your priorities are something else.

• Grow - improve customer experience, capacity and competitiveness.
• Stabilise - reduce risk, tighten foundations, and regain control.
• Simplify - remove friction, streamline workflows, and consolidate tools.

Once your priority is clear, you can consider what’s next, whether that’s a process improvement, a system review or access to extra capability.

If operational issues impacted your productivity over the past year, it’s a good time to consider a review of your business setup, technology and systems. 

Prepare a plan to strengthen your business

EOFY can be a great time to work on a practical plan to strengthen the foundations of your business. You might consider these four areas:

• Organisation: how can you better set up calendars, role definitions and reminders that help reduce last‑minute pressure?
• Operations: where can processes and workflows be improved to reflect how the business needs to run?
• Technology: what tools and systems will best support productivity rather than adding complexity and competing for attention?
• Cyber security: when can you plan simple hygiene checks during the high‑risk EOFY period and during everyday operations?

Read our guide to reviewing your business tech for more help.

Focusing on how to make work easier with specific improvements can help build new operational efficiencies over time to help reduce stress later.

Explore why small and medium businesses are investing in tech.  

Your EOFY starting point

EOFY can feel overwhelming if you try to tackle everything at once. The good news is you don’t need to. Think about where the biggest immediate benefits could be for your business and start there.

• Do you want more structure and clarity? Try using an EOFY checklist to help organise key tasks and plan better.
• Does technology feel heavier than it should? Review whether your current tools still fit how you work.
• Is time disappearing into admin and inefficiencies? Look for productivity gaps highlighted by EOFY pressures.
• Are you confident in your cyber security practices? If not, then review cyber security basics and boost protection over the high risk EOFY period.

Take advantage of EOFY to help plan for a smoother and more confident year ahead.

For more support on structured reflection to help you on your business journey, explore our strategic business planning checklist with tips and insights from Telstra Best of Business Awards Judges.