Your EOFY Checklist: What Every Accounting Practice Should Review Before 30 June

End of financial year is the season when accountants are buried in their clients' affairs. Deadlines, lodgements, last-minute questions — there's rarely a quiet moment.

It's easy, in the middle of all that, to let your own practice slip. One of the areas most likely to get pushed to 'I'll deal with it in July' is your insurance cover.

The problem: 30 June is when many professional indemnity policies come up for renewal. And it leads into a period when ATO activity typically increases. Letting cover drift past the deadline isn't just inconvenient — it creates real risk.

Here's what's worth checking now, while there's still time.

1. Is your professional indemnity still current and compliant?

PI insurance isn't optional for accountants in public practice. If you're a member of CPA Australia, CA ANZ, IPA, ATMA, or The Tax Institute, compliant cover is a membership requirement — not a nice-to-have.

What catches practices out isn't usually a lapsed policy. It's a policy that renewed on auto-pilot without checking whether the terms still fit. A few questions worth asking:

·       Has your fee revenue changed significantly this year?

·       Have you taken on new services or work outside your usual scope?

·       Do you have new staff, contractors, or partners joining?

·       Has your client profile shifted — larger clients, higher-risk matters?

Any of those changes can affect your exposure. A policy renewed at last year's limits may leave you underinsured where it counts.

2. Do you have Tax Audit Insurance in place before the ATO comes looking?

Post-EOFY is peak ATO season. Data-matching ramps up, income tax assessments go out, and audit or review letters arrive — often without warning.

Tax Audit Insurance covers the professional fees involved in responding to an ATO audit or review — for your firm and, if you set it up that way, for your clients too. The timing issue is simple: you need cover before the audit letter arrives. Once it's in your inbox, it's too late to arrange it.

For practices that handle audit work regularly, this is worth reviewing annually. For those who haven't arranged it — the lead-up to EOFY is the right time to have that conversation.

3. Is your cyber exposure properly covered?

Accounting practices hold a significant amount of sensitive client data — tax records, bank details, business financials, personal information — often across multiple systems including cloud platforms and third-party software.

Cyber events are not covered under standard PI policies. A data breach, ransomware attack, or system compromise triggers a completely different set of costs: notification obligations, response, potential regulatory exposure, and remediation.

If you don't have dedicated cyber cover, it's worth putting on the review list. We offer an optional Cyber Liability add-on to existing PI policies, as well as standalone options depending on your practice setup.

4. Check your policy schedule before you renew

Before any renewal, pull out your current policy schedule and run through it. Confirm:

·       The insured entity is correct (especially if you've restructured)

·       Policy limits reflect your current practice scale

·       Services listed match what you're actually doing for clients

·       Professional body wording requirements are met

Small discrepancies on paper can become significant problems at claim time. It's a five-minute check that's worth doing every year.

What to do now

June is a hectic month. That's exactly why it's worth booking a review call before the calendar fills up completely.

A conversation with the Abacus team takes around 20 minutes and answers the key question: is your practice appropriately covered heading into the new financial year?

Book a review call with Abacus

If you're an existing client, your renewal reminder is on its way. Don't let it sit past 30 June. If you're not yet with Abacus, reach out — we work exclusively with accounting practices and can usually turn around a competitive quote quickly.

Getting your cover sorted now means you're starting the new financial year on the front foot — not chasing paperwork in July.