Closing the books on manual payroll compliance

We understand how busy and stressful the End of Financial Year (EOFY) period can be – especially for payroll teams. Preparation and accuracy are the keys to navigating this time of year, and having the right system to support that is critical.

As the financial year draws to a close, businesses must navigate the intricacies of EOFY payroll processes. This entails reconciling payroll records, conducting compliance audits, and preparing for regulatory submissions. By adopting best practices in EOFY payroll management, organisations can facilitate a smooth transition while maintaining compliance.

The most common times to run an EOFY year are:

• March/April in New Zealand, and
• June/July in Australia

Although many businesses may close their financial year at other points in the calendar, these periods line up with the mandatory compliance updates required for MYOB Exo Employer Services users. Digital transformation presents an opportunity for organisations to streamline their EOFY and compliance processes. Transitioning from manual payroll processes to automated solutions mitigates risks, boosts accuracy, and improves efficiency in your organisation.

Why do you need compliance updates?

Tax and payroll regulations are constantly changing and evolving across both Australia and New Zealand. These regulations could stipulate changes to tax rates, superannuation, or other items directly relevant to employees. They could also change the way you report to national tax bodies such as the introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP) in Australia.

In New Zealand, businesses are expected to maintain compliance with payroll-related obligations throughout the year, rather than focusing solely on EOFY. This ongoing compliance approach aims to reduce the need for significant payroll-related tasks specifically at EOFY.

In Australia, the EOFY is the chance for businesses to update their systems and processes to focus on compliance changes for the coming year. Changes or updates to financial regulations, tax rates and thresholds, and accounting standards must happen at this time, so the business can run smoothly through the coming year.

Using technology to manage compliance

Dedicated payroll systems are built to work with the latest compliance requirements. MYOB Exo Employer Services is usually only updated once per year with the new compliance updates. This annual update is released at the end of March in New Zealand and at the end of June in Australia. Because MYOB Exo Employer Services is an on-premise payroll system, users and administrators must install each update manually.

Staying compliant requires continuous updates and adherence to regulatory changes. For payroll teams, this creates efficiency bottlenecks as the new compliance updates must be applied and installed before the first pay run of the new financial year. Even in New Zealand when there is a less significant focus on payroll as part of the EOFY process, the manual update process can be frustrating.

MYOB Advanced Payroll automates compliance updates

MYOB Advanced Payroll is a cloud-based payroll solution with powerful functionality to support your payroll team. It can be operated as a standalone system as well as integrated into the MYOB Advanced (Acumatica) platform. 

MYOB Advanced Payroll has an online tax engine, so you will always have the correct tax thresholds and rates updated in your system. This is the power of a cloud-based application – the updates happen in the background. Every pay is always using the correct information – no more manual compliance updates.

Other benefits of powerful cloud payroll solutions

MYOB Advanced Payroll has all the powerful payroll functionality you would expect in an Enterprise-level system. It is built to support the payroll needs of larger, more complex organisations.

MYOB Advanced Payroll functionality is designed to remove the stress from your pay run. It automatically collects as much information as possible and gives you the power to find and correct mistakes before generating banking files. Other important features are:

• Allowing for multiple employee pay groups across several pay frequencies,
• Powerful configuration options that cater to many different employee scenarios,
• Single Touch Payroll is enabled to automatically update the ATO,
• Automated onboarding journeys for new starters,
• Advanced payroll software reporting, transaction history and audit tracking, and
• End of Year Payroll functions to streamline your end-of-year processes.

MYOB Advanced Workforce Management is an additional module of MYOB Advanced Payroll. It overlaps with some employee self-service features of MYOB Advanced Payroll; however, it also automates rostering and timesheets, manages real-time clock-in and clock-out functionality, and facilitates shift-swapping between employees. There is a dedicated MYOB Advanced Workforce Management mobile application that gives your team the ability to manage everything from any location. It automatically updates group awards to maintain compliance and ensure your staff are paid correctly.

How bringing people and payroll together can help streamline compliance eBook

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Built a connected business management platform

MYOB Advanced Payroll integrates with MYOB Advanced Business to create one advanced platform to manage your entire organisation. Integrating payroll with your General Ledger further streamlines the power of your payroll team. It removes the need to duplicate data across systems or create import scenarios. Payroll administrators can verify information in each pay run and generate bank files that automatically match to the correct accounts in the General Ledger. Payroll expenses can also be allocated to projects with a single click, further improving efficiency for your entire team.

MYOB Acumatica Information Pack eBook

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Take the next steps to the cloud.

On-premise payroll systems like MYOB Exo Employer Services are being quickly outpaced by the functionality and usability of cloud-based systems. MYOB Exo Employer Services will reach end-of -life in November 2025 and is now been replaced with the new generation cloud solution: MYOB Advanced Payroll. Now more than ever, it is the right time to move your payroll to the cloud.

The Kilimanjaro Consulting team are experts in configuring MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management to meet your complex requirements. We have the largest, most experienced team of MYOB Advanced consultants across Australia and New Zealand, with a history of successful MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management implementations. We can guide you through the MYOB Exo Employer Services End-of-Life process and ensure a smooth transition to your next payroll system.

To explore MYOB Advanced Payroll or MYOB Advanced Workforce Management and decide if it is right for your organisation, contact an expert. Email sales@kilimanjaro-consulting.com or call 1300 857 464 (AU) or 0800 436 774 (NZ).