Quarterly Compliance Checklist

Why a quarterly rhythm works

Most Australian SME compliance runs on a quarterly heartbeat: BAS, super, PAYG instalments and the management review that should sit alongside them. Businesses that handle these as a standing routine — same week each quarter, same owner, same checklist — spend a fraction of the effort of businesses that treat each one as a surprise. This page is general information; your accountant or bookkeeper should confirm what applies to your specific registrations.

Activity statement and GST

• Reconcile all bank accounts before touching the BAS — an unreconciled quarter produces a wrong BAS, and amending later costs more than reconciling now.
• Review GST coding on large or unusual transactions — GST-free supplies, capital purchases and anything imported are where most coding errors hide.
• Lodge and pay the BAS by the ATO's current due date for your lodgement channel — due dates differ if you lodge through a tax or BAS agent, so confirm yours rather than assuming.
• Check PAYG instalments — if the ATO has you in the instalment system, review whether the instalment still reflects your actual income; you can vary it if circumstances have genuinely changed.

People obligations

• Confirm superannuation is paid in full and on time — late super triggers the superannuation guarantee charge, which is more expensive and more painful than the super itself. Note that the payday super reforms change the required timing; check the ATO's current rules for when contributions must reach the fund.
• Verify STP reporting is flowing cleanly — scan for failed or rejected pay events in your payroll software each quarter rather than discovering them at year end.
• Check award rates and classifications — the Fair Work Ombudsman publishes current rates; a quarterly glance catches annual wage decisions and staff whose duties have outgrown their classification.
• Review payroll tax position if you're near the threshold — thresholds and rates are state-based and change; your state revenue office publishes the current figures. Grouping rules can catch related entities by surprise.

Corporate and licensing housekeeping

• Check for ASIC correspondence and confirm company details are current — the annual statement lands once a year, but address, officeholder and shareholding changes must be lodged as they happen.
• Scan licence, registration and accreditation expiry dates — anything expiring next quarter goes on this quarter's list, because renewals often need lead time.
• Confirm insurance certificates of currency are up to date — especially where clients or head contractors require them on file.

The management review

• Compare the quarter's results to plan — revenue, margin, cash position, debtor days. Compliance data you've just reconciled is the cheapest management information you'll ever get.
• Chase aged receivables past your terms — quarterly review is the backstop; the chasing itself should be weekly.
• Record what went wrong in the compliance process itself — every late lodgement or scramble is a signal that a task has no owner or no system behind it.

If the quarter-end crunch always lands on the same one or two people, that's a capacity and design problem, not a diligence problem — the pattern we call coordination tax. A connected back office turns this list from a scramble into a schedule.