June 30 is where weak voucher records become visible.
Your accountant needs more than a voucher-sales total. They need a dated outstanding balance, the movements that explain it, the verified GST status and saved voucher categories, and the evidence behind refunds, expiry and breakage review.
That work is straightforward when the ledger has been maintained throughout the year. It becomes a reconstruction when the records are scattered across spreadsheets, POS exports and staff memory.
This checklist is general information, not accounting or tax advice. Your accountant or BAS agent confirms the treatment for your business.
Six things to prepare before 30 June
- outstanding voucher liability at year-end;
- movement reconciliation for the year;
- vouchers that expired or otherwise require breakage review;
- verified GST status and saved transaction classifications;
- the report pack and accounting-export status; and
- the reviewed opening balance for the new year.
01 — Run the outstanding voucher balance
Produce a report as at 30 June showing every active or partly redeemed voucher and its remaining value.
The summary should explain:
- opening balance;
- vouchers issued or imported;
- redemptions;
- refunds and voids;
- expiry or recognition events;
- manual adjustments; and
- closing balance.
AASB 15 generally describes advance customer consideration as a contract liability until the relevant performance obligation is satisfied or another recognition conclusion is reached.
Do not assume every original face value remains outstanding. Use the live remaining balance after partial redemptions, refunds and other valid movements.
02 — Reconcile the movement to the accounting file
Compare the voucher-ledger closing balance with the relevant contract-liability accounts in Xero, QuickBooks or the business's general ledger.
Differences can come from:
- sales posted directly to income;
- an unsynced redemption or refund;
- imported vouchers not included in the opening journal;
- manual entries without voucher references;
- failed or held accounting events; or
- historical records with incomplete evidence.
The two numbers do not need to be forced together. They need to be explainable, with corrections approved by the accountant.
03 — Identify balances requiring expiry or breakage review
List vouchers that expired during the year, were deliberately extended, or have other evidence relevant to whether the customer's remaining right has become remote.
Do not automatically move every expired balance to income.
Under AASB 15, expected breakage may be recognised proportionally where a supportable estimate exists. Otherwise, revenue is recognised when the likelihood of further exercise becomes remote. A valid expiry may be important evidence, but the business's policy and circumstances still matter.
For qualifying Division 100 vouchers, an increasing GST adjustment may arise when an unredeemed reserve is written back to current income. The adjustment is linked to the amount written back, not merely to a date passing on the calendar.
Give the accountant:
- voucher reference;
- issue and expiry dates;
- original and remaining value;
- redemption history;
- extension or replacement history;
- saved voucher category and supply classification; and
- proposed recognition date and reason.
04 — Check GST applicability and historical evidence
GST reporting begins with the merchant's verified status.
- Not registered: ordinary voucher sales and reports should not contain GST lines or tax-invoice wording.
- Registered: GST depends on the saved voucher category and the supplies made.
- Unknown: verify the status before creating new sales or GST-dependent outputs.
For registered merchants, review whether:
- qualifying Division 100 voucher issues were excluded from taxable sales at issue;
- taxable redemptions used the redeemed amount and saved supply allocation;
- specific-supply vouchers followed the applicable ordinary GST rules;
- mixed or GST-free redemptions retained their classification;
- refunds reversed the original transaction evidence; and
- any unredeemed write-backs produced the appropriate adjustment.
Registration changes during the year should apply prospectively. Today's status must not be used to rewrite earlier transactions.
05 — Prepare the report pack
A useful year-end pack may include:
- outstanding liability and ageing;
- voucher movement or liability roll-forward;
- redemption activity;
- refunds and voids;
- voucher revenue summary;
- GST or BAS evidence where applicable;
- held or failed accounting-sync events; and
- an audit evidence export for material adjustments.
VoucherGrid report availability depends on the plan, permissions and current accounting holds. Outstanding voucher liability, Voucher revenue summary, Quarterly BAS voucher activity, Breakage recognition log and Journal entries import are currently held. Use available operational records with your accountant; do not fill missing historical evidence with today's assumptions.
06 — Set the new year's opening position
Once the accountant has reviewed the closing balance, preserve the report or saved snapshot supporting it.
That closing balance becomes the opening position for the new year. If you are migrating from another system, import each outstanding voucher with as much original evidence as possible rather than creating one unsupported bulk total.
At minimum, record:
- voucher identifier;
- issue and expiry dates;
- original and remaining value;
- current status;
- existing redemption history where available; and
- the best available tax and supply evidence.
Unknown historical evidence should remain labelled as unknown. Do not backfill a current tax status into old transactions merely to make the file look complete.
A quick consumer-law check
While reviewing the ledger, confirm that ordinary paid vouchers use at least the applicable minimum expiry, display the expiry prominently, and do not allow prohibited post-supply fees to reduce the redeemable value.
Recognised exceptions exist. The legal category and terms should be documented rather than inferred from a staff note.
How long should this take?
With current records, the practical work is mainly running the reports, checking held items and answering the accountant's questions.
With manual records, the time depends on volume and evidence quality. Partial redemptions, old replacements, mixed tax treatment and unsupported adjustments are what turn the review into a long job.
The cost of weak voucher records is not only the time spent during the year. It is the time spent proving what happened after the fact.
The one thing to action
Before 30 June, produce one dated number:
the total remaining voucher value the business still has to honour.
Then make sure you can explain every movement between last year's opening balance and this year's closing balance.
