| An EOFY IT checklist is a review of your business’s technology before its balance date. Check the assets you use, the services you pay for, and any security or recovery gaps. Give your accountant accurate records, then assign the work that needs doing now or planning for the year ahead. |
The standard balance date in New Zealand is 31 March, but some businesses use another date. Confirm yours with your accountant and allow time to resolve outstanding items. Backups, patching and access changes still need attention throughout the year.
This EOFY IT checklist, short for end of financial year, is written for New Zealand business owners and managers. It sets out the six areas to review, what to check in each, what to hand to your accountant and how to turn the findings into next year’s plan. Use it with whoever manages your IT, whether that is an internal person or a provider.
Your EOFY IT checklist
Work through these six areas of the EOFY IT checklist with the person who manages your IT. Record anything unresolved, who will handle it, and when it needs to be completed.
| Area | What to check | What to carry forward |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Confirm devices in use, ownership or lease status, purchases, losses and disposals. Check support life. | An updated inventory and purchase and disposal records for the accountant. |
| Licences | Compare authorised users and actual use with paid seats and plans. Check dependencies, retention and cancellation terms. | A list of changes, renewal dates and savings that can be realised. |
| Contracts | Check price, scope, renewal date, notice period and exit obligations for IT, internet, phones and cloud services. | Decisions to renew, change or end each agreement, with notice deadlines. |
| Security | Review authorised access, MFA coverage, endpoint protection, overdue patches and relevant policy obligations. | Priority gaps, a responsible person and a due date. |
| Backups and recovery | Check coverage, failures, retention, access and the last relevant restore test against recovery needs. | Any missing data or recovery gaps and the next appropriate test. |
| Budget and purchases | Check planned purchases, remaining funds and the business need for each item. Confirm tax timing with the accountant. | Approved purchases and items to feed into next year’s budget and roadmap. |
For each finding, record the issue, its business impact, the owner, the due date and any expected cost. Separate urgent fixes from next year’s budget items and things to monitor. Review the list again so unfinished work does not disappear after year-end.
The EOFY IT checklist covers common review areas rather than every possible risk. These are private working records for your business and your accountant, so there is nothing here to publish.
When should you run an EOFY IT checklist?
Run your EOFY IT checklist in the weeks before your balance date, leaving time to act on what it finds. Inland Revenue’s guidance on balance dates explains that the standard balance date is 31 March, with an accounting year from 1 April to the following 31 March. Some industries and businesses use other dates approved by Inland Revenue, so check yours with your accountant rather than assuming.
Starting early matters for contracts in particular. A renewal notice period can close weeks before the contract ends, so a review that starts on the last day of the year can be too late to change anything until the following year.
Is this the same as IT budget planning?
No. An EOFY IT checklist looks back at the year that is closing and tidies it up. IT budget planning looks forward and sets technology spend for the year ahead. The two work well back to back: finish the review, then use what you found to shape next year’s budget.
How does an EOFY IT checklist cover IT assets?
Start the EOFY IT checklist with assets, because the rest of the review depends on knowing what the business uses. Check the operational inventory against the devices people are actually using, including laptops, desktops, phones, servers, network equipment and printers.
Keep the history, not just the current list
Your operational inventory and your accountant’s fixed-asset register are related but different. The inventory shows what is in use and who has it. The fixed-asset register records what the business owns for tax and accounting purposes.
- Add new equipment. Record items bought during the year with their purchase dates.
- Mark status rather than deleting. Mark retired, lost, replaced or returned items with their status and relevant dates, and keep the history.
- Send records to your accountant. Pass on purchase and disposal records so your accountant can update the fixed-asset register and decide on any write-offs.
- Check leased equipment separately. Include leased devices in operational checks without treating them as business-owned.
- Arrange secure disposal. Make sure data is securely removed from devices being disposed of or returned at the end of a lease.
Good IT documentation makes this part of the EOFY IT checklist faster each year.
Check support life
Note devices that are approaching the end of their manufacturer or software support, as well as those that are slow or unreliable. Our guide to hardware lifecycle planning covers when to repair or replace hardware, and computer leasing is an alternative way to fund replacements.
How does an EOFY IT checklist review software licences?
Pull a full list of every subscription and licence the business pays for, then compare it with the people who use each one. This part of the EOFY IT checklist asks whether you are paying for the right number of seats on the right plan.
- Users against seats. Compare authorised users and actual use with the seats and plans you pay for, including licences still assigned to people who have left.
- Overlapping tools. Look for two products doing the same job, or a premium plan bought for a project that has finished.
- Dependencies. Check what relies on a licence before removing it, such as a shared mailbox, a stored file or an integration with another system.
- Retention and cancellation. Check retention requirements and cancellation terms, because some annual plans cannot be reduced until renewal.
Record the changes, renewal dates and savings that can be realised. A saving that depends on a renewal date months away belongs in next year’s budget rather than this year’s figures.
What should you check in IT contracts?
List your IT support agreement, internet and phone contracts, cloud services and any other recurring IT agreements. For each, check the price, scope, renewal date, notice period and exit obligations. The aim of this step in the EOFY IT checklist is a clear decision to renew, change or end each agreement before its notice deadline passes.
Automatic renewal is convenient, but it can carry last year’s terms into a year where the business has grown, shrunk or changed how it works. If you are considering a change of support provider, our guide to switching IT providers covers the handover.
What security checks belong in an EOFY IT checklist?
Security gaps do not follow the financial calendar, but the EOFY IT checklist is a reliable prompt to check the basics. Review authorised access and remove accounts for people who have left, confirm MFA coverage, check that endpoint protection is active on every device, and look for overdue patches. Note any policy obligations, such as customer contracts or industry requirements, that the business needs to meet.
Check Windows 10 support status
Standard Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025. Check which devices still run Windows 10, which edition they use, whether they are eligible for Windows 11, and whether any have active commercial Extended Security Updates (ESU) coverage. Microsoft’s ESU guidance explains that ESU provides critical and important security updates for a limited period and does not include new features or technical support. Some long-term servicing editions have different lifecycles. Our Windows 10 end of life guide covers the options in more detail. Add any remaining Windows 10 devices to the fix-now or budget list from your EOFY IT checklist.
Check your cyber insurance declarations
Review the security requirements and declarations in your cyber policy with your broker or insurer. Check whether the controls you declared are still in place and whether changes need to be disclosed. Cover and claim outcomes depend on the policy and circumstances. Our guide to cyber insurance explains the questions insurers ask. Add any gaps to your EOFY IT checklist findings.
How does an EOFY IT checklist check backups and recovery?
A backup job completing successfully does not tell you everything about recovery. Check that the right data is covered and review the last relevant restore test: what was recovered, whether it was usable, how long it took, and what still needs fixing. Set the next test around your business’s recovery needs and any significant changes.
- Coverage. Confirm backups include the systems and data the business relies on, including cloud services such as Microsoft 365.
- Failures. Review failed or incomplete backup jobs over the year and whether each was resolved.
- Retention. Check that backups are kept for as long as the business needs them.
- Access. Confirm who can restore data and that the credentials and keys needed are available.
A restore test gives confidence in the scope that was tested, not in everything. Our guide to data backup strategy covers recovery planning in more detail.
How should an EOFY IT checklist handle IT purchases?
Your job in the EOFY IT checklist is to give your accountant accurate records. Their job is to apply the tax rules. Exodesk does not provide tax advice, so confirm the detail with your accountant or tax agent before making purchasing decisions for tax reasons.
Low-value assets
Inland Revenue’s guidance on claiming depreciation sets the low-value asset threshold at $1,000. An asset at or below that cost, excluding GST if you are registered, can be deducted in full rather than depreciated. Items bought together, or parts of a larger asset, may not each qualify on their own, so ask your accountant before treating a group of accessories as separate low-value items.
Investment Boost
Eligible new or new-to-New-Zealand depreciable assets may qualify for a 20% Investment Boost deduction, with depreciation on the remaining amount. The asset must first be available for business use on or after 22 May 2025. Ask your accountant whether the purchase qualifies and which income year the deduction belongs in. Ordering or paying before balance date alone does not settle that question.
Buy for the business, not the deduction
Bringing forward a planned replacement can make sense if the equipment is needed. Buying equipment you do not need purely for a deduction does not, because a deduction returns only part of the cost. Leasing is a separate decision, and its tax treatment depends on the agreement and your circumstances.
What should your EOFY IT checklist give your accountant?
The EOFY IT checklist produces records your accountant can use. Keep them in one place and send them in time for the year-end accounts.
- Asset records. The updated inventory, with purchases, disposals, losses and returns marked with dates.
- Purchase details. Invoices for equipment bought during the year, and when each item became available for use.
- Licence and subscription changes. Plans added, cancelled or changed, with renewal dates.
- Contract decisions. Agreements renewed, changed or ended, and any exit costs.
Ask your accountant which of these they need and in what format, so you collect the right detail during the review rather than afterwards.
How do you turn EOFY IT checklist findings into next year’s plan?
Once you have worked through the EOFY IT checklist, sort everything it surfaced into three lists: fix now, budget for next year, and monitor. That step turns a set of notes into a plan the business can act on.
The fix-now list is short and urgent, such as an overdue patch, a failed backup or a departed staff member’s account that is still active. The budget list holds larger items such as hardware replacements and project work, which feed into IT budget planning. The monitor list holds things that are fine for now but worth tracking.
Pulling the budget items into an IT roadmap gives each one an owner, an expected cost and a timeframe, so technology decisions line up with where the business is heading.
Treat it as an annual stocktake, not the only check
An annual EOFY IT checklist suits the stocktake of assets, licences and contracts. It does not replace ongoing monitoring of backups, patching and security alerts, which need attention throughout the year. Review contracts before their notice deadlines, even if that falls outside the year-end review. Keeping each year’s checklist builds a record of how your technology and spend change over time.
EOFY IT checklist support from Exodesk
Exodesk can work through the EOFY IT checklist with you, including asset and licence records, contract reviews, security and backup checks, and a plan for the year ahead. We agree the scope and priorities with you first, and we can liaise directly with your accountant on the IT records they need. Our IT consulting page explains how we work.
Exodesk has supported New Zealand businesses since 1989. Today, our Christchurch and Dunedin teams support businesses nationwide.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is an EOFY IT checklist?
An EOFY IT checklist is a review of business technology before the balance date. It covers assets, licences, contracts, security, backups and recovery, and budget and purchases. The findings go to your accountant as records and into next year as assigned actions.
When is the end of the financial year in New Zealand?
The standard balance date is 31 March, with the accounting year running from 1 April. Some businesses use another date approved by Inland Revenue for their industry or circumstances. Confirm your own balance date with your accountant.
What should be on an EOFY IT checklist?
Six areas: assets, licences, contracts, security, backups and recovery, and budget and purchases. For each finding, record the issue, its impact, the owner, the due date and any expected cost.
How regularly should a business review its IT?
An annual stocktake of assets, licences and contracts fits well around the balance date as part of an EOFY IT checklist. Backups, patching and security alerts need ongoing monitoring throughout the year. Review contracts before their notice deadlines, even outside the annual review.
How do I update my IT asset register at year-end?
Check the inventory against the devices your business uses. Add new equipment and mark retired, lost, replaced or returned items with their status and relevant dates. Keep the history and send purchase and disposal records to your accountant so they can update the fixed-asset register correctly. Arrange secure data removal and lease returns where needed.
Should I buy IT equipment before the end of the financial year?
Only if the business needs it. A deduction returns part of the cost, so buying equipment purely for a deduction does not save money. Ask your accountant whether a purchase qualifies and which income year any deduction belongs in.
What is the low-value asset threshold in New Zealand?
Inland Revenue sets the low-value asset threshold at $1,000, excluding GST if you are registered. An asset at or below that cost can be deducted in full rather than depreciated. Items bought together or parts of a larger asset may not qualify on their own, so check with your accountant.
Does Investment Boost apply to IT equipment?
Eligible new or new-to-New-Zealand depreciable assets may qualify for a 20% Investment Boost deduction, with depreciation on the remaining amount. The asset must first be available for business use on or after 22 May 2025. Your accountant can confirm eligibility and the income year.
What security checks belong in a year-end IT review?
Review authorised access, MFA coverage, endpoint protection and overdue patches. Check Windows 10 devices for their edition, Windows 11 eligibility and any active Extended Security Updates coverage, since standard support ended on 14 October 2025. Review your cyber insurance declarations with your broker or insurer.
How do I know my backups will work?
A completed backup job does not confirm recovery. Check that the right data is covered and review the last relevant restore test, including what was recovered, whether it was usable and how long it took. Set the next test around your recovery needs and any significant changes.
Is a year-end IT review the same as IT budget planning?
No. A year-end review looks back at the closing year, while IT budget planning sets technology spend for the year ahead. Use the review findings to shape the budget.
Can Exodesk help with our EOFY IT checklist?
Yes. Exodesk can work through the checklist with you, covering asset and licence records, contract reviews, security and backup checks, and a plan for the coming year. We agree the scope first and can liaise directly with your accountant on the IT records they need.
Contact us or call 0800 396 337 to talk through your year-end IT review.
