Your Financial Year-End Checklist

Six things every Kenyan business should close out before the new financial year.

Most businesses treat year-end like a tax deadline. It's not. It's the one moment in the year where you can look at everything: your books, your people, your controls, your cash and decide whether you're actually in good shape or just hoping you are.

This checklist cuts it down to the six areas that matter most for Kenyan businesses. Work through them before June 30. Not because KRA is watching, but because your next financial year starts with whatever you leave behind in this one.

Reconcile Every Account Before You Close

If your books don't match your bank and M-Pesa statements, everything built on top of them, your tax returns, your financial reports, your audit- is wrong. This is the foundation. Get it right first.

Kiotapay's accounting sync with QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage keeps transactions reconciled in real time, so year-end isn't a catch-up exercise.

Check:

✔ Bank account balances · ✔ M-Pesa and mobile money transactions ✔ Outstanding deposits ·

✔ Unpresented payments ✔ Unmatched transactions · ✔ Mobile money agent accounts

Verify Every Payroll Record

One wrong PAYE calculation filed consistently across twelve months is not a small mistake, it's a back-tax assessment waiting to happen. Before you close the year, confirm every statutory deduction was calculated correctly and remitted on time.

Kiotapay's HR & Payroll automatically applies current KRA, NSSF, and SHIF rates, so every deduction is calculated correctly before it's ever filed.

Verify:

✔ PAYE calculations against current KRA rates · ✔ NSSF deductions ✔ SHIF contributions · ✔ Housing Levy deductions ✔ Bonuses and commissions declared · ✔ Leave balances reconciled · ✔ Staff advances and loan balances ✔ Employee records up to date.

Every Expense Needs a Paper Trail

Expense records are where most audit problems start. Petty cash with no receipts. Travel claims with no approval. Supplier payments with no supporting invoice. KRA won't disallow what it can't find, but it will disallow what you can't prove.

Kiotapay's Approval Workflows require documentation at the point of spending, not as an afterthought , so every expense arrives at year-end with its audit trail already intact.

Check:

✔ Staff reimbursements and receipts · ✔ Travel and accommodation expenses

✔ Petty cash records balanced. ✔ Procurement expenses documented

✔ Project costs coded correctly · ✔ Approval records complete ·

✔ Missing receipts investigated . ✔ Duplicate payments identified.

Know Exactly Where Your Money Is

Outstanding invoices, unpaid suppliers, and untracked cash movement are the three things that create nasty surprises in January. Before you close the year, get a clear picture of what you're owed, what you owe, and whether the business can comfortably meet its obligations going forward.

Kiotapay's Real-Time Dashboards give finance teams a live view of collections, payables, and cash position, so nothing is discovered for the first time at year-end.

Review:

✔ Unpaid customer invoices · ✔ Bad debt provisions made · ✔ Accrued expenses recorded ·

✔ Overdue balances (follow up or write off) ✔ Supplier invoices pending payment ✔ Working capital position assessed

✔ Seasonal cash flow patterns reviewed · ✔ Financing obligations noted

Generate the Reports. Review Them

A year-end report that nobody reads is just a filing exercise. Before you close the books, sit down with your finance team and actually look at the numbers, the trends, the risks, and the gaps. Then make sure every document that an auditor might ask for is organized, accessible, and complete.

Kiotapay's Bulk Disbursements and Payment Links ensure every outgoing and incoming transaction carries a complete digital record, so the reports you generate are backed by data you can stand behind.

Prepare and review:

✔ Profit and Loss Statement · ✔ Cash Flow Statement · ✔ Balance Sheet

✔ Accounts Receivable Aging Report ✔ Accounts Payable Aging Report · ✔ Payroll and statutory reports

✔ Tax summary reports · ✔ Asset register (disposals and depreciation)

File securely and confirm you have:

✔ Bank statements for all accounts · ✔ Supplier and customer contracts

✔ Payment approvals on record · ✔ Tax records and payment confirmations

Closing the year with confidence

The businesses that start the new year in a strong position aren't the ones that worked hardest in June. They're the ones that built the right habits in January and kept them all year.

Year-end isn't the finish line. It's the audit of everything you did, or didn't do, in the twelve months before it.

Visit kiotapay.co.ke to see how Kiotapay keeps your business compliant all year.

Key Deadlines: June 20 (VAT & Withholding Tax) · June 30 (Income Tax Returns)