September can be a busy month for Australian business owners. The new financial year no longer feels quite so new, workloads are often picking up after winter, and the focus naturally shifts towards finishing jobs, winning new work and keeping customers happy.
But September is also an ideal time to check how your business is tracking financially.
By the end of the month, you will have completed the first quarter of the 2026–27 financial year. That gives you enough information to identify patterns, spot potential problems and make useful adjustments, while still leaving plenty of time to influence the outcome of the year.
For businesses in construction, trades and service industries, this can be particularly important. Strong sales do not necessarily mean strong cash flow or profitability. Labour costs, materials, subcontractors, vehicles, equipment, tax obligations and slow-paying customers can quickly absorb the cash coming through the door.
A September financial health check can help you understand what is really happening behind the numbers.
Here are some of the key areas worth reviewing.
1. Compare your first-quarter performance with your expectations
Start with a simple question: is the business performing as expected?
Look at your revenue, gross profit and overall profit for July and August, together with your September position where possible.
Rather than simply checking whether sales are up or down, consider what is driving the result.
You may have more work than this time last year but be making less profit from it. Material costs may have increased. Labour may be taking longer than expected. Your mix of jobs may have changed, or you may be winning plenty of work at prices that no longer produce the margin you need.
For trades and construction businesses, reviewing profitability by job, project or service type can be particularly valuable. A healthy-looking total revenue figure can sometimes hide projects that are consistently underperforming.
The earlier you identify this, the easier it is to adjust quoting, pricing, purchasing or project management.
2. Look beyond your bank balance
One of the most common financial traps in business is using the bank account as the primary measure of performance.
Having cash in the bank is important, but it does not necessarily mean the business is profitable.
Some of that money may already be committed to GST, PAYG withholding, superannuation, supplier invoices, wages, loan repayments or upcoming expenses.
The opposite can also be true. A temporarily low bank balance does not automatically mean the business is performing poorly, particularly if you are waiting for several large invoices to be paid.
Your profit and loss statement, balance sheet, accounts receivable and cash flow position provide a much clearer picture when considered together.
If you are turning over significant amounts of money but constantly wondering where the cash has gone, September is a good time to investigate why.
3. Review outstanding invoices before they become a cash flow problem
For many small businesses, particularly contractors and service providers, cash flow problems begin in accounts receivable.
Work has been completed and income has been recorded, but the customer has not yet paid.
Review your outstanding invoices and pay particular attention to anything that is already outside your normal payment terms.
The longer an invoice remains unpaid, the more difficult it can become to collect.
Consider whether your invoicing processes are helping or hindering cash flow. Are invoices being sent as soon as work is completed? Are deposits being requested where appropriate? Are progress claims being submitted promptly? Are overdue accounts followed up consistently?
For larger projects, it is also worth considering whether your payment structure matches the timing of your costs.
If you are paying employees, subcontractors and suppliers weeks before receiving payment from the customer, the business may effectively be financing the project.
Good debtor management is not simply an administrative task. It is an important part of protecting your cash flow.
4. Check that you are allowing for tax obligations
A strong few months can create a false sense of available cash if tax obligations have not been properly allowed for.
For businesses reporting GST quarterly, the July to September quarter generally forms part of the first-quarter BAS, with the standard lodgment and payment date falling on 28 October. Different arrangements can apply where a registered tax or BAS agent is involved.
Rather than waiting until the BAS is prepared to find out how much is payable, it can be helpful to regularly set aside money for GST, PAYG withholding and other tax obligations.
This becomes even more important as a business grows.
Higher turnover can mean larger GST liabilities. Employing more people increases payroll obligations. Higher profits may also result in larger PAYG instalments or income tax liabilities.
Tax planning works best when it happens throughout the year, not only when a payment deadline arrives.
5. Make sure your payroll and super processes have adapted to Payday Super
The 2026–27 financial year brought an important change for employers.
From 1 July 2026, Payday Super commenced, requiring employers to pay superannuation guarantee contributions in connection with employees’ salary and wage payments rather than relying on the previous quarterly payment cycle. The super guarantee rate is currently 12%.
For employers, this makes payroll accuracy and cash flow planning even more important.
Super is no longer something that can simply be dealt with as a large quarterly outflow. It needs to form part of the regular payroll process.
By September, businesses should review whether their payroll system, clearing arrangements and internal processes are working correctly under the new requirements.
This is particularly relevant for labour-intensive businesses such as builders, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, mechanical businesses and other service providers where payroll can represent a substantial percentage of weekly cash outgoings.
If your business previously relied on holding super funds in the business until the quarterly deadline, your cash flow patterns may also have changed. That should be reflected in your cash flow forecasting.
6. Review your pricing and margins
Pricing should not be a set-and-forget exercise.
Businesses regularly experience increases in wages, insurance, fuel, materials, rent, software, vehicles and other overheads. If your prices have not changed while your costs have increased, your profit margin is being squeezed.
This can happen gradually, which makes it easy to miss.
A business owner might think, “We are busier than ever,” while working harder to generate the same amount of profit.
Review your current pricing against your actual cost of delivering the work.
For trades and construction businesses, this should include more than materials and direct labour. Consider vehicle costs, tools, insurance, administration, quoting time, bookkeeping, software, licences, rework, travel and other overheads that must ultimately be recovered through your pricing.
Not every cost increase needs to be passed directly to customers, but you need to know what your true margins are before making that decision.
7. Look for expenses that are quietly growing
September is also a useful time to review business expenses.
This is not necessarily about cutting costs across the board. Some expenses are essential to generating growth and improving productivity.
The goal is to identify costs that are no longer providing sufficient value.
Software subscriptions are a common example. Businesses often accumulate applications over time, with multiple people subscribing to different tools that perform similar functions.
Other areas to review might include telecommunications, merchant fees, vehicle expenses, insurance, equipment hire, advertising, finance costs and recurring supplier arrangements.
Small monthly expenses may not seem significant individually, but across an entire year they can add up.
The question to ask is simple: does this expense help the business operate effectively, reduce risk, save time or generate revenue?
If not, it may be worth reviewing.
8. Check whether your bookkeeping is up to date
Good financial decisions depend on good financial information.
If transactions have not been reconciled, invoices are missing, expenses have been incorrectly coded or your accounts are several months behind, the reports you are reviewing may not accurately reflect the business.
This is why bookkeeping should not be treated solely as a compliance exercise.
Up-to-date financial records allow you to monitor profit, cash flow, debtors, expenses and tax obligations while there is still time to act.
For business owners who are busy on the tools, managing staff or dealing with customers all day, staying on top of the accounts can understandably move down the priority list.
However, allowing records to fall several months behind can make financial management significantly harder.
September provides a natural checkpoint to make sure the first quarter is being recorded accurately before moving further into the year.
9. Forecast the next three to six months
Once you understand where the business stands today, look forward.
What do the next few months look like?
For construction and trade businesses, consider confirmed projects, likely jobs, scheduled progress payments, material purchases, subcontractor commitments and staffing requirements.
For service businesses, consider recurring revenue, expected client work, seasonal patterns and upcoming expenditure.
Then include known obligations such as wages, super, GST, PAYG, rent, insurance, finance repayments and major purchases.
A basic cash flow forecast does not need to predict the future perfectly to be useful.
Its value comes from identifying periods where cash may become tight before they arrive.
If you know that a substantial tax payment, annual insurance premium and equipment purchase are all likely to fall within the same month, you have time to plan around them.
Without forecasting, those same expenses can feel like unexpected emergencies.
10. Do not wait until the end of the financial year to ask questions
One of the greatest advantages of reviewing your business finances in September is timing.
There are still nine months of the financial year ahead.
If margins are too low, pricing can be reviewed.
If debtors are increasing, collection processes can be tightened.
If expenses are growing faster than revenue, costs can be investigated.
If cash flow is likely to become tight, planning can begin early.
If the business is performing significantly better than expected, tax planning can also begin sooner rather than later.
Waiting until May or June dramatically reduces the amount of time available to make meaningful changes.
Good accounting is not only about recording what has already happened. It should also help you understand where the business is heading.
Make September your financial checkpoint
Running a successful business requires your attention to be pulled in many directions. Customers, staff, suppliers, projects and day-to-day problems understandably demand immediate attention.
Your financial position can be easier to postpone because the consequences are not always visible straight away.
That is exactly why a regular financial checkpoint is so valuable.
As the first quarter of the 2026–27 financial year comes to an end, take the opportunity to review your numbers, identify any warning signs and understand what the next few months are likely to look like.
You do not need to analyse every figure in isolation. The goal is to understand the overall story your numbers are telling you.
At Victor Bimrose Accounting, we work with Australian businesses to make sense of their financial position, meet their tax and compliance obligations and make better-informed business decisions.
If you would like to review how your business is tracking for the 2026–27 financial year, speak with the team at VBA.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Please consult a registered tax agent or financial adviser for guidance tailored to your circumstances.
