Cimplico Workpapers is designed mainly for annual compliance jobs, but can be utilised to manage and prepare Activity Statements (both Business Activity Statements and Instalment Activity Statements).

This article walks through a suggested approach to managing these using Cimplico Workpapers.

Firm-Level Processes

1. Develop a BAS procedure template

To standardise your process across the firm, start by creating a procedure template for Activity Statements. This ensures consistency, especially when working across different preparers, periods, or client types.

💡 Tip: We've include a procedure template at the very bottom of this article to help you get started, but make sure you customise this and take into account the following:

Your firm's usual processes for BAS's
Other programs in your app-stack and how you use these
How you divide tasks between different roles in your firm

2. Create a BAS checklist template

While checklists are commonly used with trial balance worksheets, they can also be used to assign specific tasks to schedules in the Other Schedules section. This is particularly useful for Activity Statement workpapers, where you’re not relying on a trial balance.

You can create a checklist template specifically for BAS jobs, with tasks that appear only when a matching tag is present on a worksheet or schedule.

Examples of schedules and associate tags

GST – for GST on sales and purchases
PAYGW – for PAYG withholding
FBTI – for fringe benefits tax instalments
PAYGI – for PAYG instalments

By assigning these tags to specific schedules or worksheets, you can ensure only the relevant checklist items are shown. This makes your workflow more focused and easier to manage.

Workpaper-Level Processes

3. Create Your Workpaper

Create your workpaper as per usual. Make sure to assign the correct checklist and procedure template. BAS workpaper's will typically not include a trial balance.