The 31 October deadline and the long service leave provision

What ASIC says

ASIC's page on large proprietary companies that are not disclosing entities says their annual financial reports must be:

“lodged with ASIC within four months of the financial year end”

ASIC: Large proprietary companies (that are not disclosing entities)

For other large proprietary companies, ASIC's page lists three requirements for the annual financial report: it is audited, it is lodged with ASIC within four months of the financial year end, and it is sent to members within the same four months.

The page also covers wholly-owned companies that entered into deeds of cross guarantee with every other company in the closed group, and large proprietary companies that have not been audited in any financial year since 1993. Their conditions differ. This page does not cover them, or relief from ASIC, so read ASIC's page if either describes the company.

ASIC's Information Sheet 31 (INFO 31) sets out when financial reports must be lodged under section 319 of the Corporations Act: three months for disclosing entities, registered schemes and registrable superannuation entities, and four months for all other entities. It lists large proprietary companies that are not disclosing entities among those that must prepare a financial report under section 292 of the Corporations Act.

Counting four months from a 30 June year end gives 31 October. That date is Vestline's count from ASIC's period, not a date ASIC states.

Who this applies to

This guide is for large proprietary companies that are not disclosing entities, the group ASIC's page above covers. Disclosing entities have three months under section 319, as above.

ASIC's page on the large or small test says that, from financial years commencing on or after 1 July 2019, a proprietary company is large for a financial year if it meets at least two of these, counting the company and any entities it controls:

• consolidated revenue for the financial year of $50 million or more;
• consolidated gross assets at the end of the financial year of $25 million or more;
• 100 or more employees at the end of the financial year.

What it means for the long service leave provision

The long service leave provision is one of the figures in that financial report. Where the report has to be audited as well as lodged, as ASIC's page says for other large proprietary companies, the provision needs to be measured as at the year end, from staff data as it stood on that date, early enough for the audit to finish inside the four months.

The standard is AASB 119 Employee Benefits on the AASB's own site, in the compiled version that applies to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023 but before 1 July 2026. The basics Vestline states on its Method page:

• Long service leave is an other long-term employee benefit measured at the present value of expected future payments for service to the valuation date (AASB 119 paras 153-155).
• Unvested leave is weighted by the probability of reaching an entitlement, allowing for staff who leave before vesting (AASB 119 para 72).
• Leave for which the employee has an unconditional entitlement is shown as current even if it is not expected to be taken within 12 months, because the entity has no right to defer settlement (AASB 101 para 69; NSW Treasury TPG24-23 section 3.1).

The worked example builds a provision from these steps for one fictional employee.

What to have ready

Payroll export

One row for each employee, as at the valuation date, which defaults to the most recent 30 June. Vestline's template columns are id, name, state, start_date, weekly_pay, weeks_taken, annual_leave_weeks.

Service dates

The start date of each employee's continuous service. Every figure depends on it: it sets the service to date, the leave accrued and the probability that the leave is paid.

State or territory

Each employee's state or territory, which decides which Act applies. The rules for each state and territory are set out one page each.

Pay and leave taken

Ordinary weekly pay at the valuation date, and the weeks of long service leave already taken or paid out, which Vestline deducts from the weeks accrued. Pay can also be an hourly rate or an annual salary, and leave can be in hours; Vestline converts them to weekly pay and weeks.

Annual leave balances

Optional. They add the undiscounted annual leave provision alongside the long service leave provision.

Payroll system columns

Vestline has presets for Xero Payroll, Employment Hero and MYOB. The presets match typical column names only and have not been checked against real exports from each system, so check every mapping.

Discount rate

AASB 119 para 83 requires high quality corporate bond yields where a deep market exists, as it is accepted to in Australia; only not-for-profit public sector entities use government bond yields (para Aus83.1). The default is the RBA 10-year government bond yield. For-profit entities and private sector not-for-profits (such as charities) should replace it with a corporate bond rate, for example from the Group of 100 discount rate report.

Staff turnover

Assumption, higher in early years of service. Replace it with the entity's own turnover history, which is what an auditor will ask for.

On-costs

Payroll tax, workers compensation and superannuation payable on leave, as a share of the provision. It depends on state thresholds and the entity's premiums.

Other assumptions

Salary growth, the share of exits that qualify for payment and the years until vested leave is paid are also the preparer's assumptions. Vestline starts with values of its own, which you set to suit the entity.

Last year's figures

For the movement, the suggested journal and the draft note wording: the opening provision and the leave paid during the year, with last year's discount rate, salary growth and on-costs.

Staff outside the general Acts

These are the general private-sector Acts. Portable schemes (for example construction, cleaning and community services), enterprise agreements and pre-modern awards can give different entitlements; value those employees separately.

How Vestline helps

• It reads the payroll export in your browser. Staff data is processed on your device and never sent to us.
• It measures each employee's leave under the Act of their state or territory: the present value, the probability of payment and the current and non-current split, with a sensitivity table.
• It shows the movement from last year with a suggested journal and draft note wording.
• It exports an .xlsx working paper in which every figure is a formula an auditor can re-perform, with the legislation each figure relies on.
• It does not prepare or lodge the financial report. It produces the long service leave figures and a working paper for the preparer.
• Vestline is a free early access build. There's no billing set up, so there's nothing to pay and no card to enter.

Sources

• ASIC: Large proprietary companies (that are not disclosing entities). Read on 2026-10-06.
• ASIC: Lodgement of financial reports (Information Sheet 31, INFO 31). Read on 2026-10-06. The sheet records an update in April 2026.
• ASIC: Are you a large or small proprietary company. Read on 2026-10-06.
• AASB: AASB 119 Employee Benefits, the compiled version that applies to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023 but before 1 July 2026. Read on 2026-10-06.

These pages can change. Check them before you rely on this guide. The AASB's page is for periods beginning before 1 July 2026; for a later period, look on the AASB's site for the version that applies.

What this guide is not

It summarises the pages above as read on the date shown. It is general information about a lodgement period, not advice about any company's obligations. Vestline is a calculation tool. It does not give accounting, legal or financial product advice, and the preparer remains responsible for the assumptions and the figures in the financial report.