What accounting software does cover
Invoices and their due dates, bills and their due dates, BAS and PAYG lodgement dates through the ATO connection, superannuation payment dates, payroll and leave balances, bank reconciliation, and, through add-ons, timesheets and job costing. If the question is "who owes us money" or "what do we owe the ATO", the ledger answers it.
What it doesn't cover
Anything with an expiry date that is not a payment. Trade and contractor licences. High risk work tickets, first aid, white cards, Working With Children Checks. Insurance certificates of currency. Vehicle and plant registrations, inspections, test and tag. Policy review dates. Subcontractor insurance. Head contractor portal expiries. Xero has no field for a licence number and no concept of a document that expires; the closest you can get is a recurring reminder invoice to yourself, which nobody does twice.
What sits beside the ledger
A compliance register: one list of every dated item, with the holder, the number, the expiry, a document copy and automatic warnings. In a business already on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 that is a Sheet or workbook with a form and a warning script; it reads nothing from Xero and Xero reads nothing from it, because they answer different questions. The two meet only on the Board, a one-page view that shows cash from the ledger and lapses from the register side by side.
The usual objection
"Our bookkeeper handles compliance." Usually the bookkeeper handles the compliance that has a dollar attached: BAS, super, workers comp premiums. The licence on the wall is nobody's job until a site refuses entry. A register gives it a person and a date.
How Stewart Systems fits
Stewart Systems, Wollongong, builds the register and, at higher levels, the Board that puts ledger figures and register warnings on one page. It doesn't replace your accountant or bookkeeper and doesn't touch the books. It starts with a free 30-minute Snapshot.
Written by Christian Stewart, Stewart Systems, Wollongong. Published 2026-09-29. Records and flags, not legal, WHS or insurance advice.
Other guides: What a compliance register for a NSW trade business should hold · How to track staff licence and certificate expiry dates