Posted on September 4, 2012July 14, 2013 by Steve Slisar — 1 Comment

Is a bookkeeping franchise the way to go?

Bookkeeping franchise or your own business

A good percentage of the students who complete our MYOB training courses want to start their own business. Getting into any new venture can be daunting if you have never been in business before and if that’s you a bookkeeping franchise might be the way to go. There are many aspects to Small Business Management and they include:

how that business works,
how to get and maintain customers,
how to provide great customer service
how great customer service will bring new customers
ensure you do a consistently great job, and
manage your finances well

The key aspects to consider when looking at a bookkeeping franchise are the costs. When we ran our training courses in Dee Why (Sydney) there were many business owners in surrounding shops and I recall speaking to one franchised business owner who said that he chose the wrong location and his overheads were killing him. This highlights the most important gripe that most people have about a franchise; “what am I paying for?”

Franchise regulations

Franchising is regulated now which means that bookkeeping franchise operators like all others, now need to disclose more information about existing franchisees. StartupSmart recently wrote about the harsh franchising reality check that a couple went through in South Australia and it’s an interesting read if you want to explore a bookkeeping franchise further. The article quotes Phil Blain, Co-author of The Franchisee’s Guide:

[quote]Thanks to recent legislative changes franchisees are now able to access critical details in the disclosure document like full details of existing franchisees and also people who have left the system.[/quote]

What are you paying for with a bookkeeping franchise?

If the franchise you are researching charges you a percentage of sales it’s good to know exactly how they are going to get you new customers and justify this payment. It’s also important to know that if you buy into a franchise you will have to sell your business to someone who also wants to buy into that franchise. Sometimes the franchiser can have a sale in who buys your business.

The other popular alternative is to go it alone and start your own bookkeeping business by yourself. If you are in this category you will have to spend more time at the beginning choosing your logo and other branding aspects of a small business. You also won’t have the leverage in advertising that a larger company can offer.

MYOB Training Courses

If you are looking for work as an MYOB Bookkeeper and have contemplated buying a bookkeeping franchise feel free to ask questions and share your story at our Facebook page. We have teamed up with Workface to help not only our MYOB Training Course students, but any bookkeepers find work or new customers if they operate their own bookkeeping business. If you are looking for work as an MYOB Bookkeeper feel free to register at their site.

Posted on September 3, 2012August 28, 2012 by Steve Slisar — 1 Comment

MYOB Bookkeeper job in Sydney

Want to be an MYOB Bookkeeper?

I was recently speaking with the owner of an electrical business who wanted to know if we have a student who completed our MYOB Bookkeeping Courses in his area. His area is Dulwich Hill and he was interested in speaking with MYOB Bookkeepers within the area of Strathfield, Marrickville, Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Sydney and Drummoyne, which prompted me to realise that we might be able to help you, our students find work in other ways.

You may have read my previous blog post about our students looking to start a bookkeeping business. When we discover the needs of our bookkeeping students we discuss them in our weekly management meetings to find out what we can do to help. After hearing a great concept from a business coach we put some wheels into motion and we are now accepting submissions from anyone who wants to start their own bookkeeping business and get more clients.

Looking for bookkeeping jobs or clients?

Since going completely online with our MYOB Training Courses in 2007 we have helped students become a MYOB Bookkeeper in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns plus hundreds of local suburbs in between. With the help of Workface.com.au we are compiling a register of MYOB Bookkeepers so please feel free to register at their site.

You’ll notice that their application form allows you to clearly identify the areas of bookkeeping where you are very confident so they can help you locate the most appropriate employer or client. This is not just for those looking to start a bookkeeping business, but also for any students looking to find work in the accounts department of a company.

Anyone can register for bookkeeping work

The great news is that you don’t have to be an EzyLearn student to register and it doesn’t matter what qualifications you have. Remember that different levels of bookkeeper are required by different companies and there might be a company looking for someone just like YOU.

[button link=”http://workface.com.au/services/find-bookkeeping-work/”]Register now[/button]

Posted on September 2, 2012November 26, 2022 by Steve Slisar — 3 Comments

Start a Bookkeeping Business For Very Little Money

I recently wrote about our MYOB Training students and how many of them want to start a bookkeeping business so I thought we would go through some of the costs involved.

Remember that these are the startup costs and you may incur more marketing costs as your business grows. Starting a bookkeeping business, like most other businesses, takes a little extra time, effort and money initially. You need to spend money on advertising so you get to speak to as many prospective clients as possible.

The more prospects (or leads) you speak to, the more you understand what bookkeeping clients want and also what you are able to help them with – and what you can’t or don’t want to.

Posted on September 1, 2012August 26, 2012 by Steve Slisar

Your website is down! How would you know?

Website is down

Sometimes we write at this blog about software and internet tools that can help small business manage their affairs better and today I’ve come across a great service that emails you automatically if your website is down. And it’s free, or at least donation based. If you are enrolled into our WordPress Training Course you’ll know what to do with this information.

Who’s responsible when your website is down?

I’ve written before about the occasion when a colleagues WordPress website was hacked and how devastating it was to their business. When this happens the first place most people turn to is their website designer, but designers usually just make sure your website contains all the information to help you sell your services. The next place to turn is your website host, but they just make sure that you have somewhere to put your website. So who’s responsibility is it?

Steps to take when your WordPress website is down

When your website is down it is up to you to know what to do to ensure it is back online and here’s three tips:

Use a service like Solidalert to notify you by email if your website is not live
Ensure you have at least 7 days worth of incremental backup organised with your hosting provider
Ensure that all your WordPress files are backed up to another location (like Dropbox).

Posted on August 31, 2012April 19, 2018 by Steve Slisar

Law makes CPD for bookkeepers relevant

CPD for Bookkeepers

I WAS RESEARCHING ABOUT SAFE HARBOURS for a recent blog post and noticed a reference to an ATO Practice Statement. I then realised another reason why Continuing Professional Development (CPD for Bookkeepers) is so important.

Safe Harbours only became relevant to bookkeepers since changes in the law made it mandatory for anyone lodging a BAS to be a registered BAS agent. These changes then resulted in registered Bookkeepers needing Professional Indemnity Insurance and qualifications that demonstrated a thorough understanding of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2006_2 CPD for bookkeepers — Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2006/2

CPD for Bookkeepers and Tax Law

When I explored this practice statement I realised that it was outdated. The ATO Practice Statement was outdated because of the outcome of a court/tribunal case (see below).

Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2012_5 CPD for bookkeepers — ATO PS LA 2012/5

I don’t know about you, but if I have some spare time and I’m in the mood for researching, I find it fascinating to discover how the law works, how and why decisions are made and how it affects people in that industry. CPD for Bookkeepers gives you the benefit of keeping up-to-date with your bookkeeping skills.

If you are enrolled in our MYOB Training Courses you get free membership to the Bookkeeping Academy (CPD for Bookkeepers) where I will introduce you to bookkeeping industry professionals who will help you understand more about the industry, the laws that govern the industry and tools you can use.

Posted on August 30, 2012August 25, 2012 by Steve Slisar

Safe harbour for misleading statement penalties

Use a registered agent in a safe harbour

If you or your BAS agent take care in making a tax return or statement you will not incur a penalty if you have understated your tax liability or overstated your entitlements. This is part of the safe harbour definition by the Australian Tax Office and it highlights a significant change in the legal framework for completing BAS returns.

The safe harbour only applies to statements made on or after 1st March 2010 and it affects who is responsible for tax information lodged with the ATO.

It’s a question of who is responsible for tax information lodged with the ATO, you or your bookkeeper/BAS agent?

Below is a quote from the ATO’s website that puts it in their words:

[quote]For statements made by a tax agent up to and including 28 February 2010, you are liable for any administrative penalty for the making of the false or misleading statement. It is not relevant if you made the mistake, your registered agent or a mix of both.[/quote]

Read more about safe harbours at the ATO website and see a simple example case study.

Safe Harbours around the world

Wikipedia has a definition of a Safe Harbour as it applies in a legal concept.

[quote]Legislators may include safe-harbor provisions to protect legitimate or excusable violations, or to incentivize the adoption of desirable practices.[/quote]

Does it apply to you?

Safe Harbours apply to you if:

You want to be a bookkeeper and lodge BAS’s for your customers and/or
You are a business that uses a bookkeeper.

Legislation came into place on 1st July 2011 whereby BAS agents must have professional indemnity (PI) insurance to protect their clients in case of negligence.

If you are contemplating our MYOB Training Courses to start a career as an MYOB bookkeeper speak to us about the qualifications required to gain admission to the Tax Practitioners Board.

Posted on August 29, 2012February 11, 2020 by Steve Slisar — 1 Comment

Video: Receipts in a Shoebox?

Receipts in a shoebox

I WAS LOOKING in my top draw and noticed some receipts, bundled by the month, with a bull clip holding them together. Do you know someone who also stores their receipts in a shoebox?

I have, of course, now entered them into our MYOB accounting software. However, it begs the question: How many business people do you know who still store their receipts and other paperwork with way?

The legal requirement to file receipts

Continue reading Video: Receipts in a Shoebox?

Posted on August 28, 2012August 25, 2012 by Steve Slisar — 2 Comments

Finding a job using Linkedin as your resume

How to use linkedin to find a job or new customers

LinkedIn + your resume

I recently wrote about the death of the resume and how Linkedin is replacing the written resume, now I have located a great ebook to help you master the art of using Linked in as a tool to help you find a job or get new customers.

The most interesting change in the employment market that I have noticed is the slow evolution from job seekers looking at job ads to employers searching for the best employees. Social media tools like Linkedin make this all possible.

Attracting the right people

If you are a business owner you have a website to attract customers. You combine great writing and interesting pictures to attract potential customers to your website and then contact details and an offer to ensure they make contact with you. LinkedIn is the same concept for individuals, you combine the right keywords and headings to attract people to your LinkedIn profile. Once people are attracted to your profile you can let them know that you are interested in a job, contracting work or other opportunities.

Find Bookkeeping work or customers

If you are completing our MYOB Training Courses you might want to consider joining LinkedIn if you are not already a member. If you are a member and want to get better results this concise ebook about LinkedIn has some excellent information that will help you get more results from your current LinkedIn profile.

Posted on August 27, 2012April 17, 2013 by Steve Slisar — 2 Comments

MYOB Payment Terms and Getting Paid on Time

MYOB Payment Terms

I wrote a blog post about getting paid on time back in late June 2012 and thought I would share some information that might help if your customers are not paying according to your MYOB Payment Terms.

If you are not already aware, MYOB enables you to set payment terms at three levels:

System wide default
Customer (or supplier) card level
Transaction (ie. Invoice) level

Debtor Control and Credit Risk

Setting up MYOB Payment Terms enables you to maintain tight control of your credit risk. When the MYOB Payment terms are set-up correctly you can run reports that show exactly how much money is owed to you and how old it is. The age of the debt is referred to as the Aging Period and it’s commonly 30, 60 or 90 days. We teach these MYOB skills in our MYOB Day-to-Day Transactions course.

Direct Debit Facilities

If you work in or own a business that provides ongoing services and charges a monthly fee then a direct debit facility is something you should definitely look into. Direct Debit services are traditionally offered by the major banks like St George Bank, but there are also some small and nimble companies that help you get paid on time and here are a couple of them:

When you decide to use these services you would create another “bank account” in your chart of accounts and keep track of the money that goes into these accounts, the fees they charge and then the money that comes out and into your main bank account. It’s very similar to setting up a Paypal account for your company, the Paypal account becomes another bank account in your MYOB file that needs to be reconciled.

I hope these tips help to reduce your debt collection woes and make for happier, healthier bookkeeping.

Posted on August 26, 2012August 26, 2012 by Steve Slisar

VIDEO: WordPress training – Install a Backup plugin

WordPress Training

I wrote last week about the importance of securing your website in-case you get hacked (it has happened to us several times so we have learnt from the mistakes!). I wrote about a free WordPress Plugin called BackWPup and now I have some WordPress training about how to update WordPress and install the backup plugin at the bottom of this blog post.

If you subscribe to this blog post and are reading this on email, click the heading to get to the online WordPress training video.

About WordPress

WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS) that enables you to make changes to your website and keep a blog. Both of these tasks make your website more relevant to Google and helps to increase your PageRank with the Google search algorithm.

Just like Windows, WordPress is regularly updated and kept current by the developers and there are thousands of plugins that can be installed to make your website more functional. The WordPress training video in this blog teaches you how to upgrade your WordPress website and install and activate a plugin.

WordPress Training and Free Templates

Our WordPress training course gives you all the tools to create and maintain your own website and it comes with lifetime student access so you can use it as a resource when you want to get more complicated with your online marketing strategy. With enough WordPress training and practice you can not only create and update your own website, but perform this work for other small businesses who need to get online.

Watch the training video below and checkout the 1,500 plus free professional WordPress themes that you can use to create your own website.

Posted on August 25, 2012May 12, 2023 by Steve Slisar — 2 Comments

Business plan for your startup bookkeeping business

Free Business Plan Templates

I recently wrote about the importance of writing a business plan if you want to start a bookkeeping business. I included a great business plan template that is made available by the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. You can find free Microsoft Word templates from within Microsoft Word or by doing a simple Google search. Today I’ve included a link to some free templates from Microsoft.

This website provides a template for a “business plan for a startup business” but you might notice there is also a business plan template for existing businesses.

Who Starts a Home Based Bookkeeping Business?

Many of our students are mums who are returning to work after many years of looking after young children. They may have had a professional careers, but their circumstances change and they now want to operate a business that allows them to drop children off and collect them from day care and school. If you are one of those people you’ll be thrilled to hear that there are several work-at-home-mums (or virtual assistants) as part of our EzyLearn Online Training Team 🙂

You may also be interested to know that our Small Business Management course includes training on topics that enable you to work from home via the Internet. Cloud based services like Google, WordPress, Dropbox and even the new MYOB software now make it possible and we show you how to do it.

Best of all, the Australian Government provide a website full of resources for those people who want to start a home-based business and a bookkeeping business is one of the best (according to us) because:

It allows you to work your own hours
If you are smart you can earn good money
Every business needs to do bookkeeping
Very few business owners WANT to do bookkeeping

When you enrol in an EzyLearn online MYOB Training Course you receive access to the courses for LIFE so they are always available to you as a resource, with case studies of various different business scenarios used in our training workbooks.

Bookkeeping Business Plan Built By a Registered BAS Agent

Do you want to start a bookkeeping business? Want to work to a plan that was built by an experienced bookkeeper? Does it all seem a bit daunting?

[quote]Jacci, our Registered BAS Agent has worked through the Small Business Management Course to create a Bookkeeping Business Plan for those who want to start their own bookkeeping business.[/quote]

This course not only gives you a well rounded education of the requirements to start and build a small business, but you will receive a business plan that you can tweak to suit your own circumstances as part of the course! Read more..

NEW! Start a Bookkeeping Business Without Buying Into a Franchise

Maggie Richardson’s Small Business Management Course is now online at EzyLearn BUT better than that we’ve combined it with a bookkeeping business plan (written by Jacci) as well as some legal templates, agreements and other training to help you get started with a bookkeeping business you can operate from your own home quickly.

When most people think of startups they think of technical wiz kids who create mobile phone apps, but our startup academy helps ordinary people start their own business as independent virtual assistants working from home in industries that are growing and with companies that can provide the support to help them get up to speed quickly and get great clients.

Want to learn more about starting a bookkeeping business?

Posted on August 24, 2012October 12, 2017 by Steve Slisar — 6 Comments

Starting a new MYOB bookkeeping business? Got a plan?

Without a plan, could you be planning to fail?

I AM REGULARLY SURPRISED at the number of our students who are learning how to use MYOB because they want to start their own bookkeeping business.

Many of them already have accounting or bookkeeping qualifications, but these are usually in larger accounting systems and so they learn to use MYOB to apply their accounting skills to help small business owners.

Start a MYOB Bookkeeping Business

I recently wrote about the Australian small business startup scene and have been working with like-minded, successful business owners to put together a series of bookkeeper business building webinars. Indeed, one of the critical parts of starting a new business is the business plan.

To some business owners this is the “art” part of starting a business, particularly if you are starting something from scratch! I’ve often heard people ask:

How can I possibly predict my future income?

How do I work out how much to spend on advertising?

What price should I charge?

What if I don’t get that many customers?

Business plan for your bookkeeping business

The best answer I can give is that a business plan is really just some solid information that you have collected from your research about the industry you want to work in.

It’s the best estimate that you can make at the time. But the best part of it is this:

You can always modify your business plan
Your next business plan will be more precise

[quote]The most commonly asked questions I hear about business plans is: Where do get one? Can I see yours?[/quote]

Where can I get a business plan?

The EzyLearn StartUp Course comes with a business plan template that will help you determine, not only the viability of your business, but also how to achieve your business aims. It will enable you to justify to your clients — and yourself — why you charge the fees you do. It is a dynamic blueprint that you can look back on and go over as you need to, in order to remind you of your goals, your business mission statement and keep you on the right path.

Oh, and please don’t underestimate the importance of a business plan. There is a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin:

[quote]“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”[/quote]

The Australian Government’s www.business.gov.au website also has a free business plan template you can modify. Watch their video below:

Posted on August 23, 2012August 28, 2012 by Steve Slisar — 1 Comment

New look MYOB Certificate

More and more students turn to us to learn how to use MYOB bookkeeping software to find a new job, start a bookkeeping business or be more effective in their current job. To reflect our focussed committment to help you get that job we have re-designed our MYOB training course certificate.

MYOB Certificate designed to find you work

If you complete an MYOB Training Course with us, and you successfully complete all the knowledge reviews in each course you will received the revamped MYOB Certificate that looks like the image in this blog post.

Our courses are delivered 100% online and in keeping with that our certificates are supplied via our support site to students as a pdf file that you can print yourself. By keeping everything online we are able to combine 5 courses into one, from Setup to BAS and Reporting, for a very low price and provide you with lifetime access to the training resources.

We provided a free training video about Xero online accounting software and this is another part of our commitment to students studying to be MYOB Bookkeepers. Our Bookkeeping Academy is available to all students completing an MYOB training course and it’s our way of helping to keep you up-to-date with the latest in bookkeeping software and services (like cloud based bookkeeping systems).

To see the price for our courses with MYOB Certificate as well as Microsoft Excel and WordPress, visit our enrolment page. Remember that you get all courses for one price and lifetime access. This means that if you enrol now into our MYOB Training Courses you receive

Five (5) courses from Setup, Day-to-Day, Bank Reconciliation, GST, BAS, Reporting and Payroll for
One low price, and
Lifetime Access to the course and updates

Our MYOB Certificate course is currently being updated to version 12 and as an EzyLearn student you have access to this new material for no extra charge! Make sure you subscribe to receive our updates via email.

It’s the same with Microsoft Excel Courses, you receive access to all levels (9 short courses in total) from Excel beginners to advanced users for one price and lifetime access and we have training material for 2000-2003 versions as well as training material for 2007-2010 versions.

Enrol now, or see what is included in the MYOB Courses, Microsoft Excel Courses or WordPress Website Design and Blogging Courses.

Posted on August 22, 2012August 22, 2012 by Steve Slisar — 2 Comments

Do you have website insurance? What!

Does that seem like a silly question? If you have a website that you have spent thousands of dollars creating and promoting, it would be quite a logical question.

WordPress is your new shop front

In my work running our online training courses I work with several different websites and different content creators each week. We create and modify existing written content, enrolment forms and training videos that demonstrate our popular MYOB training. I couldn’t even begin to count the total value in human hour terms.

The modern website for many businesses is like their shop front, it provides critical contact information plus information and examples of the services you provide or the products you sell. Have you thought about insuring it?

Hacking your WordPress website

I was speaking with a business owner in the construction industry last week to learn about his website woes. His website is built using WordPress, one of the most popular website design and blogging platforms in the world and like many popular things, WordPress site are prone to malicious attack. Their website was attacked by a hacker and hundreds of hours of design, writing, structure and marketing are now in jeopardy because of the attack.

Free WordPress Backup Plugin

Our online WordPress training course includes a section on a free WordPress backup plugin and this recent event highlights the importance of a backup strategy. The website plugin is called BackWPup (Back WordPress Up) and you can read all about it at the WordPress script site. 344,317 people have downloaded this plugin and it even allows you to create a backup to Dropbox.

While you are there, check out the thousands of other scripts that are also available for almost any conceivable tasks you would want to do at your website. You might start to feel empowered about even creating (even only with the words and pictures) your own website!

While we are on the topic of security, risk and insurance, you might want to check your website hosting service and learn exactly how and when they back your site up. It might not be as often as you think and it might be only the previous day.

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Steve Slisar

Congratulations to our new MYOB Bookkeeper graduates

Our most recent MYOB Bookkeeper Training and Microsoft Excel Course graduates have just received their certificates and going through the records it was fantastic to see how many people we are able to help from all over Australia.

When we operated our Sydney training centres in Dee Why (near Brookvale), Gordon (near Chatswood), Parramatta and Burwood we noticed that students would travel a long way to come to our training centres. I won’t even get started about how they would have to try to find somewhere to park, with parking time limits etc etc.

In looking at our recent graduates it gives me a great feeling to know that we are teaching people all over Australia and New Zealand to use MYOB to help them find bookkeeping/accounting jobs or starting their own bookkeeping businesses. Here’s where some of our recent students live and what they said about the course:

Samantha from Agaston, South Australia

Agaston is near Nurioopta, Williamstown and Gawler

The fact that I could start and continue the course when I had the time. It was easy to understand and use.

Wendy from Surry Hills (Sydney), New South Wales

Surry Hills is near Paddington, Alexandria and Haymarket

I can study at my own time

Beverly from Butler, Western Australia

Butler is very North Perth, near Joondalup

Being able to learn at my own pace online.

Geoff from Epping, Victoria

Epping is surrounded by Bundoora, Campbellfield and Craigieburn

Learning more about short cuts and the really powerful nature and depth available in Excel, particularly in Course 303, was most enlightening and beneficial.
Really appreciate the learning at your own pace aspect and the lifetime course and excellent material content. Thank you so much for such an excellent course presented at an affordable price.

Anne-Maree from Sippy Downs, Queensland

Sippy Downs is near Buderim, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore and Caloundra, north of Brisbane

Nice short videos so you could take breaks and it wasn’t hard to find a certain video if you had to look back over something

Rebecca from Wodonga, Victoria

Wodonga is near Albury on the NSW and Victoria border

Easy to navigate around the site. I liked the short video presentations. If I was interuppted for whatever reason, you never missed too much and it was easy enough to replay.

Carmen from Ruse, New South Wales

Ruse is south west of Sydney, past Prestons and near Campbelltown and Narellan

The sort videos, easy to process and understand the information when presented this way.

Posted on August 20, 2012March 26, 2021 by Steve Slisar

What do Facebook, Paypal and Xero online accounting software have in common?

what do facebook, paypal, and xero online accounting have in common? — Jamie Sutherland

I hope you enjoyed the first of hundreds of new videos that we will be creating and releasing from now and over the Australian summer as part of our bookkeeping academy. Whether you plan to start your own bookkeeping business or find a job in the accounts department, these new skills will help keep your knowledge current and up-to-date.

You may have noticed that we’ve mentioned quite a bit about Xero lately and while we are at it, we thought we’d share with you some information we discovered about the company and more specifically who is buying shares in the company.

Continue reading What do Facebook, Paypal and Xero online accounting software have in common?