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What’s included in Day-to-Day MYOB Bookkeeping skills?

ezylearn-MYOB-training-workbooksA short time after we opened our first training centre in Dee Why in 1999 we offered MYOB training courses and our trainers included some very talented ladies Maria Landrelli and Marie Di Blasio. We quickly discovered that business owners and job seekers alike wanted and needed to learn some key Day-to-Day skills so we set about creating the ideal MYOB training course for Day-to-Day Transactions.

Most of our training workbooks are based around case study examples of a practice company. This gives you a real world example of the types of processes that many businesses go through as you learn to perform the transactions using MYOB. We’ve written a detailed description of the journey we take you through in our Day-to-Day MYOB Training Course so check it out and see if it covers some skills you’d like to master.

The MYOB Day-to-Day Course uses a case study of a small business telephone system supplier as they go through the process of purchasing products, providing customer quotes, ordering and supplying products and services, accounts receivable, receiving payments and banking. It’s the perfect course for someone looking for a job where the use of MYOB is required for data entry, or a small business owner that wants to take the next step towards a computerised bookkeeping system.

 

 

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Ebay sends mothers little helpers

Ebay sends mothers little helpersWithout wanting to dive into the psyche of a new born mother I noticed a warming pattern in Ebay shipments. Although my teenage years weren’t filled with the educational perspective of The Rolling Stones’ lyrics, the benefits of small parcels from other Ebay devotees fulfils the mothers need for new and interesting things.

Moving away from our usual topics of computer software training, employment services and MYOB and Bookkeeping related blog posts I delve into the stupendous success of Ebay. Ebay users share an unequalled (in the eye of this writer) desire to be rated by their peers so that they can sell to other Ebay devotees. Small children’s garments are often mailed for the cost of the packaging and freight in the knowledge that they will benefit another fledgling family as merchants are rewarded by the invisible smiles of happiness of thousands of  recipients in other suburbs every day.

If business owners can act in this way the future might be filled with more specialised businesses that do a better job and are prepared to be publicly rated.

Just like Carol the kindle user and Grandpa Jack, Ebay is evidence that technology is now like electricity – a normal part of our lives. Bring on the next wave.

 

 

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Mummy earns good money

mums returning to work doing bookkeeping using MYOBEmployment is one of those huge questions in the mind of many mums and dads. How to ensure that the family can maintain an income from both parents while still giving your new infant the time they need.

When we operated our MYOB training courses in Parramatta, Chatswood, Burwood, Gordon and Dee Why we noticed that a lot of mums were looking for a way to work during school hours while still being able to earn good money. They were coming to our MYOB courses because they knew that they could earn good money performing bookkeeping for local customers. The same still applies today.

It is now easier for working mums to earn good money and still remain at home! With VoIP Phone Systems, accounting services in the cloud and broadband internet mums can perform bookkeeping tasks for clients anywhere in Australia.

 

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Paperback or kindle / iPad? Do you prefer real books?

Kindle Fire Slate book reader from AmazonI conducted a little experiment earlier this year on an avid book reader to see what she really thought about new technology. She said there is nothing like the feel of paper when reading a romantic love story or a gripping thriller. Let’s see what unfolded.

For the sake of anonymity let’s call this lady Carol, she could get through a good solid paperback in no time and then shared stories over tea about the twists and turns. When asked about the Kindle she first said “What? Do you mean kindling… for the fire” and then resisted any reasons I gave about the benefits. “It’s light, you can store thousands of books on it, books are cheap, it remembers which page you were last at, you can bookmark pages and search for the meanings of words” I urged, but Carol was adamant and a little sad for the poor ol’ paperback.

A week later the Kindle I ordered arrived in the mail and I got to work on learning how to use it, pressing a couple buttons, connecting to Amazon and before long I got the hang of navigating around it. After downloading a novel that Carol wanted to read, I took it with me one visit, showed it to her, taught her the simple steps for using it and left it with her.

Another week went by and Carol was quite impressed with it, another month later the kindle had traveled with Carol and the relationship between Carol and her Kindle became very strong. I gifted her the Kindle and now they are together and happy.

Just like Grandpa Jack, the moral is that when people use new technology without the barrier of paying for it before learning how it works, they give it a go and try to understand the benefits.

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Grandpa Jack is a nerd

Samsung-Galaxy-S3 with Telstra and not OptusI wrote about strategic management decisions earlier this year to confirm our decision to make our online training courses available to training institutions to use as part of their courses. I chose those words because they were fresh in my mind and part of the Applied Finance course I am studying with Kaplan Professional. It confirmed in my mind that the “market” changes every month. Every month you need to improve what you offer and how you offer it otherwise you may drop behind.

I was reminded about this concept today when I ordered my new Samsung Galaxy S3 from Telstra after being a loyal Optus customer for more than a decade. The prices of Optus and Telstra are now very similar and I was have terrible problems with the quality of the Optus network, it was an easy decision to make. While I was in the shop I had a conversation with Grandpa Jack who was buying exactly the same phone and the Telstra shop man and I joked that Jack’s grand kids would look at him very differently and think he was a nerd.

It occurred to me that Grandpa Jack wasn’t really a nerd, he was just in the market for a new phone and a new plan and wanted the best phone he could buy considering he’ll probably keep it for as long as possible. This concept made me think about our online MYOB training courses and how students who’ve been enrolled since our LIFETIME student access started in January 2011. Do they still see the website as a great tool to learn new things about MYOB since we’ve updated and improved the MYOB Reporting, GST & BAS and the MYOB Payroll course?

If you are an early EzyLearn student and have some comments about the value of your course today please feel free to email our sales team at sales@ezylearn.com.au and share your experiences.

Oh, by the way, as I was leaving the Telstra shop I heard Jack asking the shop assistant, “What is a nerd”?

 

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Is a machine reading your resume?

OCR for resume and cover letter writing skillsI was speaking with Ross Miller, the blind rehab consultant who has helped hundreds of job seekers learn new computer skills, write better cover letters and resumes and improve their performance at job interviews, and he shared an interesting resume writing tip with me.

Many employers are now using technology as much as possible to help them find the right candidates for job vacancies. With the tremendous cost in time to find the most appropriate employee some companies are using OCR (optical character recognition) scanning to help them identify the best resumes for their advertised positions. This means that they are actively looking for selected keywords in the resume’s that are sent to them.

Once the domain of website designers and search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists the ability to use the most relevant words in your resume is becoming more and more important. It’s the same principle that is used to make websites more relevant to Google’s Search Engine results.

Is there a difference between a resume and a CV? Read the Workface blog and receive regular tips from Jacci, Ross and Yvette for increasing your chances of getting that next job.

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The Richest Man in Babylon

We wrote about the superannuation guarantee last week as part of our bookkeeping academy and continuing professional development (CPD) for bookkeepers and we wanted to expand on an excellent concept within the blog post about “The richest man in Babylon”.

There are some excellent phrases and some simple, but important lessons in the Richest man in Babylon book which dates back to 1926! The one which we found interesting (and it stood out to us because we are an education and training provider) was the heading “Increase thy ability to earn“.

This concept applies to many industries and we’ve found there are two types of workers (whether you are a business owner or employee), those that seek new information and education so that they can be innovative and productive or those who do it because of necessity. When we say necessity there are two types:

  • If I don’t learn I will be out of work, OR
  • I need to learn to keep my job, licence etc

The Bookkeeping industry has been undergoing massive changes since 2010 and will continue to do so because bookkeepers responsible for lodging BAS’s on behalf of their clients will need to be registered BAS agents and as a result will need to always be abreast of changes in legislation. This webcast transcript from the tax practitioners board will give you some insight into how much the bookkeeping industry is changing.

You can be assured that our online MYOB training courses will be regularly updated to ensure that your knowledge on MYOB is up-to-date.

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MYOB Bookkeeping Case Study: A telephone system supplier and installer

Cisco IP Telephones for VoIP systems case study for MYOB training courseWe were reviewing the course outline for the MYOB Day-to-Day Transactions course because it covers most of the topics that someone would need if they are performing daily bookkeeping data entry tasks for a small to medium business.

The course provides the foundation skills that most of the other courses are built on. Once you have the day-to-day data entry skills you will be able to more confidently perform a bank reconciliation, generate reports and prepare BAS returns as well as enter the data and prepare reports for payroll.

The MYOB Day-to-Day course uses a very common case study of a company that provides products and services. We use an IT consultant that sells small business VoIP telephone systems and supports their customers with the initial setup as well as ongoing support.

Course features

Since January 2011 our full suit of 5 MYOB training courses comes with lifetime access so you can revisit the training videos, workbooks with step-by-step exercises and knowledge reviews as often as you want for the rest of your working life. Many students use the course as a resource for when they are using

Our MYOB training courses also come with EzyLearn ANSWERS, a service that we provide to create new course content based on  questions from our students. It’s a way that we increase what is covered in our courses while providing students with an level of customisation and support.

MYOB courses created by certified bookkeepers and BAS agents
MYOB courses created by certified bookkeepers and BAS agents

Another great aspect of this course is that we go into the Inventory module of MYOB Accounting software to see how a company can sell products as well as services using the Inventory module of MYOB AccountRight Plus.

Our MYOB training courses are created using consultation with business owners and certified bookkeepers and registered BAS agents who perform bookkeeping tasks for their own customers.

Free MYOB Training Course

We want to give free MYOB training away so you get a chance to learn more about us and see if we are the company you turn to for your MYOB training courses. Follow the link below and you will automatically receive our free MYOB training resources.

The free MYOB Training Course material is now available at our new MYOB Short Courses catalogue site. Access the FREE MYOB Training Now

Tips and Tricks

We announce new course content, free tips and tricks, free training videos and much more via this blog so feel free to subscribe and be kept up-to-date and well informed about MYOB, bookkeeping, Office Administration and Website Design. Enter your email address below:

 

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Is your compulsory super about investing or saving?

We recently wrote about the yearly returns that APRA (the governing body for the financial services industry) announces to showcase the rate of return of the top 200 superannuation funds. This information forms part of our new Bookkeeping Academy for continuing professional development (CPD). 

It prompted a question in our think tank about the purpose of superannuation and whether it should be used as a tool for investing in equity?

The problem with equity is that there is no guarantee of return and its value is completely dependent on the performance of the company. Even things like dividends are only paid at managements discretion. Interest on the other hand must be paid and the capital returned to the investor at the end of the term. In the event of a liquidation, debt is repaid first and it is usually secured by something.

It all really depends upon your personal circumstances but we found a product on the market that seemed to fit very well with the thinking of the concept of super. It is the Commonwealth Banks Superannuation Savings Account. It earns interest which  might not be as impressive as equity, but this is only 10% of your income and it goes along with the adage from the Richest Man in Babylon…  Make thy gold multiply.

In the end, as Financial Planners will attest, the decision you make depends upon your risk appetite and your investment time horizon, but one thing is certain – you must have super as an employee and pay it as an employer. Stay tuned for the news about our MYOB Payroll Level 2 course where we go into more detail about how to manage the paying of staff. All new content generated for our online MYOB training courses is available to existing students as part of their lifetime access.

 

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Are you losing money in super? Who runs it?

As part of our continuous improvement for our online MYOB training courses and the development of our Payroll Level 2 course we explored the superannuation market. Superannuation was established as a way for ordinary working families (sorry to steal this catch phrase from Julia’s government) to contribute to their own retirement income and as a result gain tax benefits.

There was horrendous news and publicity about bad returns for many superannuation funds in the global financial crisis and we thought we’d explore these results a little closer. If you are reading this as an MYOB student, a bookkeeper, small business owner or employee you would be aware that superannuation is compulsory for most employees and you now have the choice of where you want this money to go. APRA is the government organisation which overseas the banks and banking regulation in Australia and they announce the rate of return for the top 200 superannuation companies each year.

If you want to take a closer look yourself, check out the figures from page 5 onward in the latest superannuation report from APRA. You can download the report as Excel or PDF format.

This brings up some interesting questions. Can a superannuation funds manager outperform the Index and how do you guarantee a positive return for your super every year? We’ll explore these questions soon…

 

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Get MYOB Test Drives (inc. AccountEdge for Mac) for free?

We recently had an inquiry from one of our MYOB Training students about accessing the free MYOB test drive software. We mention to students that we provide a link to the software in our course, but we happily also hand the link out to anyone who wants to get to know about the software.

Although EzyLearn is an MYOB reseller and we have sold MYOB software in the past, we know that there are much better online retailers who focus on selling MYOB software online. There are comparison sites that even allow you to compare the cost of MYOB software from different retailers of the software you are looking for.

We also assume that you can install software on your computer or have a friend or colleague or IT consultant that can help you install software.

The MYOB Test Drive can be purchased for a low amount (with cashback) from retailers like Officeworks or downloaded directly from the MYOB website for free.

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Online is the way to go according to Woolworths

I was having a chat with a rehab consultant the other day and we discussed the benefits of online services like our online MYOB Training Courses and he reminded me about online shopping and having your weekly groceries delivered to your home.

We dug a little deeper and discovered that Woolworths announced a 118% increase in online sales for the December 2011 half year (July to June). When we went to the Woolworths Online Shopping site we saw all their branding for their Click and Collect service, but entered our postcode in the top right hand corner to discover that they would deliver to your door for $11 or less if you spent more than $100 with them. Do you think that is high?

I remember speaking to an Amway seller back around 1999 when the first online shopping “craze” began as part of the dotcom revolution where he mentioned that they sell all the products that are traditionally in the centre of the shop, the products that aren’t fresh and have long expiry dates. He pointed out that most people buy the same products every time they shop, that if you wrote up a list of things you need you could simply tick boxes and re-order all those products very quickly. Compare that to taking a trip to the supermarket!

A trip to the supermarket could involve the following steps and cost a lot more than $11 delivery:

  • Bringing children with you
  • Driving to the supermarket and looking for a parking space
  • Walking around the supermarket to get all the products you need
  • Waiting in a queue to pay and have your products bagged
  • Taking the shopping bags to your car to load up
  • Unloading the shopping from your car at home

It was at this stage that we realised also, why online computer training courses offer so many benefits over traditional courses held in training centres in Sydney or Melbourne. We recall that we needed to pay rent, wages, advertising and find good quality trainers. We had to schedule the courses 3-6 months in advance and try to guess the best date, day and time for students and THEN if we didn’t have at least 4 students attend a course we had to cancel it because it we wouldn’t cover our costs!

We realised we could give students more training (our current 5 MYOB training courses for example would take the equivalent of 4 full days of face to face training) if we delivered it online, and like a new student said to us just this week, the training is delivered consistently to every student. Every student learns exactly the same information the same way every time so it is great for franchise operators.

The best part is that we divert all our earnings into generating new and updated training content, and ensuring that our online training servers are operational and secure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means we can also focus on our LIFETIME student access offer and ensure that students can get on with the bookkeeping and administration tasks they need to do rather than having to do MYOB courses again and again to get the parts they missed.

We believe 100% in online services and look forward to helping your learn MYOB and other programs like Microsoft Excel and WordPress (website builder and blogging platform) online.

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Want to create your own email newsletter for free?

Create your own blog and newsletter using WordPress and FeedburnerAll the tools you need to create a newsletter that is emailed to subscribers is available to you for free, you just have to know how to use them. Section 5 of our online WordPress training course gives you the skills you need to get it started.

This website is built on the WordPress Content Management System using a professionally designed WordPress theme. We can change the look and feel of the website in a very short time by simply uploading and activating a different theme and (unless we made some complicated changes to the coding) we wouldn’t lose any of our pages or blog articles.

The best thing about the Tools we use for our EzyLearn Online Training blog newsletter is that we simply use WordPress to write and manage the blog posts and Google Feedburner to provide automated delivery to any subscribers. The best part is that it’s fully anti-SPAM compliant. Here’s an extract from our online WordPress training course.

Section 5: Blogs, Posts and RSS Feeds

Syndication gives you the power to be many places at once. When you write a blog that article can be made to appear in your readers inbox, on other websites and of course at your blog. Articles from our blog also appear at Twitter and our Facebook Page.

Google have a range of tools to help you gain exposure on the world wide web and one of these tools is called Feedburner. This tool will enable you to have your own email list subscribers attached to your blog.

Nareev Bhatt was one of Australia’s top bloggers back in 2009 and he and other top bloggers like Karen Cheng use a simple website with Google Feedburner to deliver their news to anyone who wants to read it. This course will show you how to have your own newsletter using your WordPress Blog and FeedBurner.

If you want to see what’s included in our online WordPress Training Course (with LIFETIME student access) visit the WordPress Course section of our website. Remember you can enrol today and start by 5pm tomorrow.

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Want to use Dropbox to replace your USB thumb drive?

dropbox_cloud based storage for MYOB datafile backup

I wrote earlier in the week about Google Drive and asked the question about how it compares with Dropbox to store and share files in the cloud. Today we provide you with a free training tutorial video to show you exactly how Dropbox works. It’s simple.

Many people talk about dropbox as a means for storing files and sharing them with other people but it’s also important to realise that you can use dropbox as a backup solution to store important files like your MYOB datafile. It can also be a place where you store common documents that a group of people are working on.

Remember that when you backup to a place like Dropbox you are effectively keeping a copy of your file “off site”. If your building goes up in flames or your computers are stolen you still have access to those files!

A great feature about Dropbox is that many people can share a folder and as soon as a file is uploaded into a shared folder, or as soon as a shared file is modified you receive an instant notification in your system tray area (at the bottom right, near the time, of your Windows desktop).

FREE Outlook Course with MYOB & Xero Courses

EzyLearn FREE Student Inclusions logo

The Dropbox Training Course is included as a FREE Student Inclusion when you enrol into selected Office Admin and Bookkeeping Courses.

Watch the video below and start enjoying the benefits of cloud based computer storage. Remember to click on the heading of this blog to see the video at our blog site and subscribe if you want to receive these free tips automatically in your email.

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Want to see what MYOB looks like when it’s hosted in the cloud?

Remote_desktop_connection_icon for MYOB hosted in the cloudAs part of our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for our Bookkeeping Academy we write and inform about products and services that will help bookkeepers build their business and job seekers learn new skills to become more employable.

We recently wrote about companies that offer MYOB hosting. This enables companies to access their MYOB datafile from no matter where they are and it also enables remote contractors to manage a companies bookkeeping from their own homes. In this blog post we include a video demonstration about how easy it is to use MYOB in the cloud.

We spoke to John from Bluewave who use to promote his MYOB hosting services under the domain MYOBinthecloud.com (we think it’s a great name because it describes the service that he offered very accurately) and he was kind enough to give us a demonstration account so that we could give a hosted version of MYOB a spin. He said that they provide hosted solutions for more than just MYOB and we were able to create an invoice and email it using Microsoft Outlook.

The MYOB version we used in this demonstration is the stable version 19 (as opposed to MYOB AccountRight version 2011 that had a lot of bad publicity). The great news about MYOB is that it’s navigation hasn’t changed significantly for at least 10 years from our experience.

If you area reading this blog post via email, click on the heading to be able to see the video). If you want to ensure that you get each update as it is published via your email feel free to subscribe. If you want to create your own blog using WordPress and Google Feedburner learn how to create it in our WordPress course.