Category: Bookkeeping Skills

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Planday for Xero or Square Team Management: Which Should Your Business Use?

Physical timesheets and all the manual data entry of employee scheduling is a hassle.  Even with technology like email and text, it’s always a task to try and figure out who swapped shifts with who and coordinate a schedule that works for all your employees.

Workforce management software like Planday and Square Team Management have become popular alternatives.  Planday is now owned by Xero, and Square Team Management is a service offered by digital payment company Block Inc. (formerly known as Square Inc.)

But which one should your business use? Let’s go through some of the main features you’d expect of a workforce management software, and see how Planday and Square Team Management compare:

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Payroll Training Course Integrations: Square Payroll versus Xero?

Now that paying by card is the norm, retailers have needed to adapt to the cashless customer.  If you’ve been to some local markets recently, maybe a sporting club canteen or even your regular café, you may have noticed that you’re tapping your card on a little white square instead of an EFTPOS machine.

Block Inc. – previously known as Square Inc – is a point-of-sale (POS) system winning over retailers and enterprises across the world.  And it’s not just little white payment terminals, Square offers a range of technology and services that range from POS to payroll to inventory to marketing, AND, they recently purchased AfterPay!

Square integrates with Xero, and considering its popularity, let’s break down what Square is and how it compares to other Xero integrations like Planday.

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STP Phase 2 Training Added to Xero Payroll Course – Learn ALL Payroll Courses Across Multiple Software in Advanced Certificate in Payroll Administration

STP-Phase-2-Xero-Payroll Training Course

EzyLearn had added Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 Training to our Xero Payroll Administration Training Course.

As Xero continues to be one of the leading accounting program for Aussie small businesses, we’ve been updating our courses to stay up to date with changes.  We’ve also recently added Xero My Payroll content to this course.

The Australian government launched STP in 2016, where employers with over 9 employees must report their payroll information for each pay run to the ATO.  When the ATO introduced STP Phase 2 earlier this year, some of the reporting obligations changed.

Here’s what you need to know about STP Phase 2 reporting in Xero, and how EzyLearn’s got you covered with the training.

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Are You Complying With Your Fringe Benefits Tax Liability of up to 47% (especially COVID-19 related ones)?

Do you provide your employees with gym memberships or concert tickets?  Or maybe you work for a company that provides you with a vehicle or accommodation? There are lots of perks that business can provide to their employees outside of salaries and wages – and these are called fringe benefits and they may apply to you if you worked at home due to COVID-19.

FBT is not as simple as handing out freebies.  Employers have to pay tax on these benefits they provide, and the amount can depend on the type of fringe benefit they’re providing. 

We’ve written before about how fringe benefits tax is important to consider when you engage a new worker, but let’s look more in-depth into what fringe benefits are all about, and how to ensure you comply with your liabilities:

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Why is Xero Saying Your PayPal Bank Connection Needs Updating?

If you’ve connected PayPal with Xero, and have been using it for quite a while, it might come as a bit of a surprise when you get an email from Xero telling you that your existing PayPal direct bank connection will no longer be supported and will stop importing transactions into Xero.

Why is Xero emailing you this?  Especially considering there’s a timeframe in which you need to switch to the new PayPal bank connection, you’re probably eager to figure out what it all means.

Don’t stress, here’s what you need to know.

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Here’s What Businesses Need to Know About eInvoicing in Xero

Invoices can be a hassle for both businesses and their clients.  There’s nothing fun about chasing up that client about their late payment, nor is it an efficient use of time to trawl through emails and  inboxes trying to find that invoice from however long ago.

The Commonwealth Government is pushing ahead with an alternative, that looks like it will make things a bit easier for everyone.

eInvoicing is on the rise!  And since software like Xero has jumped in on the change, it’s important for small businesses to know what eInvoicing is all about:

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Intuit (QuickBooks) Buys Mailchimp! – Marketing Will Finally Speak to Accounts.

Intuit (the maker of QuickBooks, an online accounting software for small-businesses) has recently announced a new purchase that could see them breaking into the ERP world of business software. Mailchimp is now owned by Intuit!

Although they’re not huge in Australia, Intuit is trying to compete with the likes of Xero, whose add-on software integrations have extended its functionality and made Xero a powerful business administration system for Aussie small businesses.

Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform for small businesses and ecommerce, mainly focused on email marketing campaigns. I wrote a couple years ago about how digital marketing tasks seem to be creeping into the job descriptions for office support and admin staff.

Let’s have a look at what Intuit’s acquisition of the world’s largest marketing automation platform means:

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Xero Asks Nicely for Feedback using NPS, But EzyLearn Interviewed Xero Course Students via Zoom

If you’re looking into a business, maybe you’re thinking of buying a product from them, subscribing to a service, or even just doing a bit of research, one of the places you’ll want to go is the ratings and reviews page.

I’ve written before about how reviews and testimonials are more valuable than number ratings when it comes to revealing important things about a business but for medium and larger companies, who aren’t able to have a personal relationship with their customers, they have to rely on these ratings. They’re also used an opportunity to measure what matters to their clients.

One of the ways they do this is through Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and you’ve probably contributed to one even if you don’t know it!

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Engaging a New Worker? Here Are The Things You Need To Do, particularly if you’re classified by the ATO as a withholder:

There’s lots to do when businesses engage a new worker.  As an employer, you’ll be busy going through the onboarding process and showing your new employee the ropes, but there are other important things to do when you add a new member to your team.

Keeping accurate records complete with the right information is essential for businesses to maintain, and that means updating and adding data when engaging a new worker.  Here are some things to keep in mind as you go through this process:

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Xero’s Integration With DiviPay Can Help Small Businesses Manage Expenses

Expense management is an important thing to have control of in order to keep a business running smoothly.  But it can be a time-consuming process, full of paperwork, data entry, and chasing up staff members for receipts and invoices.

Xero’s integration with DiviPay promises to make the whole process easier, with seemingly half of it being done by staff members on their mobile phones!

But how does it all work?

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CommBank and Xero Integration to Help Small Businesses Get Paid Faster

It’s not a secret that in order to stay afloat businesses need to be making money.  Access to funds is essential for businesses to not only pay off debts, but also to finance everyday operations and pay their staff and suppliers.

It can become problematic, however, when a business’ cash flow is tied up in unpaid invoices.  If a business sells on credit – as many do – they might be in the unfortunate position of waiting to get paid by their customer and struggling to make ends meet in the meantime.

There are a few solutions: one is to use credit management apps like ChaserHQ or Debtor Daddy to help automate the process.  Things like chasing up unpaid invoices and escalating debts can be made easier by using these apps that integrate with your accounting software.

The other is to get a loan.  Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) Stream Working Capital is a digital solution for businesses to access the money tied up in their invoices.  Here’s what you need to know about it:

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Xero Announces New Product Features – EzyLearn Offers 12 months Course Access and Support!

New year, new Xero features! 

Xero has recently announced its updated product features, and they include improvements to integrations, interfaces, and information.

We updates our Xero Training Course content regularly and every student gets 12 months course access and support – this includes access to all updated and additional course content. Here’s a rundown of recent changes Xero have made to their software.

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ATO’s SUPER GUARANTEE CHARGE Could Slug Employers Extra for Late Super Payments (SG vs SGC)?

For small businesses, getting the administrative aspects of payroll and super in order can be stressful and confusing.  Things need to be paid by certain dates at certain amounts, and failure to comply can have some serious consequences, PARTICULARY when it comes to employees pay and entitlements.

So what does it mean for a small business or employer if they don’t pay super on time?  Here’s what you need to know about the super guarantee charge, and how you can avoid it.

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How are Small Businesses Changing in 2022?

It’s not a stretch to say the last few years have been tough…especially for businesses.  Through lockdowns and restrictions we’ve seen businesses struggle, falter, adapt, and survive. 

Now that we’re in to 2022, and things are (fingers crossed) almost looking normal again, it’s exciting to see how businesses will recover and thrive.

Xero has released a guide to small business trends for 2022, based on surveys they conducted in 2021 of their subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Canada, and the US. 

Here’s are 10 trends on the rise for small business this year:

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How Microsoft Word and Excel Training Can Improve Your Work Life

Microsoft-Word-and-Excel

As part of our new initiative, EzyLearn Worklife, we’ve been speaking to EzyLearn graduates about their experiences with their course, and how they use the skills they’ve learnt in their work life.

One such student is Ian, who enrolled into both the Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel Complete Training Course Packages in 2021.  He is also part of our Career Courses Membership, which gives him lifetime access to his course content and student support.

Ian works for Services Australia and we had a chat with him about his work, his course, and all things in between.  And he gave some great insight into just how valuable online training can be…

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Pandemic Digitalised Small Businesses more than NBN, Xero Report Reveals Numbers?

The pandemic has seen huge changes to the way businesses run, with Zoom meetings and remote working becoming the new normal and working parents are loving it (if they have the space for it).

The common factor here, of course, is the move to digital solutions for businesses.  Whilst ICT expenditure has always formed part of a business’ expenses, the pandemic has contributed to an increase in this area of spending.

Businesses are becoming increasingly digital, and it’s actually improving their performance. One of the areas I’ve noticed is the use of website chat has increased and customer service work can be performed by anyone running a micro business from their own home.

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