Unless you’re a tradie with a Commercial “PowerPass” account with Bunnings you probably wouldn’t know about their fantastic system of keeping track of all your tax invoices.
It’s actually quite easy to get a PowerPass account and it’s very similar to using Flybuys. You go and buy all the things you need – like I did to erect the garden shed in our Job tracking and Projects case study for the MYOB and Xero Courses – and scan your card when you pay. You get a discount and your tax invoice is recorded in the Bunnings PowerPass system.
You just log into the PowerPass admin area and EVERY SINGLE invoice is available to you there!
This was the start of what seems to be an ongoing increase in the monthly subscription price for Xero. Xero appears to come across like a money hungry landlord that has you hooked on their software and wants to see how much they can extract from you.
It’s a big job to change accounting programs and like many software publishers Xero need to increase their subscription rate or earn more money by selling addons that they own – or they can charge a per employee rate for payroll services!
If you are starting a new business or switching back to MYOB Business from Xero learn how to use MYOB Business online with us.
If you are looking for work you are best to learn both version of MYOB: AccountRight and MYOB Business. They are available in our MYOB & Xero Bookkeeping Course Bundles.
MYOB has struggled for a long time against Xero but now seems to be in a sweet spot for price vs features.
MYOB is used by more than 1,000,000 users in Australia so it is a very good skill to have if you are looking for bookkeeping jobs or business admin jobs.
When we started delivering MYOB courses in a classroom in Dee Why in the late 1990’s I realised early that learning bookkeeping skills is best to do one step at a time. When I say 1 step I mean in training sessions that last no more than about 2-3 hours.
That’s why we created Micro courses in MYOB.
Visit the MYOB Training Course information page and see each of these different skill levels. You’ll see that it is based on the case studies I’ve written recently about like Flockana Cafe and Trim and Styles Hairdressing Salon.
Things are moving fast in the software industry as Intuit (QuickBooks), MYOB and Xero compete with each other with regular software updates. It has become so fierce that many students are enrolling into our Bookkeeping Academy Combination courses.
The key frontiers are still
automated data entry from bank feeds,
capturing receipts and extracting data,
faster reconciliation and
automatic calculations of taxes owed.
These are some of the features promoted by NAB Bookkeeper for NAB Business banking customers but what is MYOB’s huge announcement?
There are many finance professionals — who does your business need?
Does your business need a bookkeeper, accountant or perhaps just a BAS agent – or a little bit of everyone?
WE’VE MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY THAT finding a bookkeeper, when you may not know much about bookkeeping, can be a difficult task.
In fact, a lot of new business owners assume their accountant will take care of everything for them, which may be costly if their accountant has to perform a year’s worth of bookkeeping in order to file the business’s tax return. But bookkeepers and accountants can work harmoniously in your business.
As a general rule, every business needs at least two finance professionals working on their business accounts, but which two professionals you’ll need to hire depends on your business needs. If you’re not sure who you need to hire for your business, here’s a cheat sheet to help you out.
Bookkeepers (not registered with the TPB)
An independent bookkeeper not employed by an accountant and not registered with the Tax Practitioner’s Board (TPB) may only perform basic bookkeeping services, such as the
entering of receipts,
coding financial transactions,
generating invoices and purchase orders
accounts receivable and accounts payable
If you hire this type of bookkeeper, you’ll still need an accountant.
BAS agents
BAS agents must, by law, register with the Tax Practitioner’s Board (TPB), which certifies that they are qualified and have completed the necessary continuing education requirements to perform the tasks of a BAS agent, which involves carrying out most of the bookkeeping tasks mentioned above, in addition to preparing and lodging business activity statements on a business’s behalf.
If your business is registered for GST, you will need to file regular activity statements. If you hire a BAS agent, you’ll also need an accountant. In some instances, you may find a BAS agent who’s also a registered tax agent and vice versa, who may be able to take care of all your taxation needs.
Tax agents
Although tax agents, like BAS agents, must also register with the Tax Practitioner’s Board (TPB), a tax agent is focused on income tax — how much income you have to declare, how much you can claim back, etc.
This is distinct from a BAS agent who is concerned with the day-to-day financial tasks of your business (bookkeeping and BAS lodgements). That said, some tax agents will also perform some the basic bookkeeping tasks on a regular basis, though they primarily specialise in lodging tax returns.
If you’re not registered for GST, and your tax agent will also perform regular bookkeeping tasks (or you can do it yourself), you may not need to hire an accountant. In some instances, you may find a tax agent who’s also a registered BAS agent and vice versa, who may be able to take care of all your taxation needs.
Accountants
An accountant is mostly concerned with planning and strategy. Unlike bookkeepers and BAS or tax agents, an accountant will assess and advise you on what actions you should take to maximise your income. Great accountants will get involved with planning the direction of your business and ensure it’s been structured properly and that you’re meeting any additional tax obligations.
They’ll also help you to make strategic purchases for equipment and machinery, and work with your BAS agent or bookkeeper to ensure these decisions are reflected in your daily financial records. An accountant is also able to prepare and lodge tax returns on your behalf.
How much should I pay a bookkeeper?
Check out the National Bookkeeping Directory, which features the details of bookkeepers, capable of doing data entry and clerical tasks, through to high-level accounting work as undertaken by BAS agents, accountants and CFOs.
You can also see the National Bookkeeping rates page to find out what level bookkeeper your business needs.
The constant need for some companies to continue to grow revenue or subscriber numbers can make the employees do things too aggressively.
Xero has always done a great marketing job against MYOB because it was easy – all they had to do was have good software that was easier to use and in the cloud – now they’re ALL in the Cloud!
Xero focused on a cloud only model and the integrations between it and other online software programs. This was a marketing strategy that may have stretched the truth a little!
MYOB’s problem was that is WAS a Windows based software program. This made using the software harder because you had the constraints of running only on a Windows computer and had to upgrade that software regularly. It also caused issues with their Mac version and they ended up having to discontinue that software and push their Mac users straight to their Cloud version, MYOB Essentials.
I recently wrote about the Internship opportunities for selected business and office administration training courses – this work can all be done online, remotely working from home.
One of the best things about running an online training business is that we can deliver our courses to the thousands of students who live in remote parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland and the rest of Australia!
Read on to discover how you can up-skill and learn how to become a remote working virtual assistant performing business and office administration work from your own home
Some people might find it easier to learn the software through video tutorials, and replicating what they see on the tutorial using the software. This is a good way for experienced bookkeepers to up skill quickly on a feature that they haven’t used before. It is also a good way for beginners to lose their fear of accounting software.
Watching videos and replicating what you see is very easy to do but once you get past the 4-5th video you realise it’s not the same as performing bookkeeping tasks in an office.
Others might prefer to work through a printed manual with step by step instructions and sample data.
Combining instructor video tutorials, self-study, workbooks and case studies is best
EzyLearn Premium Xero & MYOB courses combine video tutorials which compliment and explain the tasks in the step-by-step training workbooks.
At the end of each subject an online assessment test insures you remember the important parts of each skill level. Each different Xero and MYOB course covers a very specific skill level which is aligned with the job requirements for accounting and bookkeeping jobs.
You can experiment with different methods and start with just video tutorials to see what works best for you. In my experience the MAJOR reasons that people choose video tutorials over practical exercises with case studies is
the higher cost, and
time and effort required
MYOB & Xero Training Course Contents
When you enrol into a Complete training course with EzyLearn you get the Beginners to Advanced skills and everything in between. Learn more about how much MYOB and Xero Courses cost.
We’re so used to paying subscription fees for everything today but not really owning anything. I was speaking with Brian from Spina Coffee Roaster in Morisset and he reminded me when small businesses could buy MYOB AccountRight and then only upgrade if they wanted too.
I recall the first subscriptions that MYOB introduced relating to Payroll tax tables. If the PAYG brackets or superannuation (covered in the MYOB Payroll Course) were changed by the Australian Government then you had to buy the upgrade from MYOB – even though it was a simple change of a couple of percentages in the software.
Now, most small businesses don’t even budge when they pay $1000pa for a Xero subscription!
A Cert IV in Bookkeeping and Accounting is the same as any other Cert IV in Bookkeeping and Accounting, right? Wrong.
One of the biggest issues that ex Mentor Education students face in trying to transfer their credits to another training organisation AND continuing their studies is that EVERY RTO can choose some of their own subjects.
So a Cert IV in Bookkeeping can be different from one RTO and TAFE to another even though they’re the same qualification – does that makes sense. Let me demonstrate.
Business owners who need to learn how to use MYOB and Xero like the added support that is available if they have a question that relates to their own business.
Unlike Job Seekers who choose MYOB and Xero COMPLETE training courses to learn as much as they can about these bookkeeping programs, Business owners often have questions which relate to things they want to resolve in their business.
Most of the questions students have are solved as they progress through the logical order of the courses we’ve created but sometimes things get a little weird.
Am I a bookkeeping nerd or is everyone else also seeing these “financial” advertisements for tax lodgement, easy bookkeeping and 6 month FREE access to accounting software?
It’s interesting to see a new accounting software company appear in Australia despite the fact that many have come and gone in the past – particularly during this market downturn for technology shares! Their offer is pretty compelling though..
If you have enrolled into a course with EzyLearn be sure to check out these FREE student inclusions.
We’re creating and updating our online courses every month and we’re listening to feedback from students to understand what they need. We’re even paying EzyLearn graduates for their expertise in the work they do. If you want to see how you can earn money using your expertise check out the LIFELONG Learning Hub in the Learning Site or reach out to our support team.
It’s Christmas season once more and you can even get a great deal on your MYOB Business Lite or Pro accounting software if you have an eligible Westpace account.
There are some exceptions, however, and these exceptions show where all the accounting software vendors are making their money: Payroll, Inventory and deeper functionality through integrations.
This is not the first time MYOB have partnered with a major corporation to get its software promotions sold. The last one I wrote about was when Telstra was pimping it last year. This offer is different..
I was speaking with a job seeker recently and she was telling me that she had applied for hundreds of jobs and tried dozens of employment sites but got NO job interviews. I mentioned to her that the employment rate is very low at the moment and that there is a lot of demand so she might do all right if she keeps trying.
What I copped next was flurry of expletives about how the Government is making up lies and that there are no jobs available. This lady continued to bend my ear until I had to excuse myself politely.
The problem that most people have with the Job Application Process is that they’re not practiced at it. There is a method and process to follow when applying for jobs and if you approach it with desperation or you get frustrated you lose sight of how you come across to the employer.
The employer is simply following a process to find the best potential job applicant and they want to make sure they get it right. Need help in the job search and application process? That’s where the Career Academy from EzyLearn come in.
Xero have just announced their financial and performance results and the headline figures show strong subscriber growth all over the world, including UK and US where they are trying very hard to get market share like they have in Australia.
It’s now more evident than ever that if you get certified in Xero that you could work for a business in most modern countries around the world. Is that what they called Internationally Accredited?
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Xero is a great bookkeeping program for tradies who are on the go and using their phones (or a tablet) all the time. From receipts scanning to creating quotes and invoices, receiving payments and keeping track of project costs.
bookkeepercourse.com.au/produ…
