Category: Services

Services provided by EzyLearn

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Did you know that WordPress is free Website Building software?

EzyLearn Online Training Course Website for MYOB, Excel and WordPressMany people think that creating a website is complicated and expensive but it’s not and here’s why. WordPress is an open source program which means that anyone is free to download and use the software (for building websites). 

The only complicated parts of using WordPress to create your own professional website is installing it on your hosting and using the right combination of words and images to encourage people to call you, complete a form or order from you. Even getting a professional new logo for your business is now cheap and fast using crowdsourcing.

Our online training website where we deliver one of Australia’s most popular MYOB Online Training Courses is built using WordPress and we have a WordPress course that teaches you how to use the software.

The other piece of great news for small businesses that want a website is that you can choose from thousands of professionally designed “themes” that cost from zero, free and zilch to a modest amount like $50-$200.

For tricky parts including buying a domain name (use companies like NetRegistry or MelbourneIT) where you can buy a domain name for less than $20 pear year and hosting you can find from thousands of large and small providers.

NEW: We use and recommend Rose Hosting and SiteGround

The hardest job when you have a company website is that you should be adding to, editing and improving your website every week by creating new and relevant content that Google Search Engines collect and then share freely with people who are looking for you. That’s called Content Marketing!

Posted on by

Send debt collection letters using Microsoft Word from within MYOB

LIFETIME online training course access for MYOB, Excel and WordPressAre you using the Microsoft Word templates that come with MYOB? They are a great way to combine the data in your MYOB accounting software with the layout power of Microsoft Word. It’s also a great way of avoiding the emotions involved in chasing money, particularly if it is long overdue. Using Word Templates with MYOB enable you to maintain a professional, well planned approach to your finances.

This blog post contains a new video that will form part of our MYOB online training course. This course delves into the deeper parts of MYOB using some fancy and very handy features of the software. If you are receiving this blog post via email, make sure to click on the heading to get to our blog site to access the free video.

We won’t go into too much description here as the video speaks for itself, but we want to let you know that this new suite of videos will be available for existing students for no extra charge as part of our LIFETIME online training course access feature we announced in January 2011. If you want to receive our blog posts via email, just subscribe at our blog site.

Enjoy..

Posted on by — 19 Comments

Why is Continuing Professional Development (CPD) important?

Continuing Professional Development for Bookkeepers- CPD and CPETwenty years ago you could safely complete a degree knowing that your qualifications will fuel your wages (that in turn fuel your lifestyle and desires) for the rest of your life. This is no longer the case. Changes in technology are partly to blame but so too are changes in legislation and workplace practices.

If you are an accountant, working in the finance or medical professions you would know about CPD (also called Continuing Professional Education – CPE). It’s a system of providing education for professionals to keep them up to date with what is going on in their professional and this is particularly important if your profession involves advising your clients.

CPD usually involves training seminars, short courses, watching online webinars and completing assessment tasks and each one of the tasks you complete give you a certain number of points towards your total yearly point requirement. Keeping track of your attendance or the results of an exam you did at the end of completing a short course are some ways of keeping track of these points.

Why do we mention it? Because it going to become VERY important if you want to be a professional bookkeeper.

If you have completed (or plan to complete) an EzyLearn online MYOB Bookkeeping training course you will be reassured by the fact that we are currently working on tools and assessment tasks to providing you with a solution for affordable Continuing Professional Development.

You’ll also be thrilled to hear that as an accredited training provider of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers our CPD program will provide you with points towards their CPD program.

Posted on by

New Training Material: Advanced Microsoft Excel 2010 videos

Excel Online Training Course 308 - pivot table value field settingsSometimes we use the EzyLearn blog to provide some free tips from new training material that we create, like manipulating Pivot Tables we mentioned earlier in the week. Today we are announcing that 14 new training videos are now available for our advanced Microsoft Excel course (number 308).

This is the list of videos that are now available:

Video for 3.1.1 – Using AutoFilter

Video for 4.1.1 part 1 – Cleaning up data using AutoFilter

Video for 4.1.1 part 2 – Cleaning up data using AutoFilter

Video for 5.1.1 – Perform an Advanced Filter

Video for 5.1.2 – Advanced Filter using Wildcards (search text within cells)

Video for 5.1.3 – Advanced Filter for multiple search criteria

Video for 5.1.3 – Narrowing search results using Advanced Filter

Video for 6.1.1 – Inserting a Pivot Table

Video for 6.1.2 – Filtering data in a Pivot table

Video for 6.1.3 – Sort dates by month in a pivot table

Video for 6.1.5 – Changing the value field settings in a pivot table

Video for 7 – Creating pivot table charts

Video for 8.1.1 – Get months values using the Choose function

Video for 8.1.2 – Show grades for student results data using CHOOSE function

 

Our new video references match the many exercise tasks you can complete to master the skills taught in the videos. Everything you watch in the videos you can re-produce using the exercise files that come with the course. The training workbooks contain step by step instructions so you can print them out and practice where-ever you are.

If you are an existing EzyLearn student with LIFETIME access you’ll have access to these new videos and all new content that we create. Stay tuned for more updates soon as we create new videos for the other advanced Excel topics covered in courses 308 and 309. Plus we’ll show you how to create your own macros.

If you like what you read and want to enrol to take advantage of lifetime student access as well as access to all levels of Microsoft Excel for just one price, use our enrolment form. Enrol into the Excel course today and start by 5pm tomorrow (next business day).

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Live Excel Pivot-Table Stats: self-paced learning versus class-based training

Excel Course 308 - pivot table value field settings for intermediate to advanced Excel training courseWant to see some live data from when we operated our Sydney-based training centre? We conducted courses for Absolute Beginners (we call it Computer Learners now), Microsoft Word and Excel, MYOB Accounting software for bookkeeping and others. We also offered different start times and different methods of delivery including self-paced (which has evolved into online) as well as class-based training courses.

The data in this free Microsoft Excel training video is taken from our student enrolment database the same year we created our first training videos. We created these videos to make them available to students who couldn’t fit into a schedule or wanted a more personalised training experience. Want to learn more about my fond journey in computer training? Feel free to also subscribe to my small business blog while you are at that site.

If you are reading this as an email, click on the heading to get to our blog site and enjoy the free training video about Pivot Tables using Microsoft Excel (the exercise file is provided in our Excel Training Course) and shows live data of enrolments for that year. We used a pivot table to find out:

  1. The popular courses,
  2. The popular training methods
  3. The popular start times for courses.

Can you see in the video which year the data is from? Back then we had experienced trainer like Maria Landrelli and Marie Diblasio to deliver our popular MYOB Day-to-Day courses to find work as a bookkeeper.

< !>

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Do you need more customers, more people, or more time?

Professional bookkeeper and online WordPress training course and hostingI was going through our EzyLearn blog library of articles today. In doing so, I was reminded that we started blogging back in 2007.

This was one year after we closed our three Sydney-based computer training centres to focus solely on online training courses.

After reading some of the old posts, I again realised just how much work is involved in maintaining a blog!

The Necessity of Blogging

When I analyse the workload of the EzyLearn team members and the hours we spend creating step-by-step training workbooks, training videos, knowledge reviews and assessment tasks, I realise that it is all very necessary.

Back in 2007, blogging wasn’t new. In fact, many people had heard of it but most small businesses (or large ones) weren’t really doing it much.

We at EzyLearn wrote a workbook to teach people how to use WordPress and it highlights one of the most important parts of being a training organisation. This being, to study what is new and understand how it will affect businesses and employees that use technology into the future.

This blog you are reading right now is read by a lot of other people and it highlights:

  1. Our commitment to keeping you informed
  2. The range of skills our team has
  3. The number of customers who come to us as a result of reading this blog

Why Blog?

Why am I talking about this? One of our most popular online courses is the MYOB Bookkeeping Course and a lot of people who complete this course want to start their own business.

These same people are keen to build their customer base enabling them to work their own hours, use their brains and earn a good living.

Having a website with built-in blogging functionality based on the WordPress Content Management System is a fantastic way to tell people what you know and drum up new customers. It enables you to keep in contact with people, keep giving them information with no strings attached, and remain top of mind.

Blogging and “content marketing” just takes a bit of time to learn and then keep up to date, but you’ll end up with more customers and won’t have to pay for Google Adwords! 🙂

Read more about why we do content marketing

Posted on by — 1 Comment

New Macros in Excel Course to handle prepayments

Excel Macros in advanced Microsoft online Excel Training courseWe are please to announce that our most advanced Microsoft Excel course (course 309) now includes a training exercise on Macros!

You may recall we asked the question as to whether it is better to give a discount and accept prepayments or to charge your normal price and chase invoices and statements? Well, we got our Microsoft Excel expert to create a simple table that enables us to keep track of prepayments as well as incremental reductions from this prepayment.

This file is a great tool to keep track of how much credit a customer has if you decide to invoice them in advance. There is a way of accepting prepayments in MYOB and our MYOB expert and resident BAS Agent is currently putting a guide together on how to handle prepayments using MYOB. Using Excel  can be a handy replacement for using MYOB in this one aspect of your business.

Best of all, Karen created a short guide that we have added to the 309 course training manual which explains how to replicate what she created. Both the Workbook and the demonstration file that Karen created are now at the learning site.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Want to operate your own online training business?

Online training course and support business for saleEvery business owner makes decisions about how they want to grow the business and the different “channels to market” are discussed in strategic management textbooks regularly. In 2010 EzyLearn made an executive decision to build a Partner program so that other companies can benefit by working with us and our training courses and content.

We explored many options including affiliate marketing and in 2012 our line up of available partner plans has evolved completely. You can start with

  • some code which can go onto a page on your website and receive a commission for each sale,
  • you can have a new website commissioned with all the information about our online courses and an enrolment form where you receive the payments, or
  • you can plug right into the EzyLearn enrolment process and receive payments from the general public.

If you are interested to learn more complete our online training business opportunities application form and begin your journey.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Can MYOB repay it’s debts with its head in the clouds?

cloud-accounting xero vs saasu vs myob online training courseWe wrote back in early 2010 about what appeared to be a revolutionary move at the time about MYOB founder Craig Winkler jumping ship and moving to Xero. In the recent bad press about the bug-ridden upgrade of MYOB AccountRight 2011 there is an interesting mention about Cloud Based accounting and MYOB’s goals to get into that space.

In the past 12 months we have worked with as well as provided training for many virtual assistants (remote contractors) and we’ve come into contact with other cloud-based accounting/bookkeeping services you might like to know about. Our pick of the bunch would have to be SAASU at this stage because they have a product that is perfect for remote contractors or micro businesses.

It appears that Xero and SAASU own the online accounting market space but it will be interesting to see how MYOB go as they diversify into cloud accounting as well as their many other products like website hosting, which we’ve never really understood when there are market leaders like MelbourneIT and NetRegistry as well as thousands of small providers.

While we’re on the topic of cloud, here’s a little plug for virion business grade voip. Our trainers have compiled an Excel spreadsheet to demonstrate the cost savings of VoIP over traditional telephony and this year we will have some training for IT Consultants about the Siemens Gigaset office phones.

Posted on by

Is it better to repay your debts or prepay with discounts?

Microsoft Excel prepayments online training course and MYOBThe recent bad news about MYOB AccountRight 2011 demonstrates the risks involved when you borrow money for any venture (MYOB have a $575M loan that they need to repay). The money needs to be paid back and luckily you can use MYOB software to keep track of what is owed to you. It also brings up the question of rather than having a debt to repay can you pre sell what you do (at a large discount)?

We are asked many questions in our MYOB online training course support service we call “EzyLearn ANSWERS” and one of the recent questions was “what is the best way of keeping track of Prepayments”. We took the question to our Registered BAS Agent and MYOB Tutor as well as our Microsoft Excel Expert and we’ve come up with two scenarios, one using MYOB and one using Microsoft Excel.

What is the best solution?

You could use MYOB to handle pre-payments, or you could use it as a simple track of the lump sum payment you’ve received into your bank account and use Excel to enter the day to day information about how and when that prepayment is used.

We’ve created an Excel “Handy file” for you and we’ve putting the finishing touches on the workbook that explains how to do it using both Excel and MYOB so stay tuned to this blog or subscribe to receive these blog posts via email as they are published.

Need something created in Excel? Enrol into the online Microsoft Excel course and use EzyLearn ANSWERS to put it to our Excel guru.

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Accountants now refusing to recommend MYOB

As part of our commitment to create new training content every quarter for our online MYOB training course we’ve added some addendums to the bank reconciliation and payroll courses in line with the latest version of MYOB AccountRight Plus available. Many Accountants however are not recommending that their clients make the upgrade.

We received some complaints from students about issues they experienced with the MYOB Bank Reconciliation and Payroll Intro courses and as a result our Registered BAS Agent and MYOB Tutor, Jacci, went through the course and wrote some notes to help students come up with the correct results.

Just as we suspected after speaking with bookkeepers and accountants it appears there are major flaws with the current version of the software and it’s affecting the revenue of MYOB Professional Partners and Consultants (who are being encouraged not to share the information).

It’s times like these that we are all tested as trainers, installation consultants, bookkeepers etc to be confident that we are doing our best to use the software to provide the information that we need. It’s also a good time to understand the benefits of having alternative ways of working with your data (ie. using a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel) to perform calculations for PAYG and Superannuation.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Are you a mum returning to work? Receive an instant discount coupon!

mums returning to work online training courseOur online training courses help people gain new skills and keep job seekers up-to-date with software so they are confident in job interviews. They also provide skills to create their own resumes.

Our training includes

  • website design and blogging using WordPress,
  • office administration using Microsoft Office and
  • bookkeeping using MYOB

We believe we have the best solution for online training in Australia but we always want to be certain by understanding  what students want in an online training course.

Features like training videos, knowledge reviews, LIFETIME course access, Tutor Support and Student Community enable students to immerse themselves in the training and make it less stressful. After all, who does a course because they enjoy it? We all know that structured learning is something we do because we have to if we want to get ahead!

Complete the Training Course Needs Assessment and receive an instant discount for one of our online training courses. Tell us what you are looking for and be rewarded. You can forward the reward to someone else if you don’t need it now.

Posted on by

Do you pay yourself but don’t use the Payroll feature of MYOB?

Australian Taxation office ato logo - payroll myob bas paygSometimes we use the EzyLearn Blog to inform readers about general course information. Today we’re announcing a new exercise file that is included in our Microsoft Excel Course 308 (which covers Macros) as well as the MYOB Payroll Course.

If you are a small business owner and you only have yourself or a handful of employees you might come across the dilemma about how to keep a record of payments you’ve made to yourself so that you can pay the correct amount of PAYG, Super etc. If your business is only small you may decide not to purchase and use the full MYOB AccountRight Plus version of MYOB accounting software and opt to keep Payroll records separately or in an Excel spreadsheet.

In a previous post we mentioned that one of our course content creators was working on a spreadsheet to help with PAYG and Super calculations for BAS reporting. Well it’s now ready (AND there’s more to come).

The Excel spreadsheet we have created enables you to enter the total amount that you have paid to an employee (or yourself) and calculates the PAYG and Superannuation that is payable for that amount (you can adjust the superannuation rate). All you have to do now is enter the payment into MYOB and your compliance is assured.

This file is handy if you pay yourself irregularly or differing amounts as you need it. Using this PAYG spreadsheet you simply enter the total amount you’ve paid yourself (or an employee) over the quarter and it finds how much you need to pay in PAYG and Super.

This excel file uses the VLOOKUP command in Microsoft Excel and the tax tables for weekly pay at the ATO website. If you are an existing student you’ll find the exercise file in the Excel 308 course (under the heading Handy Files). This course covers 3D formulas, CHOOSE, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH and INDEX, nested functions and how to protect worksheets.

Did you know that when you enrol into the EzyLearn online Microsoft Excel course that all levels are included for the one price? This also includes access to new content as it is created and you have lifetime access.

 

Posted on by — 1 Comment

What do you want in a training course?

Dr Evil - Need the info - what do you want in an online training courseSometimes we use the EzyLearn blog to learn more about what you are looking for in a training course, particularly if you have not done a course with us before. As a thank you for sharing your opinions with us you’ll receive a discount coupon for one of our courses and updates about special offers.

We’ve assembled a simple Course Needs Assessment to understand what you are looking for. With online training courses and support for MYOB bookkeeping software, WordPress website design and blogging software and Microsoft Office, we cover a wide range of topics.

Our courses are for:

  • Job seekers,
  • Those already in a job and
  • People seeking skills to operate their own business

Each category of student has slightly different needs and we want to make sure we are catering for your training needs.

Complete this brief questionnaire to join the “specials” list and receive a discount coupon code for one of our online courses.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Is your WordPress website secure?

WordPress Training Course malware scan toolThis is a general announcement to anyone with a WordPress website. We have a WordPress Webmasters course to help small business owners setup their own website or blog and also to help individuals learn about WordPress so that they can earn a living creating websites, blogging and participating in social media.

You may recall that this EzyLearn Blog was actually affected by a WordPress Malware attack back in mid November 2011. It’s a known fact that there are occasional vulnerabilities in all sorts of software and that includes online software (they call them scripts rather than programs), like WordPress.

The recent issue with WordPress was caused by the TimThumb.php script for inserting, cropping, editing images etc and rather than go into the details here are some links that you’ll find interesting.

Why are we writing this post? Because it highlights the importance of using a theme club or theme maker that constantly updates the themes they create.

We recommend ElegantThemes and Woothemes and they both wrote articles about the vulnerability when it was discovered and provided updated themes with the risk removed.

See the articles from ElegantThemes and WooThemes.

If you want to learn more about our WordPress online Training Course contents, pricing etc please visit our WordPress Course website: www.wordpresscourse.com.au.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Statement of formulas for calculating PAYG amounts to be withheld

PAYG withholding Scale 7 for weekly wage payments for online MYOB training course and supportThe MYOB Payroll Training Course is in stage two of development. The contents of our existing Payroll course give students an introduction to how to navigate around and get fundamental information about the payroll environment in the sample company file. As part of our constant improvement process we are developing payroll scenarios as exercises for our students. This new content when published will be available for all existing Payroll Students and all those who have enrolled with the LIFETIME training course Access option.

Which table to use?

The ATO release papers that provide you with the information you need to perform your calculations regarding PAYG, super etc. In this blog post we look at Schedule 1 Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding NAT 1004. If you take a look at table 7 on page (see diagram on this page) you’ll see the variables or what the Australian Tax Office call coefficients.

New Spreadsheet for Excel and MYOB students

One of our content creators is in the process of creating an Excel spreadsheet as a simple tool to help you work out how much PAYG tax and super you owe at the end of quarterly BAS reporting period. It’s a tool that we will offer both Microsoft Excel and MYOB Training Course students when it’s ready. And no, before you think of asking, it won’t cost you any extra money to receive it. It’s available as part of our LIFETIME student access.