Category: Bookkeeping Courses

Online Bookkeeping Courses to help you learn how to use

These courses are designed for

  • job seekers who are looking for work,
  • employees who are up-skilling to get a promotion or move to a different area within their current employer,
  • those seeking to do some contract work in the gig-economy, or
  • students who want to start their own bookkeeping business.

These blog posts contain information as well as free bookkeeping training and tips for small business owners and managers.

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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

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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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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 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.

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Google Apps is now Google Drive. Is it better than dropbox?

Google Drive and smart devices storage in the cloudAs users of Google Apps, the EzyLearn Team are always interested in learning about new technology and how it can be used to increase productivity, reduce cost and allow us to do great new things.

We recently received a message that Google Docs is now Google Drive. They’re tying it all into Cloud based storage and services and it looks like a great move, but will we use it instead of Dropbox?

We recently wrote about MYOB in the Clouds, we use a small business telephone service that is in the cloud, our training courses are in the cloud and our website are built using a cloud-based website builder (WordPress) so it’s natural that we try to keep abreast of what the big technology players like Google are up to.

Below is a simple video (if you are reading this blog post via email, click on the heading to see the video at our blog site) that shows what you can do with Google Drive and all your devices including smartphones that are connected to the Internet. How does it compare to Dropbox? I agree with Ed Bott from the prolific technology writers at ZDNet.

Feel free to share your experiences on our Facebook Page

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Hundreds of businesses already use MYOB hosted in the cloud!

ozBeanz MYOB Approved Hosting Provider for MYOB in the cloud
Screen Shot from ozBeanz website

In our research about cloud based accounting software we discovered that MYOB have an approved hosting reseller program. This is a program where MYOB partners with companies who specialise in providing hosting services so that MYOB users can access their data file from anywhere.

We recently spoke to one of those hosting businesses and took their service for a test drive and it was amazingly quick and did everything we needed it to do. We were able to login, access the MYOB data file, create an invoice and email it via the cloud based hosting account!

[quote]This is a definite boon for Remote Contractors who provide bookkeeping services from their own home, like working mums.[/quote]

The term cloud means different things to different people and Heather Cox from asponline wrote an excellent article about hosted MYOB services. We spoke to the people at ozBeanz as well and they have been MYOB Approved Hosting Providers for many, many years.

Do you have any experience using MYOB in the cloud? If you do, we’d like to hear from you at our Facebook page.

Our MYOB training course is also in the cloud so you can complete all 5 MYOB courses no matter where you are.

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What is a PAYG tax table and how does it work?

ATO 2013 tax tables for online MYOB payroll training courseWe recently announced our updated MYOB Payroll Course videos and training workbook and were asked to explain PAYG tax tables in a bit more detail. We’ll explain tax tables using the data from the ATO website relating to tax tables for the 2013 financial year.

We recently witness a federal budget and there are usually some changes in each budget that relate to tax tables or tax thresholds. These tax tables simply define how much tax you pay for each threshold and the simplest way to describe it is to define the first category. This category is called the tax-free threshold and it is the level at which you don’t pay any tax. The annual pay for this level will be $18,200 from 1st July 2012 (the beginning of the next financial year). Any money you earn up to this level you don’t pay any income tax on.

Any money you earn over this tax-free threshold amount but less than $37,000 will be taxed at 19c per dollar.

The most important thing to note is that just because you earn $50,000 doesn’t mean you will be taxed at 32.5c in every dollar you earn. You’ll be charged

  1. zero for the first $18,200, 
  2. 19% from $18,200 to $37,000 and then 
  3. 32.50% for each dollar over $37,000.
Stay tuned for more bite size chunks of knowledge in the coming weeks as we evolve our MYOB Payroll training course. Make sure you subscribe to receive these posts via email.
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We help you in the “Do More Make Less” Australia

Australian employment share by activity - bookkeeping services using MYOBWe were spilling through the recent federal budget information (as you would) and found some interesting facts that we wanted to share. We were actually looking for the new tax tables to explain more about how they work for our recently updated MYOB Payroll Course, but thought the information was enlightening. It’s also another reason to learn how to use MYOB so you can perform bookkeeping tasks!

We found it relevant because our online MYOB and Excel training courses provide education and new skills for individuals to participate in the provision of services in Australia’s knowledge based economy. Is all that jargon too much? It just means that more and more workers are being paid for using their brains and skills to perform tasks (like bookkeeping) and less on making or growing stuff.

You might also be reassured by our relatively low and constant unemployment rate.

And, just in case you weren’t aware, our online MYOB training courses include

  1. Training Videos
  2. Training workbooks with exercises and
  3. Knowledge review to test your skills

PLUS they come with LIFETIME student access so you can have access to new content as it is created for no extra cost.

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MYOB Payroll (Processing Pays) Workbook now available

Payroll is one of the most significant costs involved in operating a business and also represents the main form of income for Australian workers. Our MYOB course development for the coming months is focused on increasing the depth of skills taught about how to handle Payroll using MYOB accounting software.

TFN Declaration Form - MYOB (processing pays) Payroll training course and workbookThe beta version of our latest training guide for Payroll is now available as part of the 17 new MYOB training tutorial videos we have produced for the MYOB Payroll course. The videos provide the visual demonstrations for the tasks that are covered in the workbook and the workbooks provides you with step by step instructions about how to load tax tables, create employees, process pays and perform reconciliation and end of year tasks regarding payroll.

Our MYOB Payroll case study for the course involves a hair styling salon that employs staff to operate their salon. Follow their journey as new employees come on board.

There will be more to come so make sure you subscribe so you can receive these blog posts via your email. We’ll also be producing some Excel spreadsheet files for students to use regarding payroll and we’ll have some free demonstration videos as well.

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Most budding bookkeepers want to start learning MYOB at 12.30pm!

Excel Online Training Course 308 - pivot table value field settingsHow do we know that most students want to start their MYOB training course at 12.30pm? We put all our course enrolment information into an Excel spreadsheet, inserted a pivot table and then filtered the data. Does that sound simple? Well it will be if you enrol into our online Microsoft Excel course.

The good news is that the video tutorial below will show you exactly what we did. If you are reading this blog as an email subscriber click on the heading to get to our blog site to watch the training video tutorial. If you want to receive these blogs posts via email, make sure you subscribe to our Employment and Productivity Training Blog.

The other good news is that when you enrol into our online Microsoft Excel Training Course you actually receive the data file that we used in this exercise so you can replicate it yourself! These figures are for enrolments into our MYOB course, Beginners, and Microsoft Office courses at our Dee Why training centre when we operated class-based training centres in Sydney.

Like all our online training courses, the Microsoft Excel training courses come with LIFETIME student access. The current course not only includes training videos, but nine training workbooks and over 40 exercise files that you can use to practice your Excel spreadsheeting skills.

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Pay today, slip tomorrow

MYOB online training courses and support - Weekly Pay Slip screen shot
MYOB Payroll screen from MYOB website

Did you know that you are required by law to provide a payslip to your employees no later than the day after payday?

We recently completed our new and revised MYOB Payroll online training course as part of our full suite of five online MYOB Training Courses (all available for one price and LIFETIME course access!) and one of the topics we cover is emailing Pay Slips (or payment advices) to employees. As part of the course we reference the FairWork Australia website which clearly states that every employer must ensure that an employee receives their pay slip no later than 1 day after being paid.

The site also goes on to explain more information about what should appear on a payment advice and they even provide some very detailed Microsoft Word templates for Pay Slips, Weekly time and wages records, employment details and leave records (very handy), roster template and time sheet. They are provide in a Microsoft Word format so you can customise them for your own business!

Need to learn Microsoft Word to modify documents? See our online Microsoft Word course outline.

If you are an existing EzyLearn online student you can see our 17 new training videos in the MYOB Payroll Training Course.

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New employees, TFN declarations and ATO requirements

TFN Declaration Form for online MYOB training courses and support including PayrollIt is now READY! The 17 new training video tutorials for our MYOB Payroll Online Training Course are now ready and on the learning site. If you are an existing EzyLearn online MYOB training student you will be happy to hear that all this new content is available to you (if you are a LIFETIME student) right now and at no extra cost.

The new videos cover these topics:

  • 505201 – Create a brand new company file using the MYOB trial version software
  • 505202 – Easy Setup Assistant for MYOB Payroll and Tax tables
  • 505203 – Creating new employee cards and setting up categories
  • 505204 – Extra Payroll settings for employee cards
  • 505205 – Superannuation information for employees
  • 505206 – Processing Payroll – Performing a pay run
  • 505207 – Processing Payroll – Editing and Deleting incorrect pay slips
  • 505208 – Processing Payroll – Editing and Deleting incorrect pays using transaction journal
  • 505209 – Processing Payroll – Understanding Payroll and the Account List
  • 505210 – Processing Payroll – Processing Payment of Payroll Liabilities
  • 505211 – Processing Payroll – Processing Payment of Salary Sacrifice
  • 505212 – Processing Payroll – Setting up a deduction for employees social club
  • 505213 – Processing Payroll – Including deductions for employees social club
  • 505214 – Payroll Reporting – Payroll Summary and Employee Register
  • 505215 – Payroll Reporting – Reconciling your Super, Wages and PAYG Taxes
  • 505216 – Payroll Reporting – Printing of EOY Payment Summaries
  • 505217 – Backing up your MYOB Data file before Closing off the Payroll year

For more information about our online MYOB training courses and student support services feel free to visit our information page. You can also enrol online for the current price and receive lifetime student membership to new training material as it is updated! Enrol today and start by 5pm tomorrow afternoon.

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Certificates are coming shortly

Congratulate all the students who successfully completed their MYOB Bookkeeping courses this quarter, your certificates are now been issued via our support site.

If you are contemplating our online MYOB training course you’ll be very happy to know that the EzyLearn MYOB Course certificate includes the logo for the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB). We are proud to be an Accredited Training Provider of the ICB and also of their their continuing professional development (CPD) program for bookkeepers. You may also recall that you can join the ICB as an EzyLearn student for free.

Make sure you subscribe to this blog for the pending announcement of our CPD training program for bookkeepers.

In the mean time you might also want to stay tuned for the pending release of our upgraded MYOB Payroll course, Advanced Microsoft Excel courses and updates to our Microsoft Word online training course. We’ll be releasing some free training videos shortly to show you what we’ve done.