Posted on 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

Certificates issued

Institute_of_Certified_Bookkeepers Accredited MYOB Training CourseWe would like to congratulate all the students who successfully completed their course this month, your certificates have now been issued.

If you are contemplating our online MYOB training course you’ll be very happy to know that the certificate includes the logo for the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB). You may also recall that you can join the ICB as an EzyLearn student for free.

Here are some comments made by students about the course this last month:

The video durations made the course easier to absorb and having to complete assessment question at the end of each video session reinforced the knowledge gained.

– Julie from Mt Isa

Being able to work at your own pace & the ability to go back over anything, at any time. Easy to understand language, with added hints was also very helpfull.

– Maria from Macksville

Easy to understand and follow, Steve’s soothing voice

– Alexandra from Catherine Field

The Video’s are  quick and to the point

– Shauna from Green Point

 

Posted on 3 Comments

EzyLearn MYOB students now get free membership to the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers

Accredited online MYOB training course and support institute of certified bookkeepersIf you are learning MYOB because you want to become a bookkeeper you should know that the bookkeeping industry is undergoing huge changes at the moment and that you need to be aware of these changes.

One of the best ways that any person or company can keep up-to-date with changes in an industry is to participate in continuing professional development training and by joining an industry body. EzyLearn is a member of a number of professional associations including:

  • Australian Institute of Training and Development,
  • Australian Web Industry Association, and the
  • International Coaching Federation

We are also an Accredited Training Provider of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. This industry group ensures that all industry participants abide by professional standards and we are also thrilled to announce that as of today all EzyLearn MYOB course students are eligible to join the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers as a student member for free (normally $75)

The forms to access this free student membership have been updated in our learning platform so please feel free to log into your course and get your free membership.

Posted on

MYOB Day-to-Day course now available separately

Receive-payments-using-MYOB-training-courseUp until now we have sold all our courses as one package because we felt that that is what everyone wants. Guess what? A lot of people did and still do love it, but we found that a lot of people just want enough skills to get then a job performing data entry tasks using MYOB. For this reason we’ve made that course available.

The MYOB Day-to-Day course is still a full days worth of training on the Sales, Purchases, Banking and Inventory modules. The workbook in that course takes you through the process of a company ordering products from the wholesaler, receiving the stock and then selling that stock combined with the services they provide to their customers. Along the way, there are part payments, full payments, Accounts Receivable reports, sending of statements and much more.

The new individual course is available with 12 months access so that we can provide a great resource with up to 12 months to access it when you need to. MYOB Day-to-Day training course includes all the topic in course 502. See what’s included in the MYOB Day-to-Day Course.

If you are interested in this new low cost online MYOB training course option, discover the price for this an our other online training courses at our enrolment page.

Posted on 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 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

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 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

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 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 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.

Posted on

Hello to New Zealanders

New Zealander users of MYOB accounting software enrol in our online training courseSometimes we use the EzyLearn Blog to inform readers about who uses our online MYOB training courses. We received an email from a New Zealand student and we have had many New Zealanders enrol into our MYOB Training Courses.

MYOB is an international business that started humbly many years ago in Australia but sold recently to a private equity firm, valuing the business at over $1 Billion dollars. You can see from a recent Bloomberg article that the value of MYOB has grown significantly in recent years.

MYOB, Craig Winkler, Xero and Online Accounting

While we are on the topic of big business and who’s buying what, you might be very interested to know that MYOB founder Craig Winkler closed his account with the company he started in back in 1987, to become a major shareholder in New Zealand publicly listed online accounting company and rival called Xero.

Online accounting appears to be the domain of online workers like website developers and we have had very little demand for MYOB Live Accounts (online accounting competitor to Xero) so as yet we don’t cover MYOB Live Accounts. We wrote an article about cloud based software and it’s importance in the rise of remote contractors (Virtual Assistants) back in August 2010 so feel free to learn a bit more about cloud based software services.

We can help New Zealanders

Until then, we just wanted to say that if you are from New Zealand and you want to learn about MYOB accounting software, we can help you. I also want to add that if you are an existing EzyLearn student and you want to highlight some of the difference between the Australian training videos and the New Zealand version of the software, send us an email to sales@ezylearn.com.au, we’ll get Jacci (our resident BAS Agent) to write something up and include it in our course.

To see the full list of topics included in our online MYOB training course visit our website and REMEMBER, we offer all our MYOB Courses (including updated and new content) for one price AND you receive LIFETIME access.

Posted on 2 Comments

Having problems with bank reconciliations using MYOB AccountRight Plus version 2011?

Sometimes we use the EzyLearn Blog to inform readers about modifications to our MYOB online training course. We’ve received feedback in the MYOB Support area from students that elements of our MYOB Bank Reconciliation course are coming up with errors when they use the most recent version of the MYOB software.

Bank Reconciliation using MYOB version 2011

One of the great aspects about coming across problems in a course is that it replicates the type of problems you’ll experience in the workplace or while managing your own business. Jacci, our resident BAS Agent has gone through the steps in the course and identified potential issues. She has written up a concise guide that is now included in the bank reconciliation course (#503) to help you balance the books using MYOB.

Online training and support for MYOB, Microsoft Excel, WordPress and moreIf you come across problems or issues please feel free to use the EzyLearn ANSWERS service we launched in May 2011. It is part of our growing support options for students. If you operate a small business and want to know something or if you come across an issue that is not covered by the training in our existing course let us know because EzyLearn courses are LIVE courses, they are growing every month with new content that you don’t have to pay extra to use.

online training and support for MYOB, Microsoft Excel, WordPress website design and moreOh, before I leave you on this blog post I want to highlight our new student support option we launched last month – Tutor Support and Student Community – it’s a way to connect with other students and have direct contact with our professional tutors who have real life experience using the software in their daily business life.

Posted on

How long will an online training course take?

online MYOB Training Course and SupportSometimes we use the EzyLearn Blog to inform readers about general course information. Our online courses are completely self-paced so you can complete the online MYOB course in 7 days, 2 to 3 weeks or just use it as a resource.

It’s that time of the year when traditional training centres start their class-based training courses. When EzyLearn operated three physical training centres in Sydney we spent a lot of time scheduling which courses. We asked ourselves questions like

  • What day should the course start
  • Which course should be held on a Tuesday/Wednesday etc
  • Should we schedule it for the morning, all day, evening or Saturday
  • How many weeks should the course last
  • Which training room and centres should we hold the course,
  • Who will the trainer be
  • Is the trainer available

Office administration (Microsoft Word and Excel etc), MYOB (Bookkeeping software), Website Design (using WordPress) and Absolute Beginners courses have always been scheduled this way so people are used to talking about courses this way. One of the most common questions we get asked is “how long will it take?” and our first temptation is to say “How long do you want it to take”.

Our online MYOB training course includes 5 courses for the price you’d expect to pay for one course (It includes MYOB Setup, Day-to-Day Transactions, Reporting & BAS and MYOB Payroll Intro) and the contents of the course is what we used to cover in approximately 4 full time days of training.

Another great aspect about an online training course is you can use it for the rest of your working life without paying any extra (if you choose that enrolment option). So you can complete just the MYOB Day-to-Day Transactions course (# 502) and when you need it you can complete the Bank Reconciliation and BAS courses.

To enrol into our online MYOB training course click here.

In the forthcoming weeks we are going to write about

  • Using Microsoft Excel to enter Payroll information and then enter that information into MYOB
  • Differences between MYOB AccountRight version 2011 and previous versions
  • New content for the MYOB Payroll Course

We’ll also introduce you to Jerry Lame. He’s the new Ordinary Man. Follow Jerry’s journey of starting a business, writing business plans, creating a budget and forecasts and then implementing it. You’ll learn how to use software for practical purposes along the way.

If you don’t want to miss out on this information, make sure you subscribe to our blog using the form below:

 

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Posted on

Have you seen the latest version of MYOB software

We sometimes release information at the EzyLearn BLOG that relates to information that will benefit our students. If you are a student and you download the free trial version of the software you will be downloading the latest version.

Back on November 17th 2011 MYOB launched their MYOB AccountRight Plus version 2011 product.

We’ve recently recorded some training videos about MYOB Reports for GST Collected and Paid and where GST is located in source documents like invoices. We’ve then gone on to show you how to update your BAS Info in MYOB and use the BASlink feature that collects your GST information and quickly and easily gives you the information you need for your Business Activity Statement (BAS). This information is covered in our MYOB Reporting and BAS course (code 504). If you are familiar with EzyLearn you’ll know that this course is included with all the others MYOB courses for the one price and LIFETIME membership.

The navigation around MYOB AccountRight Plus version 2011 is very similar to earlier versions (although MYOB has updated the icons they use). We’ve downloaded and recorded a quick video to show you what it looks like. If you are receiving this blog post via email, click on the heading to see the video below.

Posted on

MYOB Training Course and Support – Reporting Course updated (BASlink added)

MYOB AccountRight Plus 2011 - Training Course and SupportSometimes we use the EzyLearn Blog to inform readers about new course content or updates to existing training tutorials. We have created new content for the MYOB Reporting Course and more specifically how to complete your BAS using the BASlink in MYOB.

If you are an existing student you’ll know that you have access to this new content for no extra charge.

We downloaded the latest version of MYOB AccountRight Plus to perform these tasks and you’ll be thrilled to know that the navigation of the program (apart from where the Sample company file is stored) is VERY similar. The icons and images are slightly different, but navigation is the same.

Stay tuned for the next free MYOB Training Video about this newest version of MYOB Accounting software. The next step after performing a bank reconciliation (Course 503) is the Quarterly or Monthly BAS (Business Activity Statement).