In today’s digital landscape, proficiency in cloud-based accounting software like Xero is essential for professionals in bookkeeping, accounting, and small business management.
EzyLearn’s comprehensive Xero training courses are designed to not only teach the software but to ensure that learners retain and confidently apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios.
Have you seen the recent ads promotion 90+ % approval from their customers?
The claims go from being more productive to being easy to use and this shows you how you can use statistics in your digital marketing claims.
While Reckon are promoting themselves as a cheaper alternative to Xero, Xero are finding out where they rank the best in their own research and promoting those figures as if they are real and FACEBOOK USERS ARE HATING IT!
It’s interesting how negative the sentiment is on Linkedin and Facebook when you start seeing annual price increases for Xero.
MYOB has been smashed in it’s social media marketing campaign for their MYOB Solo software but Xero’s CEO was smashed on Linkedin for the continuing increases in price of Xero.
You can push the innovation angle for so long but it seems like Xero are trying to test how much their clients can really afford.
There is a link in their price increase email to their innovations page and I wonder if they did the price increase just to get more traffic to that part of their website!?
The question is:
Is that innovation worth the cost to your business and do you use those features, and
What are your alternatives.
Do you need all this extra functionality that Xero is promoting?
These increase in subscriptions seem a lot like the recent Black Mirror episode “Common People” where users have no real choice but to keep paying more and more for the software because it is hard to find an alternative.
If you are into dark comedy or want to see how bad things can get from a technology perspective this episode has a very interesting take about subscriptions and premium services – wait until you when the subscriber starts talking about sponsored products!
Xero justifies it’s price increase using Innovation
Xero did a great job with an earlier price increase by telling their users about the massive gain they received with the inclusion of Hubdoc in their Xero feature list.
It was portrayed as a massive saving compared to the monthly fee and it worked very well at a time when other software companies were simply increasing their subscriptions with bland corporate notification emails.
They’re pushing the innovation angle again but users are pushing back.
Learn Online with Xero Courses
Like it or not, Xero is still the leading online accounting software in New Zealand, Australia and the UK and it’s popularity continues to rise.
If you’re looking for accounts or bookkeeping jobs you need to know how to use Xero.
If you’re running your own business or a business manager you need to know how to use Xero
Learn everything about Xero in the Complete Xero Course. It includes 7 skill levels from beginners to advanced bookkeeping using Xero and it’s available from $20pw.
Just wanted to give you the heads-up on some cool stuff we’ve been working on. We made this free guide called “Introduction to Bookkeeping Beginner Basics” (super catchy, right? ?) that you can grab on the EzyLearn website.
Think of it as the foundation of your business’s finances. Our guide walks you through setting one up in Xero, MYOB, or QuickBooks, but this blog post is more about why it matters.
Okay, so what IS a chart of accounts?
Basically, it’s just a way to organize all your business’s accounts (like assets, liabilities, etc.) so you know where your money’s coming from and going.
It makes your reports make WAY more sense and gives you a quick look at your business’s health. It’s like creating categories for your money (spending, saving, making, etc) so you can easily see the flow.
A good chart of accounts helps you play by the rules (financial reporting standards) and can be customized to fit your business perfectly. For example, you could track your income and expenses by product type or department. So you can adjust it as your business gets more complicated.
When you set up your chart of accounts, it will be organized like this: banks accounts, assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses in that order.
Assets: This is not money that you have received. So, imagine you invoice someone and they haven’t paid you yet? That’s “accounts receivable,” which is different from actual income!
Liabilities: Think of these as debts your business owes. Like leases or credit from suppliers.
Equity: This is stuff your company owns outright, like equipment you’ve paid for. If you sell it, you get the money! Cars and office equipment are equity.
Expenses: This is the money you spend immediately on running your business. Like gas for your car or office supplies. If you pay right away, it’s an expense. If you get a bill with 14 days to pay, it’s a liability.
Why do you even need a chart of accounts?
No matter how you keep track of your finances (even if you’re still using a spreadsheet!), it’s crucial to know where your money is coming from and going. A chart of accounts is what makes that possible. Keeping it up-to-date will give you an accurate snapshot of your business’s financial health at any moment.
This is just one part of our Bookkeeping Basics series, so don’t forget to download the free guide from the EzyLearn website if you want to learn more!
In today’s fast-paced business environment, staying stagnant is a recipe for falling behind. This is especially true with accounting software, where innovation and updates are constantly reshaping how businesses manage their finances.
At EzyLearn, we’re committed to providing our business administration students with the most current and relevant training possible, particularly when it comes to mastering Xero.
There’s lots to do when businesses engage a new worker. As an employer, you’ll be busy going through the onboarding process and showing your new employee the ropes, but there are other important things to do when you add a new member to your team.
Keeping accurate records complete with the right information is essential for businesses to maintain, and that means updating and adding data when engaging a new worker. Here are some things to keep in mind as you go through this process:
This Xero course is the most popular with job seekers and business owners because it gives them the training they need to do almost anything using Xero. These are the course topics:
The Complete Xero Course takes most students 3-4 weeks to complete but you can learn it at your own pace and in your own time.
12 months or LIFETIME access – your choice
Enrol at our original enrolment website and you can learn everything about Bookkeeping using Xero with LIFETIME course access.
This includes all additional content we create and updates to training material. It also includes access to EzyLearn ANSWERS!
If you want the cheaper option you can enrol into the course here with 12 months course access and support.
Join us as a Tutor
If you have industry experience AND you complete our courses you can also become an EzyLearn Tutor.
As an EzyLearn TUTOR you become our partner and work part time, while also earning an income online as our affiliate – this is just one of our Career Academy membership options for students.
Enquire with us today and get the FREE Xero course sample – as well as Microsoft Office and Word training!
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
If you have any other questions you’ll find answers to most of them at our FAQ’s.
Here are just some of the most common questions and links to their answers.
I wrote about the $600 garden shed that blew out to a $4000 shed and our QuickBooks, MYOB and Xero Courses to manage Job Tracking and Projects recently.
Just follow the step-by-step instructions to enter the transactions based on our small business case studies and increase confidence and knowledge of the software.
This is a quick and cheap way to learn and by-pass the assessments.
It’s been a bit chilly after the Australian Federal Budget and the stretch to the end of the year seems like miles away, but it’s not.
If you want to learn how to use Microsoft Excel and Xero with the full course and support, including Training Course Manuals but are on a tight budget, take advantage of our Micro Courses for Micro credentials.
Micro Courses in Excel, MYOB and Xero are now available at a discounted retail price.
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.
Are you earning $50 per hour at the moment? If you aren’t it can seem almost impossible to believe that you could, particularly when you look at your boss and imagine yourself asking them for a pay rise.
I searched online to see who earns $50 per hour and most of the search results in Seek and Indeed showed up saying you have to be a doctor, pharmacist or HR Manager but bookkeepers earning this much regularly.
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.
If you are looking for and applying for junior bookkeeping jobs you can learn how to use Xero and MYOB in just a few hours with a short Bookkeeping course.
Learning how to use Xero and MYOB is not hard when you work through a well designed, step-by-step series of exercises where you do the bookkeeping work.
Many students who work in industries like childcare, aged care and home services are attracted to bookkeeping work because it can fit into their daily routine (if they have children) and because it can be performed remotely from home.
Some people find it easier to learn the software through video tutorials, and replicate 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. Watching training course video tutorials is not usually enough for someone who needs to learn more about bookkeeping tasks.
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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…
Xero accounting software is changing regularly and we keep our training materials up-to-date every quarter.
