Clear Out Albert, Cherie’s Getting Square! (PayPal Alternative)
Category: Xero Training Courses Updates
We announce any major update to our Xero Training Courses via our blog and you can read them below.
Xero, just like MYOB Essentials and QuickBooks Online is cloud-based accounting software so updates are not optional.
When the software vendors update their software then all users need to go through the learning curve.
Why is job tracking and project costing so hard using MYOB & Xero?
In many industries, no two jobs are the same, making estimating job costs and resources tough. Job tracking is one of the best ways to develop an accurate budget and avoid blow outs.
But this can be hard work. Are the latest job costing and tracking functions in MYOB AccountRight, QuickBooks Online and Xero making life easier?
Continue reading Why is job tracking and project costing so hard using MYOB & Xero?
Are You Finding Xero’s New Navigation a Pain in the Proverbial?
My first thought when a software company changes its navigation (in a significant way) is that there were issues with the previous version.
THIS BLOG POST comes in the wake of Xero promising to improve their navigation in October 2018. Xero has now subsequently released those changes and our online support team are receiving lots of requests for help!
First and foremost, if you’re an EzyLearn student, please note that we’ve already created an update addressing the navigational updates and this is available in all of our online Xero Training Courses.
Continue reading Are You Finding Xero’s New Navigation a Pain in the Proverbial?
Xero Training Course May 2018 UPDATE
Cloud Accounting Software is CONSTANTLY Updated – SO IS OUR XERO COURSE
When I made the decision to convert EzyLearn from a Bricks and Mortar training centre to an online only provider of training courses I realised that we were going to have to get good at:
- online digital marketing,
- online pre-sales and student support, and
- course content creation.
EzyLearn has been in business helping job seekers, business owners, managers and clients of rehabilitation providers learn how to use software for over 20 years. Read our story here..
I’m lucky today to have a professional team who’s sole focus is on getting better at all of these tasks – every week! I guess this post is as much a thank you to all of them for their help as it is an announcement that ALL of our XERO courses have recently been updated!
Beginners and Advanced Xero Training Course updates
Almost every course has been touched in our latest updates but here is a summary:
- Xero Course 512 (Level 2 Advanced Aspects of Daily Transactions using Xero) has been updated (videos and workbook contents)
- Knowledge Review tests for Daily Transactions and End of Month & Journal Entries Courses
- Updated instructional videos for GST, Reporting and BAS using Xero (Course 514) as well as Cashflow, Budgets and ROI Advanced Xero (Course 516)
- Advanced Payroll (Level 2) for Payroll Administration using Xero (Course 515)
One reason that students choose EzyLearn for their online training courses is because they receive access to new added content and course updates.
Available to New, Current Students and LIFELONG Students
The usual time to finish the COMPLETE set of Beginners to Advanced Xero Courses is 3 weeks but one of the reasons we offer 12 months course access (and the LIFETIME Xero Course Access) is so that students can go back and review the contents when they need it in their business or job.
Get all the Xero Course details at our FAQ’s.
Current Discounts for Xero Training Courses
If you’re interested in enrolling into a Xero course take a look at the current special offers and subscribe to our Discount Voucher program to receive the discount codes.
Is Xero Better than MYOB for Bookkeeping Businesses?
Bookkeeping Incumbent, MYOB Versus Cloud Innovator, Xero
MYOB HAS LONG BEEN the preferred accounting software of choice for accountants, but a lot of small business owners have now come to prefer Xero. It’s easier to use, and they can access it anywhere — their desktop PC, tablet or smartphone.
Meanwhile, the rise of cloud-based accounting software, which was pioneered by Xero, has made it a lot easier for bookkeepers to base themselves from home.
Throw in other technological innovations — cloud storage, bank feeds — and a remote Xero bookkeeper has become the more appealing choice for businesses, too.
Continue reading Is Xero Better than MYOB for Bookkeeping Businesses?3 Little Mistakes that Cost Thousands
How tapping into your Smartphone can win you work
I RECENTLY WROTE about a Tradie Charging Too Little. In this I covered the four tell-tale signs, as told to me by a tradesperson friend of mine, that your prices are too low. But there are other business mistakes that owners, particularly tradespeople, make that can wind up costing them thousands in lost revenue — and when I say revenue I don’t just mean from existing clients but also past clients and new prospects! Continue reading 3 Little Mistakes that Cost Thousands
Do What You Know & Actually Make Money
MANY SMALL BUSINESS owners get distracted thinking about what they could do or want to do and not what they can do now.
Doing what you know, and particularly, what you love doing and are passionate about, will ensure you earn money and get new clients.
Why? How? Because people see it in your body language and hear it in your voice.
Throw in some good computer skills and efficient credit and money management and you’ll be set for a great financial year profit. Continue reading Do What You Know & Actually Make Money
Profitable Businesses Suffer Poor Cashflow
I’VE TALKED ABOUT CASHFLOW on this blog before, particularly as it relates to good credit management processes.
This time, however, we’re going to look at how profit differs from cashflow, even though the two are intimately related.
There is the perception that a profitable business can’t suffer from poor cashflow, but this is incorrect. There are plenty of profitable businesses that don’t have enough money in the bank at a given time to pay their outgoings because cashflow is lumpy.
We’re in business to make a profit, and yet the term ‘profit’ is really just an accounting concept. Profit is revenue minus expenses, but it doesn’t reflect our investment in capital assets, such as equipment or vehicles, nor does it take into account the liabilities we have funding our business (loans and hire purchases).
Cashflow is the true indicator of success
Cashflow, unlike profit, is about timing. Specifically, it’s about having money before you have to pay out money, something not identified by profit. Managing cash flow is one of the most stressful things about running a business, because many variables affect it.
Sure, not earning enough money or not having processes in place to make sure that money flows into your business in a timely fashion are part of it, but there are other factors too, such as:
- Incorrectly priced products or services
- High overheads
- Holding too much stock
- Large bills (tax bills)
- Seasonal cycles
- Large projects
- Growing pains (putting on more staff, increasing stock levels)
- Unrealistic forecasts.
P&L reports help determine causes of poor cashflow
Quite a few of the things that adversely affect a business’s cashflow can be determined by running regular Running Multi-Period Profit and Loss Statements], while others can be managed (or avoided) by implementing better processes or procedures for doing business.
Product based business which keep inventory can have their cashflow affected by:
- incorrectly priced products and services
- holding too much stock
- seasonal sales cycles
and this evidence will show up when you run your P&L reports, as well as your inventory sales and stock-on-hand reports. If, for example, you identify that May, June and July is your busiest quarter, while November, December and January is your quietest, and where you struggle to meet your outgoings, you should implement strategies to better plan for that leaner period.
A seasonal period of downturn is common among most businesses. It’s how you manage and plan for that downturn that separates successful businesses from ones that aren’t. For example, it’s unwise for a sole trader to take a holiday March, a seasonally busy period for his business, when he could wait until June when it’s much quieter.
Your bookkeeper will play a key role in how you plan and manage your cashflow. Ask them to run reports that will help you to identify any inefficiencies in your business that’s causing poor cashflow, and implement strategies to better manage it.
Bookkeeper, BAS Agent or Finance Manager
If you’re looking for a reliable bookkeeper to manage your daily or weekly bookkeeping and accounts, either remotely or in-person, Tracey from Rockingham is a highly qualified bookkeeper, who also has the practical experience of having operated her own business in the past. Tracey has a lot of experience in the day-to-day accounting functions of a small business and you can contact her directly as a fully licensed member from her profile page.
Our National Bookkeeping website has recently gone through a significant upgrade so watch out for more stories about featured bookkeepers in forthcoming blogs! Join and we can feature YOU in our articles too. Subscribe and stay tuned to learn about some new members who have moved from the corporate world to focus as Finance Managers for small to medium businesses.
Xero for LIVE data and Accurate Reports
Xero enables business owners and their bookkeepers and financial managers to see what is going on RIGHT NOW and because it’s popularity is growing we’ve created a NEW Xero course which goes through a great example of the business decisions that a business owner makes about buying an investment property, figuring out which products/services provide a better Return On Investment (ROI) and more.
Check it out at Xero Cashflow Course and remember that existing EzyLearn students can get access to this course by just sending an email request to student support.
What Does Lifetime Access Mean for Xero and Excel Courses?
Receive updated course content — for life!
ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS about Excel is that it has so many applications. It can be used to create financial budgets and forecasts, monitor stock levels in a retail shop, roster staff, and also determine how much money an investor can borrow to buy a property.
A lot of the time, however, people enrol in an Excel online training course or Xero online training course because they need to refresh a specific set of skills for their job, which means they don’t have the time to focus on other areas that don’t have an immediate relevance for their work.
Upskill at your own pace
With our Lifetime Access courses for Excel and Xero and many other online cloud accounting and business options, students can continue learning in their own way and at their own pace, either as part of continuing professional development or for their own personal interest — our course content includes real-world case studies, like building a granny flat, to give context to the functions of Excel.
Keep up-to-date across all software versions
The other benefit of our Lifetime Access for Excel online training courses and Xero online training courses is that it means you can quickly brush up on where functions have been moved to when new versions of Xero and Excel are released.
We update our course content every time a new version of software is released, and with Lifetime Access, you’ll be able to access all of this new content, along with previous versions of course — so you can keep learning on the most current versions of Excel and Xero.
***
Stop wasting time, and start learning for less. Visit our website for more information about Microsoft Excel training courses and our Xero training courses, and to enrol.
Don’t miss out on our terrific Spring specials!
We are constantly refreshing the content of our online training courses so that you can benefit from all the new information that is always coming in about being in business, or running your own business as a bookkeeper or looking for bookkeeping work.
Our Xero online training courses include EVERYTHING for ONE LOW PRICE. Furthermore, if you select our Lifetime Membership option, you’ll have LIFETIME access to our ongoing course updates. All EzyLearn courses are accredited by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) and can be counted towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. Find out more about our Xero online training courses.
Should You Buy Commercial Property Outright or Get a Mortgage?
The power of using Excel and Xero combined
THERE ARE MANY UPSIDES to buying a commercial property for your business and if you’re able to buy an industrial unit like a Cubbyhole, it can also be a lot cheaper than renting premises.
Buying outright
If you’re in the financial position to buy your business premises outright, it may seem like a no-brainer to do this instead of getting a mortgage. However, there are some things you need to consider:
- You’ll lose liquidity on the assets in your property, which means you won’t be able to tap into any equity in the property, unless you take out an equity loan against the property.
- You’re tying all your cash to one asset class, which may limit your ability to make other investments and prevent your business from expanding. This could run counter to your reasons for making the property purchase in the first place.
Getting a mortgage
When you get a mortgage, you have the benefit of being able to access equity in the property, which will enable to invest elsewhere. Of course, there are still factors to keep in mind:
- You’re spreading the payments over many years, which ties you to paying down that asset for the foreseeable future.
- You’re paying interest, which although it’s a tax deduction, will significantly inflate the price of the property.
Work out the best way in Excel
Using the data from your Xero accounting software package, Microsoft Excel can help you determine whether your business will be financially better off buying its premises outright or getting a mortgage.
You can also create a financial forecast in Excel. Using Excel, you can calculate the depreciation amounts, which can then be entered into Xero. We cover how to deal with aspects like depreciation in our Xero Bank Reconciliation Course, because many businesses own, or will own, a capital asset at some point.
***
Check out our new Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI Course for Xero which shows you how to deal with an asset purchase like a business premises in Xero. Remember, you get access to ALL our Xero courses for ONE LOW COST. Visit our website for more information on our suite of online training courses or enrol today!
Importing from Xero to Excel and back again is included as part of our Advanced Microsoft Excel training courses — and you receive access to ALL OF OUR COURSES, including ALL skill levels for ONE LOW PRICE. You can even start your Excel journey with our FREE Beginners’ Excel Course Workbook. Read more about our beginners’, intermediate and advanced Excel training courses on our website, or enrol to start learning by 5pm tomorrow!
Buying Real Estate For Your Business
The pros of buying a business property
IN OUR NEW CASH FLOW reporting, Budgets and ROI course for Xero, we delve into the purchase of real estate for your business, which you may use as office space or as a warehouse or as a storage facility and workshop, depending on your line of work.
Why some businesses don’t like buying
Lots of businesses avoid buying premises for their businesses, because you’ll need to have a large capital injection right off the bat, and you may also incur land tax obligations, building insurance, and also be liable for maintenance and repairs.
Renting gives businesses, especially new ones, flexibility, as you’re only locked into a short term lease — not a multi decade mortgage. And if you decide to move or find new premises before your lease term is up, you can often minimise the costs by subletting the premises.
Buying as an investment strategy
However, buying your premises is a good investment strategy, as you’ll be able to access the equity and capital growth in the premises as property prices rise.
You’re also afforded greater freedoms and stability when you own your business’s premises — in particular, protections from rising rents — than you would have if you rented your premises. If you outgrow the space, you can always access the equity and may be able to buy adjacent premises, or rent out your existing ones while you upgrade, providing another valuable income stream.
Running the right reports to help you decide
Of course you can use a cloud accounting program like Xero to run reports that will help you decide whether to buy or rent your business premises and how such a decision will impact your cash flow. There will naturally be capital gains tax considerations and associated deductions. Our Xero training courses go through how to run these kinds of reports to ascertain the financial health of your business.
Low cost pathways to ownership
Industrial units are a good pathway into ownership for your business. If you don’t need to be right in the heart of the city or major town centre, you can often purchase an industrial unit for under $100,000.
In Newcastle in the Hunter region of New South Wales, you can purchase an industrial unit called a Cubbyhole, which can be used as a workshop, storage unit or office space for tradespeople, small and online businesses. These come with amenities such as toilets and showers, car parking (including visitors’ and disabled) and CCTV security, among other things and are worth checking out if you want to buy and only need a smaller business space.
***
In our Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI course for Xero, you’ll learn how to deal with the purchase of business premises just like a Cubbyhole in Xero. Visit our website for more information on our variety of online training courses or enrol today!
Our Xero online training courses include EVERYTHING for ONE LOW PRICE. Furthermore, if you select our Lifetime Membership option, you’ll have LIFETIME access to our ongoing course updates. All EzyLearn courses are accredited by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) and can be counted towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. Find out more about our Xero online training courses.
Cash Flow Reporting in Xero
Show me the money!
IN OUR BRAND NEW Cash Flow, Budgets and ROI Xero Training Course, you’ll learn how to generate a cash flow report for your business.
Cash flow reports show the money going in and out of the business, so they’re better indicators of a business’s overall financial health than a Profit and Loss statement (P&L).
A cash flow report enables you to make forecasts and budgets for your business based on previous trends — recurring expenses, average time to get paid, seasonal quiet periods, and so forth.
The 3 cash flow categories
Cash flow reports are typically broken up into three categories:
- Operating activities: cash flowing in and out of the business from revenue-generating activities
- Investing activities: cash flowing in and out of the business from the acquisition and sale of long-term assets
- Financing activities: cash flowing in and out of the business from borrowings and changes in equity.
Items in a cash flow report
In our Cash Flow, Budgets and ROI Xero Training Course, you’ll learn how to generate a cash flow report in Xero. That report will show every transaction that’s run in and out of your business, divided among one of the three categories.
In the operating activities category, you’ll typically find things like costs associated with any training courses or seminars, advertising and marketing expenses, income or commissions from your business, subscriptions to any magazines or periodicals, etc.
Under the investing activities category, you’ll find the cost of purchasing office or warehouse space and the capitalised borrowing cost, for example.
The financing activities category will show the loan you’ve taken out to purchase your business’s office or warehouse space.
You’ll learn how to generate and work with cash flow reports in our new Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI Training Course. ENROL now or read more about the benefits of cash flow reporting to your business. Are you a sole trader or contractor needing to record your ongoing expenses? We cover that too!
Our Xero online training courses include EVERYTHING for ONE LOW PRICE. Furthermore, if you select our Lifetime Membership option, you’ll have LIFETIME access to our ongoing course updates. All EzyLearn courses are accredited by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) and can be counted towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. Find out more about our Xero online training courses. Or learn more about our entire suite of online software training packages and social media training packages.
Importing Bank Statements into Xero
Making bookkeeping easier, faster and more accurate
WE HAVE CREATED A brand new Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI Course for Xero and one of the things you’ll learn is how to import your bank statements into Xero.
The sales spiels of many of the notable online accounting software packages like QuickBooks, Wave Accounting, Outright, Kashoo, LessAccounting, Clearbooks and even Xero, claim that this feature will save you time and effort as it imports your bank transactions. The truth is, this is not foolproof and won’t work 100 percent of the time (even if it’s just a matter of not being able to get your software and your bank to “connect” just as your mobile phone connection inexplicably doesn’t work sometimes).
Therefore, always double check your bank transaction data has been imported accurately. This said, importing your bank statement into Xero (or whatever accounting software you use) is a really important step in the bookkeeping process that a lot of business owners forget or don’t know how to do. And the technology is only going to get better!
Using the correct format
To import your bank statement into Xero, you must ensure it’s in the correct format. Xero can only work with a CSV file of your bank statement. Depending on your bank, you might be able to download your bank statement as a CSV file from your internet banking, or you will have to create one from scratch.
Creating one from scratch isn’t too difficult. If your bank doesn’t give you the option of downloading a bank statement as a CSV file, you can create one yourself in Microsoft Excel.
You can download an Excel template from Xero. It includes the recommended fields and is already set up as a CSV file, so all you need to do is add in your data.
Set transaction rules
Once you’ve created and uploaded your bank statement to Xero, you’ll need to set up transaction rules for recurring expenses. You’ll learn how to do this in our Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI Xero Course.
Setting rules for recurring transactions helps speed up the reconciliation process, which depending on the type of business you operate and how often you reconcile your account, can be the most time-consuming part of the process.
Importing your bank statement and creating rules for transactions that occur each week, month fortnight, year, etc, greatly speeds up this process.
No CSV? Use bank feeds
If your business has lots of expenses every week, and your bank doesn’t let you download your bank statement in a CSV format, you may find that manually creating one in Excel each month is too time consuming.
Set up bank feeds instead. Bank feeds is the process of linking all of your business accounts, whether they’re credit cards or bank accounts, to your accounting software, so that each time you make an electronic purchase, it’s automatically imported into your accounting software.
This will allow you to reconcile your account each fortnight, week or more frequently, if you desire, than once a month when your bank statement comes in.
***
Bank feeds save your business time and money. Find out more about setting up automatic bank feeds in Xero and importing bank statements into Xero. You can also read more about our new Cash Flow Reporting, Budgets and ROI Course for Xero, visit our website or enrol today!
Learn Microsoft Excel from scratch or brush up your Excel skills, at your own pace, with our affordable Excel online training courses — where you get THE LOT (that’s 9 courses in total) for ONE LOW PRICE — everything included! Volume corporate discounts are available and our courses count towards CPD Points. NOW is the time to learn to use Excel, one of the most-used software applications in the world.
Get Paid FASTER! Credit Management Strategies
If you’re working as a contractor and using an Australian business number (ABN), rather than a tax file number (TFN), you’re self-employed, and this means you will need to invoice your customers for the products or services you provide in order to get paid.
If you’ve only ever worked as an employee before, you’re probably used to being able to set your clock to payday, but unfortunately this isn’t often the case when you’re a contractor.
Getting paid late — or worse, not at all! — can seriously affect your cash-flow, and in turn, affect the success of your business, which is why we cover things like financial planning in our Small Business Management and Start Up Course.
Continue reading Get Paid FASTER! Credit Management Strategies
