Xero or MYOB – Which software is better for you?

Choosing correct accounting software for your business?

We have qualified team who run through quick analysis of your business structure and activities and put together Xero vs MYOB comparison which help you decide which one is the most suitable for your business.

Prior to the introduction of cloud-based accounting, the dominant player in computer based accounting software for Australian small businesses was MYOB. Feeling that traditional desktop accounting software had become outdated, New Zealand tech entrepreneur Rod Drury founded Xero in 2006 – a cloud-based accounting software company for small and medium-sized businesses that have since dwarfed MYOB’s market share, almost doubling its subscriber base in the space of 10 years.

MYOB is now playing catch up, and over the last few years has released their own cloud-based offerings for small business owners; MYOB Essentials and MYOB AccountRight to compete with the Xero juggernaut. So how do the two major cloud-based accounting software companies compare head to head – Xero vs MYOB?

In this article, we complete a thorough comparison of the two cloud accounting heavyweights to help you decide the best one for you.

• Accessibility – Xero is a pure “Cloud Accounting” software provider. Meaning, there is no CD, no downloads or no desktop version like MYOB. All files are stored securely in servers and your data is always backed up. You can access your data anytime, anywhere.MYOB has recently adopted the cloud technology and designed its own cloud based software called “AccountRight”. This comparison will only compare MYOB, AccountRight service with Xero.
• User Friendly – Xero has a quite “User Friendly” look. It has been proved more customisable than MYOB’s interface. Xero is easier to use when coding bank statements and sending invoices via email and has features to customisable reports as per business requirements. However, reconciling overpayments and prepayments are easier in MYOB than Xero.
• Multiple Entering of Invoices and Bills – Importing mutliple bills and invoices and entering them in Xero is quite easy through its “Import” function as Xero provides simple CSV template where you can copy and paste your data from Excel or Google Spreadsheet or manually entering them.
• Payroll – Both AccountRight Live and Xero provide a timesheet function. AccountRight Live provides the very useful additional functionality of those timesheets leading to time-billing on the invoicing side, thus saving double entry of payroll timesheets, and invoicing separately.

  AccountRight Live allows users to run a payroll for any staff member along any frequency at any time. Not only does this make it easy to run a quick payroll for an individual staff member, it allows the double entry of payroll for any period – which is clearly undesirable. For example, it is possible to run a fortnightly payroll for the same fortnight multiple times. This has often resulted in client’s staff being taxed on a fortnightly tax table when in fact it should have been weekly, etc. Xero has a payroll “calendar” philosophy. It knows which fortnight/week/month pay period was done last and knows when the next period will run. It still gives the client the ability to run an “unscheduled” pay run outside of the normal pay run calendar. Xero will also tax an employee accordingly during an unscheduled pay run if they’ve already been paid during that pay period. That is, Xero will apply the correct tax table and not simply allow the normal tax free threshold during that particular pay period. This is certainly a boon for employers.

• Bank Fees and Bank Reconciliation – Power tools in Xero such as bank rules and cash coding where appropriate allow a bookkeeper to literally save as much as 80 percent in time when reconciling client accounts compared to the same set of accounts in AccountRight Live. MYOB, through its acquisition of Banklink, now provides something similar. However, it is nowhere near as feature rich and streamlined

In conclusion, both the softwares have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s not always a program’s features but often how business owners work on their own personal preferences.

Contact Us today to find out which package would be suitable to your business.

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