Business Reporting and Strategic Planning

In present scenario, every business depends on computers for every type of task from data entry to reporting and strategic planning. The software are the basic need of companies for communication, entertainment and reporting tools. The need of accounting software is very obvious as there is severe requirement of tracking assets and handling transactions on regular basis. MYOB is an accounting software that is being used by small traders and new start-ups in Australia. LiveAccounts is its first accounting software that is based in cloud based accounting solution. This software has minimized functions specially designed for small businesses. By using this software small businesses can easily manage finances on cloud anytime anywhere through internet. (R2bmanagement.com.au, 2016) The complete business data is saved on cloud. It makes the information available at all times in updated form. Due to cloud storage the data is stored on a centralized cloud server. This server is shared among all the employees of company. It has a very simple and clear interface, which allows all the basic functionalities in very easy manner. As the application is very light weighted, it can easily accessible through virtual machines. (BIT, 2016)This software provides the facility of raising invoices, payroll generation on monthly basis for employees, track expenses of organiz ation and the managing GST online. Automatic banking integrated feeds will ensure the income tax calculation, deductions and bonuses features. MYOB accounting software is the short form of Mind Your Own Business. It is a well-known brand name of an Australian MNC. This company deals in the software related to accounting, retail, CRM, HRM, tax products and payroll software along with web hosting support for small and medium sized businesses. These products are mainly adopted in Australia and New Zealand. This company was started in 1980 founded by Christopher Lee and Teleware Inc. Teleware was later on adopted by Best software Inc. in 1993. It is a public sector company having headquarter at Glen Waverley, Victoria in Australia. The MYOB software is available in two versions the trial version and licensed version. (Myob.com.au, 2016) The trail version is available for limited time period (30 days) and it can be converted anytime in the licensed version. Trail version is used for evaluation purpose only. In case of trail version user can create and access company files for 30 days only. After it user must purchase the full version of this software. As per the MYOB business letter reveals that near about 35% Australian companies having their own websites and only 18% of them are actively using social networking sites for the promotion of their business. (Theicehouse.co.nz, 2016) The most of the users who are actively using the social media in present conditions in Australia are 27%. This figure can be classify as 24% of users who belong to age group 18-39, 22% business owners who belong to Retail and Hospitality, 20% businesses spend on advertise on websites and only 20% of businesses use SEO/SEM in their market trends. Although the earlier data available explains about the low adoption of technologies in business but the latest figures shown by MYOB CEO Tim Reed explains that online marketing is now growing in Australia. (Growthpath.com.au, 2016) MYOB has gained a huge rise with the completion of Banklink purchase in Australia recently. MYOB has disclosed that it has successfully completed the purchasing of accounting solution provider of New Zealand named Banklink In the accounting software market of Australia, there are three main big companies on limelight, MYOB, Intuit and Xero. (Heber, 2015) The main competition among these companies is for dominance. This software provides the convenience of tracking accounts in a simple way. The need of physical books, invoices is now not necessary and all the decisions regarding cash flow can be manage through the software. The main objective of all these companies is to capture the market share, and they are actively involved to do anything for this. There is a huge contribution of these companies in the market share of accounting software. MYOB has built successfully its own offering and managing its market share between $AU831.7 and $AU833.8 million. If we discuss about the Xero, it is a new venture which spends near about $250 million on the software development. The company has more than 400000 clients across the globe, which uses transactions and invoice services of the software in the ratio of 240:95 The Intuit is also planning for the heavy investment in Australia. The accounting software has a wide scope in the Australian market. Intuit has developed the functioning of PDF data extraction, which supports the data extraction from bills and automated entry in software. MYOB is now in condition of valuing the company at a very impressive enterprise vale that exists in between $A2.34 and $A2.69 billion. As per the Evans and Partner the analysis figures if all these three companies can be represented as: As we have seen that there is a huge competition between MYOB, Xero and Intuit in the market of accounting software. In this section we are going to elaborate the comparison between the Xero and MYOB and the outcome is that both products have their own advantages and disadvantages. Not any of the products is completely fit the need of customer. For example if there is requirement to handle exchanging of transactions and stock control then MYOB is much preferred as compare to Xero. If we have to deal with small sized business then Xero is preferred and it offers the services in very easy and simple manner. (Itseducation.asia, 2016) Because of the competition every company tries to provide the services in an efficient and much better way. Following are the advantages on various parameters: MYOB provides the online services with the facility of cashbook having cost of $16 per month and the accounting facility on the cost of $29 per month. MYOB facilitates the Account right live that can be used on desktops and is not fully online. Although it has slow speed and higher cost but it will be resolve in the coming future as per the commitment of MYOB. MYOB provides the Account right premier that is available for desktop only and it has the capability to handle the management of inventory and foreign exchange. This is used mainly in large business organizations. MYOB provides the facility of data storage on cloud also. That’s why the data security must be taken seriously. The software has the option of security implementation that is very secure for online banking system. MYOB live is the cloud product that can be used in online as well as in offline mode. There is provision to toggle between the two modes. Only we have to deal with the versions that will be created in this case by syncing data on regular basis. The major concern in the implementation of MYOB is providing data security. (Technologies, 2016)Â   This is the major concern as the software can be accessed in online way and it increases the chances of vulnerability issues. Although MYOB has very high security architecture, some of the organizations are not able to follow security aspects. Second challenge regarding MYOB is that it is not an easy to use software, the employees of organization must be trained for this. Third challenge is that some of the organizations are not able to take advantage of cloud automation through MYOB. It is very difficult to arrange appropriate training sessions or webinars for the MYOB essentials. Although MYOB is very efficient software but for the successful implementation we must pay attention towards the following key factors: (Myob.com.au, 2016) Protecting the sensitive information from unauthorized access is very important. In MYOB the company files can be secure by taking appropriative security measures. (Myob.com.au, 2016) It must be ensure that the company files must be secure. This can be possible by providing appropriate credentials to each user account. Passwords must be strong as per the pattern specified, such as it must contain minimum 8 characters long having combination of alphabets, numeric and special characters. It must be ensure that company files must be secured by applying password. In MYOB files can be protected through AccountRight. By using this feature a password can be set for every user even for specific task, they can perform in company files. In every business organization, the systems must be protected by using a firewall. It restricts internet users for accessing system. To install the firewall on system, windows XP or above operating system can be used. Computer viruses and malwares can proved themselves dangerous from the security concerns. Before downloading and storing any file on the system, it must be scanned for any virus or malware attack. The conclusion of this literature review can be elaborated as the accounting software is the basic need of business organizations in Australia. (Bookkeepers Sunshine Coast, 2013) MYOB is software which can be used for various activities to overcome the errors and difficulties those were present in traditional manual system. Computerized system is integrated in well manner and once the data is inputted in the system, it will be recorded in different records at the same time. Using accounting software will lead a high speed processing in automated form which will generate accurate and fast invoices, purchase order and payroll documents. These are some of the positive points of using MYOB as accounting software. If any user wants to use this software he can download the trail version and after having look of various services they can go for full version. R2bmanagement.com.au. (2016). An Introduction to MYOB LiveAccounts | Articles. [online] Available at: https://www.r2bmanagement.com.au/articles/405/an-introduction-to-myob-liveaccounts [Accessed 15 Aug. 2016]. Heber, A. (2015). The cloud accounting supremacy war in Australia. [online] Business Insider Australia. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/charts-the-battle-for-supremacy-in-australias-cloud-accounting-market-2015-4 [Accessed 16 Aug. 2016]. Myob.com.au. (2016). MYOB Security Recommendations. [online] Available at: https://myob.com.au/myob/australia/myob-security-recommendations-1257829253909 [Accessed 16 Aug. 2016]. Technologies, R. (2016). MYOB: Benefits and Challenges for your Organisation. [online] Blog.rgtechnologies.com.au. 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(2016). 7 accounting packages for Australian small businesses compared: including MYOB, QuickBooks Online, Reckon, Xero. [online] Available at: https://www.bit.com.au/Review/344651,7-accounting-packages-for-australian-small-businesses-compared-including-myob-quickbooks-online-reckon-xero.aspx [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016]. Myob.com.au. (2016). MYOB Add-On Centre | find great 3rd party tools to augment MYOB Business Management Software. [online] Available at: https://myob.com.au/addons/category/26/network-security/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016].