How to Choose the Right Accounting Software for your Business

Discover tools to save time, simplify admin and grow profits. Running a small business can be time-consuming. Between managing employees, bringing in new customers, and keeping the books balanced, there's not always a lot of time for innovation and growth. Thankfully, technology has advanced to the point where there are plenty of great software tools to help small businesses do just that. But with so many options available, which ones should you choose? In this article, we'll break down six of the most helpful tools for growing your business, and offer advice on how to pick the right one for you. 1. A simple, powerful accounting platform If you're not an accountant, bookkeeping can seem like a complex task. Luckily, there are many accounting platforms available to make the process easier and more streamlined. Accounting software is a convenient way for small business owners to simplify the bookkeeping process. Gone are the days of maintaining a paper ledger — accounting platforms provide tools to manage income, expenses, tax information and more, allowing business owners to keep track of their financial data in real time throughout the year. With over three million subscribers worldwide, Xero is a popular choice for entrepreneurs. Developed with small business needs in mind, Xero allows you to keep track of your finances via its intuitive, easy-to-read dashboard. At a glance, Xero users can get a holistic view of their financial position, including outstanding invoices and bank balances. However, don’t confuse simplicity with reduced functionality. This is a powerful solution that can deliver advanced reporting when you need it. And, with multiple subscription price points, there is an affordable option for all businesses. Not convinced just yet? For more help choosing the best accounting platform for your needs, read How to choose the right accounting software for your business. 2. Robust point-of-sale software A point-of-sale (POS) system is a must-have if your business needs to manage ordering or inventory. For retailers and hospitality merchants in particular, POS software can be a lifesaver — serving as a central hub to help business run more smoothly. Retailers can use a POS system to ensure appropriate stock levels are maintained, and that in-demand items are always available for purchase. This serves to ensure customers come back, time and again, to your business. Vend takes the pain out running your retail business by providing an integrated point-of-sale experience. With their portable software, you can accept payments, stay on top of inventory, and keep detailed records of your customers’ buying habits. You can also integrate the software with your accounting platform, to make it even easier to keep your business growing. In hospitality, POS software can help your business run more smoothly by streamlining the process for bookings and delivery orders, as well as tracking stock levels, and ensuring that your customer enjoys the ultimate dining experience. There are dozens of options on the market. The right option for your business depends on a number of considerations, including whether you offer delivery, accept bookings, and allow for meal customisations. Read more about how to find the best POS System for your restaurant on the blog. 3. Affordable email marketing software One of the most powerful ways to build customer loyalty is via email marketing. While social media and other channels might boost your brand visibility, a direct email will help ensure your past customers know about new product offerings, sales, and other changes in your business. Email marketing software can be used in a multitude of ways. You can use it to send regular newsletters, and track performance metrics such as open and clickthrough rates. Or, you could simply use it to let your customers know about a change to opening hours. Once your confidence with your chosen system builds, you might even consider using an automated email sequence to direct your customers through a pre-planned journey to drive sales for your business. For an email marketing platform with a good track-record, you can’t go past Mailchimp . Founded in 2001, Mailchimp has established itself as an affordable and easy to use email marketing platform for businesses of all sizes. Boasting an intuitive interface and expertly designed templates, sending out customer emails is easy for professionals and amateur marketers alike. If budget is a consideration, Mailchimp offers an entry-level plan — allowing businesses with fewer than 2,000 subscribers to use the platform free of charge. 4. A mobile EFTPOS terminal With cash use in steady decline , it’s never been more important for businesses to be able to accept cashless transactions. For that, you need a portable EFTPOS machine . All EFTPOS machines accept cards — it’s what they were originally built to do. However, the shift to more modern digital forms of payment will continue, and new payment methods will continue to emerge. In determining which EFTPOS machine is best for your business, consider not only whether it enables you to accept today’s most popular payment methods — but also whether it will continue to enable you to accept your customers’ payments into the future, as new methods such as ZipPay grow in popularity. Zeller Terminal is a powerful portable EFTPOS machine designed to make it easy to keep your payments in order and improve your cash flow. Featuring an elegant design, Zeller Terminal allows you to accept all payments, including smartphones and other mobile devices, contactless debit and credit cards, as well as traditional chip-enabled cards. Other benefits include being able to accept payments on the go, customising receipts, and a low fixed rate for all transactions. Coupled with a free Zeller Transaction Account , Zeller Terminal can fast-track payments, while ensuring that your funds (and those of your customer) are safe and secure. Learn more about how the Zeller Terminal can help you do business better by reading Zeller Terminal: your EFTPOS payments solution . 5. Task management software For every big task you need to tackle, there’s probably a hundred smaller tasks to manage. It’s these small, administrative tasks that keep the day-to-day operations running smoothly. Yet keeping on top of every detail can sometimes be overwhelming. If that’s the case, a project management tool might just be the lifesaver you’re looking for. What makes a good project management tool? Different people use different systems to stay organised, so choosing the right one might be a case of trial and error. That said, knowing your priorities is a good way to narrow the field. If you’re not sure where to start, Asana is a robust software solution that is easy to use. Even the free version comes with templates for everything from team meetings to event planning and content development, making Asana an ideal solution to break down tasks into smaller, achievable chunks. Plus, Asana’s collaboration features allow you to set up teams for separate projects, and communicate progress without the need for endless, repetitive emails to your staff. 6. A collaboration platform Maintaining open and transparent communication with your team is the secret to a high-functioning, positive workplace culture. While face-to-face communications is ideal, COVID-19 has taught us that workplace communications can take many forms. Tools that make group communications simple to deploy, and easy to read, are vital for your workplace. Consider how hard it has been to communicate constantly changing public health advice, or managing staffing, during the pandemic. Having the right collaboration tools can make all the difference. Slack is a team communication platform that acts as a modern alternative to email and other business tools. It makes it easy to keep track of conversations, files, and information shared across all devices, and integrates with existing tools such as MailChimp and Google Drive to allow information to be share efficiently across all platforms. If you find it challenging to keep track of email threads, you might find that Slack has the advantage over email, making it easier to keep track of discussions without worrying about where you filed an importance correspondence. In short, technology can make your life easier — whether you are running a small or large-scale enterprise. When you decide you need help with accounting, processing payments, or staying in touch with your customers, there are numerous options on the market. The important thing is to know your business needs and choose tools that are compatible with your goals, as these will streamline tasks and free up your time so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Whether you’re scaling up and looking to streamline your payroll and inventory, or need a bit of support managing your business cash flow and tax compliance, Xero and MYOB are two names that have probably crossed your desk. Within the accounting software  landscape, these are the two biggest players in Australia. Both offer an all-encompassing suite of accounting features that are equally as suitable to sole traders as they are to midsize companies. Navigating the features and functionality of each is no small task though, and ultimately comes down to what’s right for your business. To assist you in your decision, we’ve summarised the key points of comparison. What is accounting software? Accounting software is used for managing financial transactions and records within an organisation. It allows businesses to automate accounting tasks and helps them keep track of their financial information efficiently and accurately. By streamlining processes in invoicing and billing, managing accounts payable and receivable, and generating financial reports, the software can provide valuable insights into the financial health of the business. Accounting software also provides a centralised platform for managing financial data, saving time and increasing accuracy, which will not only be a huge advantage at tax time, but can also make it easier to apply for loans and financing should you ever need it. Key Differences Between Xero and MYOB Usability Anyone can use either Xero or MYOB. Both cater to small business owners, sole traders, and freelancers as much as they do seasoned bookkeepers and accountants. However, if you are just starting out, Xero’s user-friendly interface is generally regarded as an easier point of entry for people with limited to no accounting experience. If you are a skilled bookkeeper or accountant, you may prefer MYOB for its more advanced features with regard to payroll and inventory tracking. Both Xero and MYOB offer a 30-day trial, so the best way to get a feel for the user experience is to try them out for yourself. Cloud vs. Desktop When MYOB launched in the early 1980s, it was a computer-based software designed for users to install and use locally. When Xero entered the scene in 2006, it had the advantage of building internet capability directly into the software and, as such, has always relied on cloud accounting (software that is accessible from an internet browser). To keep up with demand, MYOB has now transformed all its packages to cloud-based plans but still gives users the option to choose online or desktop versions for the MYOB AccountRight subscriptions. The beauty of having data stored in the cloud rather than on your desktop is that it allows you to access your account from wherever you have an internet connection. What’s more, it also offers enhanced security with access control, user authentication, data encryption, and network protection. Mobile Apps Managing your admin and bookkeeping on the go is now also made possible with Xero and MYOB’s mobile applications. Xero offers an all-in-one mobile business app that lets you view insights, manage invoices and quotes, track your cash flow, reconcile bank transactions, and upload photos of physical receipts. MYOB on the other hand has three separate applications: MYOB Capture for uploading receipts, MYOB Invoice for creating and sending online invoices and quotes and MYOB Team for creating rosters, approving timesheets, and tracking worksite locations. So, while Xero’s all-in-one app wins on convenience, MYOB does offer additional functionality for business owners who need to manage rostering on the go. Third-Party Integrations From point-of-sale systems to payment gateways, rostering and payroll, there are thousands of third-party providers that help small businesses from every industry streamline their processes. By integrating your accounting platform to other business apps and software you use on a day-to-day basis, you’re able to streamline bookkeeping and simplify reconciliation. How Xero and MYOB integrate with these applications is a vital consideration when choosing one over the other. Whether you use Shopify for your e-commerce, Deputy for your staff scheduling or Zeller for your invoicing payment gateway, you’ll need to choose an accounting software that will integrate with the programs your business uses. Xero’s App Store is by far the largest, boasting over a thousand third-party integrations — including the Zeller app. MYOB’s integration library is less robust, and currently only offers several hundred integrations. Bank Feeds The available bank feeds will be an important factor in informing your decision to choose Xero or MYOB. Rather than reconciling transactions manually, bank feeds offer a much easier and quicker solution. This process allows data to flow directly into your accounting software where it can be coded and matched off with sales, invoices, purchases and payroll entries, saving you hours of data entry and reducing human error. Bank feeds are available for bank accounts, loan accounts and credit cards, but the list of available connections will differ between accounting software. MYOB currently offers a longer list of supported bank connections than Xero, but Xero is more up to date with next-generation financial service providers including Zeller . For a full list of compatible bank feeds for Australian-based businesses, see Xero’s list here and MYOB’s here . Note that if you are planning on setting up more than two bank connections, the MYOB Lite package will not support this (it is limited to two), however every other plan from both Xero and MYOB offer unlimited connections. Accounting Features Most importantly, choosing between Xero and MYOB will come down to the features that each one offers and how best they suit your needs. For most small business purposes, both platforms offer everything you’ll need. For that reason, we won’t exhaustively cover the features of each, but we will mention what sets them apart. Inventory Management MYOB has a comprehensive inventory system integrated into the software that lets you manage orders and suppliers and run stocktake. Which subscription you choose will depend on how many items and locations your business has. Xero on the other hand, doesn’t offer inventory management, but its customisation capabilities with third-party apps ensure it stays competitive in this area. Reporting With Xero, multiple reports are able to be run at once, with fully customisable reports available to power users. Conversely, MYOB only lets you run one report at a time, with some limited customization available. Payroll Both MYOB and Xero allow you to process superannuation payments automatically, support Single Touch Payroll and offer advanced reporting. However, for large companies, MYOB has the advantage of supporting unlimited employees with its BusinessPro and AccountRight plans. The cost of Xero increases once your business grows to over 50 employees, and caps out at 200. Online & Phone Support Xero offers extensive online resources and benefits from a wide community of online users, so help is never far away, however they do not offer phone support. MYOB on the other hand do offer business-day phone support, which can be very helpful if you get stuck. Sign-Up and Implementation Integrating or replacing your existing processes is easy with Xero and MYOB’s cloud-based subscriptions, however, if you are planning on installing MYOB AccountRight to your local desktop, it is important to note that this is only available for Windows. Cost Both Xero and MYOB offer four tiers of monthly-based subscription pricing. The more you pay, the more functionality you get. When choosing a subscription, it is important to select one whose inclusions will not only serve your purposes today, but also as your business scales in the future. The cost differences between the two platforms are outlined in the table below. Xero vs. MYOB: Which is right for your business? What accounting software you choose is ultimately going to depend on the needs of your business, and your personal preference. Before making your decision, you need to weigh up who will be using the software (you or your accountant), where you will be using it (desktop or cloud), whether having a mobile app is going to be vital in your day-to-day accounting, and what integrations and bank connections you require (in particular — will it integrate with your Zeller Account !). Whichever you choose, both Xero and MYOB will be a huge asset to your business operations, saving you time and headaches at tax time.

An accountant is an invaluable asset for your small business. As a business owner, maximising your tax offsets (and paying the right amount of tax) is vital. That’s why it’s important you find a good tax accountant early on — otherwise, you could end up paying more tax than you have to, or not enough. An accountant is a professional who takes care of your business’s bookkeeping and prepares important financial documents such as balance sheets, profit-and-loss statements, and more. However, the best accountants don’t just crunch the numbers — they add value to your business. An accountant can give you strategic advice and think of out-of-the-box ways to save your business money, and grow profits. You just need to choose the right one. The difference between bookkeeping and accounting When choosing an expert to be involved with your business’s financials, you need to ensure you are clear on your growth goals. Some business owners choose to engage a bookkeeper instead of a registered accountant, often to save money. However, there are some important differences to be aware of. Bookkeepers record the day-to-day financials of the business —  payroll, invoicing, and transaction records, for example. Accountants, on the other hand, are more focused on budgeting, forecasting, running financial reports and statements, and working on your business’s tax returns. As a business owner, having an accountant as part of your team is imperative for the long-term success and growth of your business. Finding an accountant for your small business Step 1: Create a shortlist With so many accountants available, it’s important to research your options. You’ll want to find an accountant who understands your business, the type of products and services you offer, and who will be able to help with your growth strategy. You should also consider a few factors such as location, workload, type of accounting software, fees, and their reputation in growing other businesses. These days, location is not as important as it once was. Virtual meetings and cloud-based accounting software have made it easier for both accountants and their clients to view real-time data, eliminating the need for you or your accountant to be located in close proximity. This is great news for small business owners: if your accountant can be located anywhere in the world, then you can find one that understands the mechanics of your business. Once you have a rough idea about the type of accountant and accounting services your small business requires, the next step is to compile a shortlist of accountants that will fit your business’s needs. Consider asking your network for recommendations, and spend some time searching online. There are various online directories you can search including: Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia Institute of Public Accountants Certified Practicing Accountant of Australia It may be a tedious task, however it’s an important one to ensure your business thrives. Step 2: Interview your options Now that you have your shortlist, it’s time to contact each option and learn more about how they run their business. There are four key considerations in determining which accountant is the best fit for your business’s requirements. 1. Experience and specialisation Do they have experience in dealing with similar businesses to yours? Find out what type of clients they’ve dealt with in the past; the size of the businesses, any industry-specific software they’ve used, and how they’ve helped other businesses grow. The more familiar the accountant is with the ins and outs of your industry, the better for your business. An accountant with a good understanding of the intricacies of your business will be able to make recommendations that are align with your business strategy. 2. Communication style While not technically part of your staff, your accountant will be a key team player in your business. Yet in order for your business to benefit from their expertise, the lines of communication must be open. The success with which you and your accountant communicate will be a big factor in the success of your partnership. As Albert Einstein said, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” If you agree with this sentiment, you’re in good company. The accountant you choose needs to be able to cut through financial jargon and explain difficult concepts clearly and concisely, as well as respond to your calls and emails in a timely fashion. Think about how you will communicate with your accountant. You might consider granting them secure third party access to your Xero organisation, and making use of Zeller's integration with Xero Bank Feeds , for example. It’s also important to consider who would step in if they were to go on holiday, or fall ill; do they have a team of professionals who would be able to assist you? Communication is a vital part of running your business, so set your expectations from the very beginning. 3. Proactivity The best accountant for your business will do more than simply lodge a tax return and manage your business accounts. They be will be proactive, helping you to identify quick wins as well as plan longer-time cost-saving initiatives. So, how do you find the best accountant for your business? It’s simple. Ask them what they would suggest to save your business money. Their response will allow you to gain an idea of just how much work they are willing to put in. “The worst accountant to have is the one who just says 'yes', 'no', and 'it depends'. The accountant you want is the one who asks open questions: who, what, when, where, how, why. A good accountant will enquire about the type of work you do, and make smart suggestions based on that,” says Duncan Perkins, owner of Tax Time. However, in order for your accountant to be proactive, they must be kept informed of important business decisions and aware of plans for future growth. This is where many small business owners miss out. “A lot of people see their accountant as a machine to get a task they hate out of the way,” says Duncan. “They’re scared to ask questions, because if they do they think it’s going to cost them a couple of hundred dollars to resolve something that may only save them a very small amount. But a good accountant will help you stop focussing on the little things, like $10 deductions, and start looking at the bigger picture — so they become more of an advisor.” 4. Cost Find out what additional costs are associated with the services provided. You’ll want to know upfront what the expense will be to your business, and if payment plans are available. Ask what’s included in the accountant’s fee and what’s considered an additional cost. Keep in mind that, whilst accountants can take care of the entire financial side of your business (including bookkeeping), this might not be the best approach for you. As most accountants charge by the hour, you’ll likely want to maximise the time you’re paying for instead of paying for simple tasks such as bookkeeping and paying invoices. For that, you could engage a bookkeeper or find accounting software that will simplify tasks like invoicing by sending automatic invoices and recording their contents. If you handle the simpler tasks, it will allow your accountant to deal with the more complicated tasks like forecasting, bank account reconciliation, lodging tax return forms, payroll, and capital depreciation calculations. Your accountant will be intimately involved with the operations of your business, so finding the right person for the job is important. When it comes to finding a good tax accountant, you’ll need someone trustworthy, that has experience with similar businesses and has clear and concise communication with their clients. Remember, you and your accountant operate as a team. The accountant you choose should help your business grow, offer sound advice on business issues, and save you money both in the long and short term.