XERO vs MYOB - which is the right one for my business?

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Around 10 years ago, MYOB was the dominant accounting software in Australia. At that time, over half of the businesses in Australia had installed MYOB. Today, we have two dominant players MYOB and XERO. According to AFR, MYOB had 585,000 users (May 2017). According to Xero's financial report in Mar 2020, it has over 900,000 users in Austarlia. There are around 2 million small businesses in Australia.

 

First thing first, you may notice that MYOB has more products. These could be quite confusing sometimes! Two main MYOB products are MYOB Essentials and MYOB AccountRight. MYOB Essentials is a web-based only product which is similar to XERO. It can also be used in PC, Mac or mobile. On the other hand, MYOB AccountRight provides users with options to work online and offline. You may use it in your desktop without internet connection. But you need to install the software in your desktop and cannot use it in Mac or mobile.

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Certainly, both XERO and MYOB can assist you to manage your businesses in most aspects including keeping track of your income and expenses, invoicing, calculating GST and generating most necessary management reports.

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To select the right accounting software for your business will often depend on your business operations, business scale and the preferences of the users such as the bookkeepers and the business owners.

 

If you are keen on easy to access (through PC, Mac or mobile), comprehensive management reports, employee login access, easy EOFY data rollover and foreign currency, XERO would be a better software. In general, Xero is designed to suit a wide range of businesses from services to products businesses, and from sole traders to companies with multiple employees and sites. If you think that XERO might be suitable for your business, MYOB Essentials with similar features could be a good alternative.

 

On the other hands, if you prefer to work offline without internet connection from time to time, need to calculate and track inventory, own multiple businesses (separate ABNs)​ and are already familiar with the traditional MYOB desktop interface, MYOB AccountRight might be a better choice for you.

 

If you are at the stage of considering to set up an accounting software for your business or upgrading  from various desktop accounting software such as old versions of Quicken or MYOB, please feel free to contact us. We will assist to identify a suitable software for your business. If you are our existing client and purchase the MYOB or XERO product through us, we will provide you complimentary setup assistance.

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Vincent Wan

CPA, Registered Tax Agent

May 2020

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