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Accounting software is computer software used by the accounting and bookkeeping professionals for the management of accounts and performing accounting operations (Weil Schipper and Francis 2013). This work discusses the various aspects of MYOB accounting services namely the history, development, and adoption of various services into its umbrella, the market size, leaders, and its competitive advantages. Finally, the current challenges faced by the company and the users have been discussed, and specific suggestions and recommendations have been provided for the betterment of the services provided by the organization.
MYOB is a leading accounting software solution provider in both Australia and New-Zealand, the organization focuses on both offline software solution and cloud solutions.
MYOB is one of the leading business management solution providers in both New-Zealand and Australia. The organization provides more than 50 product and services meant for serving various businesses. The history of the accounting is very rich as it started its journey way down in 1955 (The Pulse Australia 2015). The name ‘MYOB’ was first used for the software developed by Christopher Lee and his team at Teleware Inc. in the late 1980s. In 1996 ‘Data Tech’ software bought the intellectual rights from its developer in return of equity. In 1999 the name of the company was changed to MYOB and was listed in ASX (Australian Stock Exchange). In 2004 the company merged with ‘Solution 6 Holdings’ thus expanding the company and the range of provided services. In 2008 online services was introduced by MYOB which provided services like web hosting, E-mail hosting, and domain registration. Craig Winkler who was the founder CEO of the organization stepped down in 2008 and was replaced by Tim Reed. As a policy MYOB walked out of markets of US, UK, Ireland and Asia and focused on markets of Australia and NZ. In 2009 Archer Capital took over MYOB, and the company became private again. In 2011 Bain Capital bought the majority share along its management for an undisclosed amount and continued to do so till date (Myobecommerce.com.au 2016).
The change in ownership in 2009 has had a great impact on the company. The company which was only concentrating on offline computer-based software now started realizing the importance of Cloud. MYOB AccountRight API was launched in 2013 which was a success and helped the company to gain the lost ground. In 2014 an app for online viewing of books was made available for Windows 8.1 and the app was available in the store for free. This companion app gave the company the much-needed facelift. The company also registered an increase in cloud services (Curtis 2015). The annual revenue growth was higher compared to 2011. In the subsequent months, two new cloud products, ‘Essentials cashbooks’ and ‘office OnTheGo’ were launched. ‘Cashbooks’ allowed accountants to assign client’s financial transactions for the purpose of accounting and manage client involvement. ‘OnTheGo’ gave a browser-based interface for data editing over mobile devices. MYOB also included the mobile payment option for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which included the confidence of start-ups. For the variety of services provided by the organization, MYOB wins the ‘Australian Mobile and App award – 2014’ (Myob.com 2016). In January launched the first cloud based ERP (Enterprise and Resource Planning) solution for medium to large companies. MYOB becomes the first company to receive the super stream certification. In April MYOB made an agreement with OnDeck to for fast approval of loans for small business. In August, MYOB recorded massive cloud subscription growth which exceeded the forecast. MYOB incorporates INCITE for connected accounting practices and terms it as the future of accounting industry.
The MYOB is one of the largest accounting solutions providers in Australia and NZ. MYOB helps around 1.2 million businesses and around 40 thousand accountants, bookkeepers and professional partners across NZ and Australia. Of all the businesses that use the accounting software for office automation, 60% of them have been found to use MYOB. MYOB has also helped around 10 thousand businesses in NZ to build a website within 15 minutes. MYOB boast around 2 million tax returns via its software. But the results had not always been this rosy, in 2015 the company recorded net loss of 72 million Dollar, but the customer base increased due to company policy and innovation, MYOB continued to spend around 16% of its total revenue on research and development. Revenue for MYOB from general activities jumped 14.2% to 161 million Dollar(Stuff, 2016). In the first half of the year, MYOB added around 26,000 SMEs which was 62% of the previous years. The company has acquired the ‘Ace Payroll’ which has added to the credential of the workforce for the company.
MYOB has 1.2 million customers and out of them 175 thousand online users and the majority of them are new, which is 15% of the total consumer base. The company plans to extend the cloud service to 44% of its consumer by the end of the financial year. With the advanced services in its pocket, the profit increases 22% to 86 million dollars for the previous financial year (The Sydney Morning Herald 2016).
The cloud service that has been incorporated after a long time has all the necessary services for managing cash flow, payroll and day to day bookwork. Since cloud services include all the needed computing resources the companies don’t need to maintain those resources thus reducing infrastructure cost. Cloud computing is best suited for the small and medium enterprises (Muchekeni 2014). But the large enterprises don’t have money constraint and can afford all the resources needed for maintenance of a company. The offline software that has been the part of the company serves a major role in serving that segment. Since products MYOB can serve a variety of customers, the company still holds the major market share for providing the accounting services in Australia and NZ.
The inclusion of cloud services has given the company a new life. The advantages of the cloud services are accessibility, greater speed of input, greater accuracy, and reduced cost. Due to connectivity to the internet the cloud services can be accessed anywhere. Manual computing takes a lot of time but with MYOB the repetitive and tedious works are greatly reduced (Hockerts 2015). With automation the computation errors are greatly reduced thus enhancing the accuracy, accounting automation reduces the needed workforce and cloud reduces the need for personal infrastructure hence greatly reducing the involved cost.
MYOB has been the market leader for decades, and no company has been able to equal even half of its market share. The following graph shows the market share of MYOB and its competitor
MYOB which is the market leader holds 74% of the market share. The other players in the market are Intuit, SAP, Sage50, SageOne, etc. Although MYOB has been the market leader but due to its lack of adaptability, has given the cloud service provider Xero to create a market segment for cloud computing and eating up the market share of MYOB.
There are various challenges that one faces while using MYOB. The major concern for MYOB Essential, the cloud services, is the security. Various surveys show that the online data are vulnerable to various threats like viruses, hackers, etc. MYOB is not user-friendly and needs previous training for using the software. Add-on application like Web API has not been released (Fletcher-Brown 2015). The MYOB is not the browser, hence needs the software to be installed for the system to work. The system is slow when handling a lot of data. Software and updates have to be installed in the computer so that they can be used in the system (Mayasari 2015).
There are several challenges that have plagued the system for MYOB. The recommendations for overcoming the challenges are:
Increasing the security by making the authentication a multilevel process. Multi-level authentication will reduce the risk of hacking and make the system more secure.
Better UI (User Interface) for making the system more users friendly. The developers of MYOB have to be more efficient.
MYOB Essential can't be accessed from a browser and needs to be installed in the computer; hence it is highly recommended to update the system so that the cloud services can be accessed through any device without any prerequisite.
The aim of this literature review was to analyze the various aspects of the accounting software named MYOB. In this report, the history of the software, its development, and evolution, the size of the market of the company, its competitors and leaders and the various challenges faced by the firm had been discussed in detail. Finally depending upon the challenges faced, the recommendation had been provided.
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Curtis, V., 2015. MYOB Software for Dummies-Australia. John Wiley & Sons.
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Fletcher-Brown, R., 2015. ‘Mind Your Own Business’–how can we best support employers to improve the mental health of their employees?.Perspectives in public health, 135(1), pp.18-20.
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Hockerts, K., 2015. How hybrid organizations turn antagonistic assets into complementarities. California Management Review, 57(3), pp.83-106.
Mayasari, M., 2015. The Influence of Personal Characteristics, Interaction:(Computer/Individual), Computer Self-efficacy, Personal Innovativeness in Information Technology to Computer Anxiety in the use of Mind your Own Business Accounting Software. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 5(1S).
Muchekeni, M.M., 2014. An analysis of the impact of using Ms. Excel as accounting software in SMEs: a case of Khangela General Supplies (Pvt) Ltd.
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Stuff. (2016). MYOB competes 'strongly' with Xero. [online] Available at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/71535432/MYOB-says-its-competing-strongly-with-Xero [Accessed 22 Aug. 2016].
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The Pulse Australia. (2015). The Accounting Journal: 60 years of Accounting Software - The Pulse Australia. [online] Available at: http://myob.com.au/blog/60-years-of-accounting-software-introduction/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2016].
The Sydney Morning Herald. (2016). MYOB narrows loss as revenue rises 14 percent. [online] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/myob-narrows-its-fullyear-loss-in-maiden-results-as-revenue-climbs-14pc-20160224-gn21l0.html [Accessed 22 Aug. 2016].
Weil, R.L., Schipper, K. and Francis, J., 2013. Financial accounting: an introduction to concepts, methods, and uses. Cengage Learning.
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