Best software option for group accountants: MYOB AccountRight or MYOB Advanced?

We explore whether MYOB AccountRight is substantial enough for group accountants and how it compares to MYOB Advanced.

Putting all your eggs in one basket is inherently risky. That’s why many business owners diversify their business interests to reduce their liability. 

Creating new companies or subsidiaries often occurs gradually as the primary business develops new products or brands—or through acquisitions and investments in other businesses.

While a group company or corporation structure separates and protects commercial interests, it also creates added complexity, running costs and financial management needs. In particular, accountants carry a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.

In expanding, multi-entity enterprises, group accountants need strong business systems behind them. 

Group accountants often find themselves using accounting software like MYOB AccountRight or Xero, which is great for digital record-keeping and accounting compliance in a single business with straightforward requirements. 

But group accountants face additional issues around consolidation and inter-company trading—which may necessitate the move to a more robust solution like MYOB Advanced.

[FEATURE ARTICLE – MYOB AccountRight Vs. MYOB Advanced: How do they differ?]

Group accountants need a single view across all companies in the group

Multiple entities under one umbrella creates a lot of additional paperwork and compliance challenges for group accountants. You need to ensure accounts, tax management, reporting, and payroll are in order across multiple ABNs, including interpreting layers of regulation across different states (or countries).

An entry-level solution like AccountRight was probably ideal when the business first started, but it’s likely clunky to use to manage multiple ventures. 

Basic accounting software like MYOB AccountRight or Xero typically limits you to a single file per legal entity for one financial year. That’s a serious hassle when you have multiple legal entities because it usually means a lot of logging in and out of the system to work with different files. 

MYOB Advanced is a comprehensive ERP solution that empowers group accountants to manage financials and reports for a growing, multi-entity business all within one database and a single login. It makes capturing and working with data much easier.

It’s also more flexible. Group accountants can use MYOB Advanced to complete both a group and individual BAS’, manage different entities over different financial periods, or run a full trial balance for each entity that sits under the group. It also boasts multiple financial years in the same database/ file which allows for easy comparative reporting across multiple fiscal years. 

Complete visibility within one user-friendly interface. Imagine how much time you can save.

[WHITE PAPER – Small business to digital business: Your AccountRight Classic end of support guide]

A more advanced solution for inter-company transactions and financial reporting

A system that doesn’t allow you to manage multiple businesses from one screen leads to excessive double-handling and more errors.  

Let’s say you have a head office that pays the utility invoice on behalf of several businesses. Splitting the costs and managing inter-company transactions using AccountRight would require raising multiple invoices, and jumping in and out of each different company’s account to repeat the transaction for each entity. 

All that manual effort increases the chance you’ll overlook a step and wastes time that no one seems to have these days.

Whereas in MYOB Advanced, accounts payable and receivable are integrated across all entities, and you can even automate the allocation of transactions between connected businesses.

It might usually be a bad time to approach accountants when end-of-month tasks are due, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Close of month reconciliation and processing is slashed when your software solution is designed to streamline company-wide reporting. 

MYOB Advanced gives group accountants the ability to complete consolidated financial reports at the click of a button. Plus, data is more accurate because it’s centralised in one database. 

[FEATURE ARTICLE – 3 Ways MYOB Advanced streamlines multi-company finances]

Group accountants need richer functionality from their software to remain relevant

When group accounting processes are simpler and faster, it means you’ll have more head space to complete high-level verification, reconciliation, and planning. Tasks that will only become more crucial as your group company continues to expand. 

Keeping the books balanced while also giving business owners the insights needed to manage revenue and growth across entities at various stages of maturity isn’t easy. It’s even harder if the software at your disposal isn’t fit-for-purpose.

Switched-on finance professionals not only need to know how to use technology, they also need to take the lead in adopting software solutions that augment business performance.

MYOB’s enterprise solution for medium-sized businesses includes beefed-up accounting and financial management features, including the ability to manage inter-company transactions, branch accounting, and high-level consolidation. 

While it offers end-to-end cloud-based business management functionality, MYOB Advanced can be implemented in a phased approach that focuses on finance first. MYOB Advanced is the perfect fit for growing small to medium businesses with complex financial management needs. 

Interested in embracing more efficient accounting within a group company? Call 1300 045 046 or email info@leveragetech.com.au today.