Easier data access

In MYOB Essentials, your data is stored online by default. This makes your life a lot easier, because you:

• can access your data on any computer with internet access (see here for compatible browsers)

• don't have to install software on your desktop (as you do with AccountRight)

• don't have to install software updates—they're installed automatically, you don't have to do a thing.

Also, unlike AccountRight, you can forget about having to synchronise, back up, or check out/check in your file. Your data is always available, up to date and securely stored online. 

Your business

In AccountRight, your data is managed in a company file; in MYOB Essentials, your data is managed in your business. In AccountRight, your company file is stored in a defined location, called a library, either offline or online. In MYOB Essentials, your business is stored online by default—like a web page (but there's a whole lot more going on in the background):

You can sign in to MYOB Essentials at the following URLs:

• Australian users: essentials.myob.com.au
• New Zealand users: essentials.myob.co.nz

When you first log in, you get a handy checklist of setup tasks you need to do. You can access the equivalent of the Setup menu and Preferences window in AccountRight by clicking your business:

The Essentials equivalent of the Company Information window is the Business details page (your business > Business details). There's some mandatory information that you need to enter which will be used in key functions, such as emailing:

Accessing records

In AccountRight, you can access all of your customers, suppliers, employees and contacts in the Cards List. In MYOB Essentials, you can create new your customers, suppliers and other contacts, and access existing ones, via the Contacts page:

...and your employees via the Employees page:

MYOB Essentials can do most of the workflows that AccountRight can and also removes the need to do some things you have to do in AccountRight. But there are some differences in how to do them.

• Job management
• Recurring transactions (but you can duplicate an invoice)
• Inventory tracking
• Purchase orders
• Remittance advices.

Some of these features are under consideration for development at the community forum Ideas Exchange.

MYOB Essentials is designed for smaller businesses with simpler reporting requirements. This means that some reports available in AccountRight are not available in MYOB Essentials (although we will be adding more reporting).Here's some reports that customers have voted for at the community forum Ideas Exchange and are under consideration for development:

• General Ledger summary

• Balance Sheet comparison

• Cashflow forecasting

All reports can be produced as PDFs. At this stage, only the main business reports can be exported to Excel formats.

For more information on the reports available in MYOB Essentials, see Reports.