Software set-up and training

The choice is between Xero, MYOB Business and QuickBooks Online, the three we work in. A few questions narrow it down:

• What does your accountant use? business.gov.au suggests checking what software your accountant or business adviser recommends. Using the same program can make it simpler to give your accountant access to the file.
• Does your bank connect to it? Check that each bank, card and loan account you use can feed into the program, so transactions arrive without being typed in.
• What does the plan include? Plans differ in what they allow. MYOB's help, for example, says the number of bank accounts you can connect depends on your plan.
• What else does the business need? Tracking jobs or projects, holding stock, or connecting a point-of-sale system or online store can each narrow the field.
• Who will use it? Count the people who'll need a login, and check what each plan allows.
• How will it be used day to day? If staff will enter bills or snap receipts away from a desk, check how each program handles that.

Our comparisons, Xero vs MYOB, Xero vs QuickBooks and MYOB vs QuickBooks, each weigh two vendors' published plans against each other. We train you in whichever you choose, and the choice itself is yours.

Set-up and training is about using the software: getting into it, connecting your bank and learning the tasks you'll do from day to day. Decisions about how your accounts are organised sit with your accountant, because they shape how your figures are reported.

Training happens in the file as your accountant has set it up, so the accounts and reports you learn on are the ones you'll use. If your accountant hasn't looked at a new file yet, it's worth asking them to before training starts. Reorganising the accounts after staff have learned them means learning parts of the file again.

A bank feed sends transactions from your bank into the software, so they don't have to be typed in. The bank needs the account holder's permission before it shares that data, so the approval step is yours, and we guide you through it.

How you give permission depends on the bank and the account. MYOB's help says that, depending on your bank and account type, you apply either online through your bank or by sending an application form. Depending on the software and the bank, that means one of:

• approving the feed through internet banking, where you sign in and agree to share the account's data
• signing a bank feed application form, where the bank or account doesn't connect online

Open Banking connections can need a step before that. Intuit says some account types, including companies, partnerships and trusts, need a data sharing delegate nominated before the account can connect to QuickBooks or other accounting software. MYOB's help says that to connect a business bank account through Open Banking, your bank will need you to appoint at least one nominated representative in your online banking.

How far back a new feed reaches depends on the software and the bank. MYOB's help says the first feed brings in transactions dated from when the feed was approved, and earlier ones can be imported from bank statements. If the months before that need entering, catch-up bookkeeping covers the data entry and reconciliations.

Training is for whoever will do the work: you, the staff who enter bills or send invoices, or both. Each person learns the tasks they'll do, in your own file, with your own documents where you have them.

Access goes with the tasks. Give each person their own login rather than sharing one, so it's clear who entered what, and one person's access can change without affecting anyone else's. MYOB's help, for example, says each user needs a unique email address, and you choose roles and permissions for each one, such as Sales for someone who works with customer invoices. It also helps to name one person as the contact for the file, so questions about users and bank feeds go to the same place.

For reference after training, our MYOB and QuickBooks how-tos set out the steps for single tasks. Sending an invoice is covered for both, along with matching bank transactions in MYOB and entering a bill in QuickBooks.

Set-up starts from the date you choose. What happens to the records before that date depends on where they are now.

A move between programs is its own piece of work. Our migration pages, such as Moving from MYOB to Xero and Moving from QuickBooks to Xero, set out what each conversion moves, what stays behind and how the new file is checked. Training then starts in the new file.

Opening balances matter in each case. They're the starting point the new file builds on, and your accountant is the one to confirm them.

Whichever route you take, hold on to the old records before closing anything. Spreadsheets, an export from the old program or continued access to it keep the earlier months readable, and they're still the business's records.