MYOB has long been the premier name in small business accounting. Feature-wise it sports all the sales, purchase and nominal ledgers you would find in a typical ledger-based bookkeeping system, but it combines these with the ability to post cashbook items direct through the bank, credit card or cash accounts.
Invoicing and stock control are also on the menu, along with order processing and a fantastic job control system. New in version 6 are greater import and export options, more report customisation and financial statements for the last, this and next year - just in case you forgot yourself!
Rather than the typical toolbar and menu layout of so much Windows software, MYOB takes a 'command centre' approach, offering a row of icons for the main areas of the program, with a central section that changes to display the various options available within each. Several 'Analyst' buttons are always available alongside this central area, and these provide a quick route to on-screen displays of account history, aged debts and so on.
Accessable Architecture
The underlying architecture is one of accessibility, both in the GUI approach and in the amenability of the data files. Any view you like to take of your data, an aged debt display for example, will offer little arrows beside each line or transaction. A click on any one of these will display the next level of detail, until eventually you arrive at the form used for data entry of the actual posting in the first place. This is extremely intuitive.
MYOB has another controversial trick up its sleeve. Once an entry is found and displayed you can then edit, re-save or even delete it. Thankfully this is password-protectable, and you can choose to disallow edits on saved data.
Everyday use
In everyday use MYOB invoicing and stock control work together in real time to allocate stock to invoices and orders - or in MYOB terms, 'pending' invoices. Other powerful features include a 'to-do' list that keeps track of items you have set as recurring, and this can be anything from a sales invoice to a standing order. Stock shortages are highlighted, as are expiring discounts, debtors, creditors and pending orders due for fulfilment. Nothing is posted until you as for it, so you retain complete control.
The job management function enables you to have header jobs under which to group various smaller jobs, say for the same project. Jobs can actually be used to track all manner of accounting analysis, and many people make use of them as departments or cost centres. You can of course take profit and loss reports by job, and even post re-imbursable expenses against jobs for later inclusion during invoicing.
Invoice layouts can be amended freely. You can even drill down from many report views, and the on-screen graphs and charts look fantastic.
MYOB 6 is a full-featured, competent accounting package. But if you want the latest, see the PC Plus upgrade offer to get MYOB 7.5 at half price!
- from Tim Woodward's review in PC Plus, issue 127.
Price: As sold for £229 (including VAT). See our great Upgrade Offer to save up over £110 when you purchase MYOB 7.5.
Limitations: none for residents of the UK and Eire, 25 uses for overseas users. This is full software, but you must register MYOB within the first 25 uses. Registration details are here.
Minimum System Requirements: Windows 3.1/95, 486 processor, 8Mb RAM, 24Mb hard disk space. Pentium with 16Mb RAM recommended.
You are free to examine MYOB through the Widgets Ltd. sample datafile. However, when you create your own datafile, you will only be able to open that file a maximum of 25 times if you do not enter a registration number.
This number can be obtained, free of charge, from MYOB UK by telephoning 01752 201901, and quoting reference 908MUPCP1. (Please note that MYOB UK cannot register customers outside the U.K. and Eire.)
By registering, you will also be entitled to one free support call. If, at the time of registering, you purchase a support contract, you will be entitled to 13 months support for the price of 12.
Installation
Important note: This is a full product, but it requires a registration number or else you will be limited to 25 uses of a data file you create. Only residents of the UK and Eire can register MYOB. See the Registration section for details.
Click the icon to the left to install MYOB 6.0.
To install MYOB 6 using WinDelete, choose the 'Install' button from Windelete's main menu and browse to X:\full\myob\setup.exe, where X is the letter of your CDROM drive.
