DONT upgrade to AccountRight - especially if you use categories

[AnneLec]

Unfortunately have recently upgraded and have discovered that there are huge problems relating to categories. 

Have had the problem verified by MYOB support who were unable to give a time for when it will be fixed.   Have since discovered that it has been a problem since AccountRight inception. 

Have been advised by other users to revert back to the old MYOB that worked okay for Categories and to use something else fo STP.

Please read this forum if you are thinking of upgrading- there appear to be many other ongoing problems 

[Maxine_BC]

Hey @AnneLec,

I am very sorry to hear that you feel this way. We value feedback from our clients so please know that your comment has not gone unnoticed.

Please do feel free to post again on the community forum if you have any specific questions about the software and I would be happy to try and assist you.

Relevant help article:

• Categories

[AnneLec]

Hi Maxine,  thanks for your response it meant something that I received one.  The link attached takes me to a generic explanation of Categories.   There is nothing mentioned there about problems in the MYOB AR system.    

Please pass this further feed back on:

Our company has used Categories on MYOB Classic for 8 years.  It is a fantastic inclusion to an accounting program.  Our company relies on Categories to comply with contracting requirements that insist we report on and keep funds separate.  We are coming up to an audit and our end of year journals and our BAS statement rely on Category reporting.

The problem since upgrading is that the Category Balance Sheet is not correct.   It seems to display only certain accounts and even those balances are incorrect.  The final Category P&L at 30 June 2018 is also not correct and this compounds the problem with the balance sheet in that retained earnings are also incorrect.

I recently spoke to a person in the MYOB tech team and they were (patiently) able to verify that there was a problem but were not able to provide a solution or even a timeframe for when this would be fixed.  

Concerning:

• MYOB support indicated that they have know about this problem for some time.  If my memory is correct I believe the word 'glitch' was used.
• MYOB could give no timeframe for when it would be fixed.
• MYOB could give no workaround

I have since been advised by other members of this forum that their solution over at least the last year has been to revert back to Premier Classic.

I have just spent two days reverting back to MYOB Classic such that end of year deadlines are met.

Further concerning:

• MYOB does not seem to understand the significance of this Category glitch.  AUDIT.  CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.

EXTREMELY CONCERNING and the reason for my initial post:

• MYOB is  in a position to warn customer that use Categories BEFORE they upgrade and is not doing so.
• MYOB  is selling a computer program they know does not work. 

The STP reporting (which uses year to date figures) deadline is 30 September for companies that have 19 or less staff.  That means that MYOB has until September to fix this problem.   

The data is in the file.  The General BS and PL reports are correct.  the Category BS and PL are not.The AR program is not reading it correctly.  It is a programming problem. 

MYOB Classic works.  MYOB AR does not. 

MYOB is in a position to check with customers "Do you use Categories?  Wait to upgrade - we have a problem but are looking to fix it before September. "

This would give two months to put resources towards fixing a programming problem and would mean that customers avoid wasting time during what is,  well for our company anyway, one of the busiest times of the year.  

MYOB Classic is a great program for Categories. It would be a shame if AR could not emulate this.  Any update or response to this would be appreciated

[Mike_James]

Hi @AnneLec , if I may add a couple of comments, as you know there is a deferral in place up to September 2019 for MYOB users who cannot upgrade for various reasons, and in the light of your comments I suggest that MYOB should/will obtain a new deferral. 

In addition there are alternatives for v19 users to be STP compliant, as you will probably know from reading the forum. 

[AnneLec]

Thanks Mike.

Do you know if MYOB are requesting a further deferral?  At present as a Category user we simply can not use the AR program.  

[Kym__Yeoward]

If you use Categories for wages reporting, have you considered using Jobs instead ?

Jobs are well supported, for wages tracking.

For example:

- Category 01 - Sydney Office  might be  Job 01 - Sydney

- Category 02 - Melb. Office    -   Job 02 - Melbourne

Several indigenous organisations that I do bookkeeping for use them to track government grant spending

For example:

Mary Smith is a youth worker with the Footyville Aboriginal Corporation

The corporation receives wages funding from:

- Commonwealth Govt (Dept of PM&C  - Stronger Families program - job code 100) and
- NT Government (Dept of Community Development - At Risk Youth program - job code 200)

60% of Mary's wage comes from PM&C and 40% from DCD

We would set-up two Base pay categories for her

- Base Category #1 and

- Base Category #1

Then in each pay-run, we would spilt her wage hours as follows:

- 60% to Base Category #1 - with job code 100

- 40% to Base Category #2 - with job code 200

Similarly her SGC Super would be split as:

Base Category #1 with job code 100  -  60%

Base Category #2 with job code 200 - 40%

In AccountRight, reporting Categories - e.g. for sales - are generally intended to be for geographic regions

(e.g. states - NSW / Vic / Qld etc.) or product groups (e.g. a car dealer might track their care sales as Toyota / Nissan / Kia).

Kym Yeoward CPA & CC

Darwin

[AnneLec]

Thanks for response Kym.  Unfortunately we use Categories to identify different supply of Funds. Thus every transaction in MYOB has an assigned Category.  The Category Balance sheet is not reporting correctly- the data is there, the AR program is just not reading it..

[AnneLec]

Forgot to mention we utilise jobs for another reason (MYOB Classic really is good)

[Steven_M]

Hi @AnneLec 

Thank you for additional feedback into AccountRight 2019 and categories.

As has been indicated, AccountRight 2019 does allow/pull through the category on secondary transactions; Prepare Electronic Payments, Prepare Bank Deposits... This does affect the category balance sheet and other reports. Our product developments teams have been made aware of this and other category errors in AccountRight 2019. Currently, most of these situations are still under investigation by our team, with at this stage, no exact timeframe or build when they will be addressed, however, these have been passed on with a top priority for future updates to the AccountRight 20xx product range.

[AnneLec]

Thanks Steven,

the transparency in your response should have existed at point of sale. 

MYOB:  Warn customers