MYOB Acumatica Review

MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced) is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) system. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product built on the framework of the US-based Acumatica platform – the fastest growing SaaS ERP in the world. MYOB invested in Acumatica in 2014 and have since localised the software for the Australian and New Zealand market. MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced) is a modular business management platform, built on its core finance module. It is the only product available to midmarket organisations in Australia and New Zealand that combines ERP, Payroll, and Workforce Management in one integrated platform.

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Where to look for information about MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced)?

It can sometimes be difficult to find unbiased information about MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced). We do believe that MYOB Acumatica (formerly MYOB Advanced) is a great piece of software, but we also understand the organisations and industries it has been designed for. There are many success stories which you can find in our MYOB Acumatica case study section.

Kilimanjaro Consulting’s MYOB Acumatica Review aims to be as transparent, objective, and honest as possible, so that you can choose the right ERP system for your business. This MYOB Acumatica Review is split into the following sections to help better navigate through the information:

• MYOB Acumatica features breakdown
• Comparing MYOB Acumatica to other ERP Packages
• Differences Between Off-The-Shelf, Configurable and Customisable Software
• Integrated Systems vs. Best of Breed
• What does MYOB Acumatica cost?

What happened to MYOB Advanced?

In July 2024, MYOB changed the name of the MYOB Advanced platform to MYOB Acumatica. This was to bring greater transparency to the alignment between the two companies that have been partners since 2014.

The Acumatica Cloud Business Management Platform is the world’s fastest-growing cloud ERP system. It is developed by the Acumatica company in Seattle, USA. MYOB Acumatica is based on the Acumatica platform and has the same features and functionality. MYOB Acumatica is localised to the Australian and New Zealand markets, with local tax and compliance requirements.

How do you choose the right solution for your business?

As your business grows and becomes more complex, you need the right software to support your changing operations. There are many factors that contribute to choosing the right system, and there are a few key steps you should take:

• Engage an experienced, trusted software implementer,
• Prepare for your business management consultation,

A basic, “off the shelf” accounting package will struggle to keep up with the complex needs of medium to large organisations. A system that is a poor fit will leave data disconnected in siloes, requiring manual duplication (or triplication) to keep everything up to date. This is a significant effort, prone to errors and compromising visibility and overall organisational health. Powerful ERP systems, like MYOB Acumatica, can manage:

• Configurable workflows
• Complex Compliance requirements
• Multiple entities,
• Multiple locations,
• Multiple currencies
• Multiple ABN/NZBNs,
• Complicated projects, budgets, and estimates,
• Integrations into a range of third-party add-on products,
• Intercompany transactions, and
• Growing supply chain networks.

Engage an experienced, trusted software implementer

It is best to seek the advice of the experts when deciding if MYOB Acumatica will be a good fit for your organisation. They will assess your complexities and match them with the capabilities of MYOB Acumatica. Trust the advice of an experienced implementation partner. A partner that is concerned and focused on your long-term growth will identify areas of the software you may not have considered such as:

• Security and compliance,
• The risk of a new system implementation for your organisation,
• Cloud-based accessibility,
• Scalability and customisation,
• Vendor experience and reputation
• Software feature roadmaps,
• Training, testing, and support, and
• Current user experiences, feedback, and testimonials.

Preparing for your business management consultation

There are additional ways that you can prepare your business for these initial consultations:

• Prepare a project budget. An ERP implementation can be an expensive (albeit rewarding) project. Planning and budgeting for the implementation before commencing is a wise and prudent step in a successful implementation.
• Identify your pain points and requirements. Ask yourself why you need a new system, as well as which processes could be improved and made more efficient.
•  Clearly identify the specific problems you face, let the experience and skill of your software partner guide you to the solution.
• Map workflows so that you can effectively communicate your unique organisation’s processes. This ensures that every part of your business is being evaluated for the viability of the implementation.
• Identify any legacy or satellite systems you use to manage your business. They may need to be integrated or replaced by the new system as part of the implementation.

Is MYOB right for my business?

MYOB is often associated with accounting software for smaller businesses. Today MYOB offers a variety of different options for medium to larger business including sophisticated cloud solutions. MYOB Acumatica is specifically created and developed for larger, more complex organisations. It has a robust suite of accounting and financial management features as well as the ability to integrate data across your entire organisation.

MYOB Acumatica is a true Tier 2 ERP system. Its sweet spot is for businesses with greater than $20 million AUD annual revenue and more than 50 employees. These are averages, and after consultation with an MYOB Acumatica expert, you may find that your organisation is suitable for MYOB Acumatica, despite being larger or smaller than the average..

It is unsuitable for simple small businesses (i.e. $10 million AUD or less) as the majority of functionality is unnecessary and the costs are too high. Small businesses will be better off using out-of-the-box pre-configured accounting systems such as MYOB Business to manage their finances and then transition to MYOB Acumatica once they have grown to a sufficient level. On the other hand, extremely large companies with revenues exceeding $500 million AUD may find MYOB Acumatica too restrictive. They may be better served with Tier 1 or bespoke platforms built from scratch to meet their needs. Both of which are too expensive and too customisable for Tier 2 organisations to be considering.

MYOB Acumatica is a good fit for:

• Organisations with more complex accounting requirements, such as compliance and audit requirements, multiple entities, intercompany transactions, deferrals, retention accounting, etc.
• Management teams that want a clear picture of their organisation’s health, with real-time visibility, personalised dashboards with important, relevant metrics, including non-financial information, and the ability to drill down into the details to investigate the root causes of larger trends,
• Teams that are struggling with manual processes and need workflow automation to support efficiency improvements,
• Modern, cloud-focused organisations looking to improve flexibility in their operations and empower their teams with anytime, anywhere access to their systems,
• Wholesale, Distribution, Importing, or Retail companies who want total control of their supply chain, inventory, warehouse, and shipping processes from a single integrated platform,
• Project-centric organisations who need connected support for project accounts, customer relationship management (CRM), expenses and allocations, budgets, and estimations to improve profitability and efficiency,
• Field Services companies with a large mobile workforce to support their routing, costing, and inventory requirements,
• Discrete manufacturers and companies with light manufacturing requirements as part of a wider, more complicated workflow,

MYOB Acumatica is a poor fit for:

• Small businesses that do not meet the requirements for MYOB Acumatica ‘s complex functionality and separation of responsibility.
• Extremely large organisations that require a more bespoke custom solution,
• Large-scale manufacturing operations, especially for process manufacturing.

Industries that are well supported by MYOB Acumatica

MYOB Acumatica is built to support a diverse range of industry requirements.

• Construction
• Government
• Healthcare
• Not-for-profit
• Manufacturing
• Corporate/Multi-Entity
• Wholesale Distribution and Inventory
• Professional Services
• Field Services
• Education

MYOB is not just for small businesses

Just because the software vendor is MYOB does not mean that it is built for small businesses. MYOB Acumatica is a localised version of Acumatica, specifically for ANZ organisations. This is important because Acumatica is the world’s fastest growing SaaS ERP system. It is specifically created and developed to meet the needs of complex midmarket organisations; those who need a robust suite of accounting and financial management features as well as the ability to integrate data across their entire organisation. The single greatest benefit to Acumatica is that the system can scale as your organisation grows. No matter what the future brings, your company will be well supported by this leading-edge MYOB Enterprise software.

The benefits of a local software system

There are many benefits to using a system that has been designed for your local region. All the idiosyncrasies of doing business in Australia and New Zealand will be familiar to you, but not to overseas vendors. Their systems are not built to reflect the complexities that a local provider is more familiar with.

MYOB is a trusted local vendor and MYOB Acumatica has been specifically customised to meet the needs of Australian and New Zealand organisations. It does leverage the framework of Acumatica (which based in the US) but is tailored to meet ANZ compliance requirements. MYOB has the benefit of working closely not only with local government bodies like the ATO, IRD and more, but also with the developers of Acumatica. This means you will get the best of both worlds: a market-leading, cloud-native ERP platform built on the stable Acumatica framework with all the benefits of using locally developed software.

A local software option is the low-risk approach. You will not have to worry about workarounds or manual processes for requirements such as:

• Business Activity Statement (BAS) support.
• Goods and Services (GST) tax
• Cash vs accrual GST
• Unique ANZ payroll requirements
• Changes in Legislation
• Terminology differences between ANZ and the rest of the world.

Small differences for example “stock” vs. “inventory” can disrupt your process and confuse your team. Seeing terminology that is more familiar to ANZ users eliminates much of the pain of learning a new system.

Get the implementation right the first time

While you may regard the time spent researching a solution as frustrating, the selection of suitable software is critical to the success of the implementation. So, too, is the important choice of an implementing partner. You should regard the time spent on research and selection of both software and implementation partners as an insurance policy for the success of your implementation. The more thorough and well-suited this selection, the lower your potential risk.

“A good implementation requires good software, a good implementer, and commitment from your company. Before comparing software, take a long hard look at your own company. Make sure you understand your processes, your workflows, and your audit requirements.”

– Ronnie Baskind, CEO of Kilimanjaro Consulting.

In general, MYOB Acumatica is best suited to larger, more complex organisations who can take advantage of its flexibility, strengths in maintaining compliance and governance.

It should be noted that no one software solution can solve all your business problems, even when used to its full potential. Your organisation is complex and unique, and at its core, an ERP system is a set of tools that you can use to manage your operations and improve efficiency. It is not a magic wand. This is where the role of the implementation partner and software advisor shows its merit. Their guidance and advice can assist your organisation to make the best software decisions and use the system to its full potential.

How to ensure a successful implementation

Any successful ERP implementation comes down to risk management. Engage the services of a trusted, expert implementation partner so that they can use their skills and experience to guide you to success. Any software implementation comes with an inherent risk:

• Software risk – will the new system do what we need it to do?
• Implementer risk – does the implementing team have the skills required to fulfil the sales team’s promise and unlock the potential of the software?
• Self-inflicted risk – can your team devote the appropriate resources to the implementation?

Like any complex order or project, it is far better to do right the first time. Money and time spent on rectification far exceed the cost of doing it right the first time.

Choosing the right MYOB ERP implementation partner is as important as choosing the right software. Because this is a lifetime partnership, organisations should be aware of the “implementer risks” before making a large investment. Implementer risk permeates the entire implementation process it is critical to choose an implementer that can support you through the entire software journey. With the right partner, ERP implementation should flow on to ongoing support and Business Process Improvement (BPI).

You may not have done it before, but we have

The Kilimanjaro Consulting team are experts in taking a low-risk approach and prioritising your business needs, resulting in a successful implementation. We are the largest and most experienced implementer of MYOB Acumatica across Australia and New Zealand. We are skilled, low-risk implementers helping businesses overcome their challenges through the use of clever, innovative and proven technology. Our dedicated team takes the time to truly understand your organisation and customise MYOB Acumatica to meet your requirements. The Kilimanjaro Consulting team is proud to be the longest-serving MYOB Diamond Partner and MYOB’s Number 1 partner.

Kilimanjaro Consulting is the largest, most experienced implementation and support partner of MYOB Acumatica across Australia and New Zealand. To start a conversation about how MYOB Acumatica can improve efficiency in your organisation, email sales@kilimanjaro-consulting.com or call 1300 857 464 (AU) or 0800 436 774 (NZ).