MYOB accounting software update criticised by users, company promises update

Accounting software group MOYB says it will release an update of its core AccountRight 2011 program in the next few days after a major update released last month raised the ire of some users.

Feedback on the MYOB forums has been critical, with users labeling the software “beyond a joke” and “an absolute pain”.

“We have all been unknowingly [sic] used as ‘Beta Testers’ in what is a very buggy and slow upgrade,” another user complained.

Garry Clarke, a business IT developer and Inosoft Solutions CEO suggests the upgrade could cost a lot more time than it’s actually worth.

“There is a huge number of SMEs who have invested time in trying to get the upgrade and it’s wasting a lot of people’s time… that’s a huge cost,” Clarke says.

Clarke claims Bain Capital’s recent $1.2 billion acquisition of the company led to a premature rollout of the software update.

“MYOB is a prime example of what happens to an iconic company when ill-informed private equity firms pay hundreds of times more for a company than what it is actually worth and load it up with massive debt,” he says.

MYOB’s general manager Julian Smith is, however, quick to refute these claims.

“Releasing this product at this particular time has been in our schedule for quite some time… certainly before the acquisition of MYOB by Bain Capital,” Smith says.

In response to customer complaints, Smith admits they’re not uncommon given the “fairly substantive change,” but assures the feedback is taken very seriously.

“We have a very active client listening program,” he says.

“We use an agile development technology, and we’re constantly using customer feedback to continuously improve… That’s the nature of our process – we solicit client feedback and do small incremental updates.”

Smith says MYOB is set to provide users with a service release update within the next few days.