1. First-time setup: chart of accounts

MYOB Solo ships with a default chart of accounts. For most sole traders it’s adequate as-is. Two things worth doing before you raise your first invoice:

• Confirm your business activity classification. This drives some GST defaults. If you’re not registered for GST, switch the file to “not registered” so the system stops trying to add 10% to invoices.
• Add any industry-specific income/expense categories you’ll need later. For example, “Subcontractor labour” for trades, “Stripe processing fees” for online sellers, or “Insurance: professional indemnity” for consultants.

Most sole traders don’t need to customise the chart at all on day one. That’s a sign Solo is sized correctly for them.

2. Connecting your bank: CDR-based bank feeds

MYOB Solo uses Consumer Data Right (CDR) bank feeds for Australian banks. It’s the same standardised pipe Xero and QBO use. You authorise the feed through your bank’s online portal; it then drips transactions into MYOB Solo daily.

Bank coverage: all four major Australian banks (CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac) are CDR participants and feed cleanly into Solo. Most second-tier banks and credit unions are also supported. Some smaller mutuals and niche fintech accounts (e.g. Wise) aren’t on CDR yet. If your business banking is at one of those, you’ll either upload statements manually or open a transaction account at a CDR-participating bank. The MYOB Solo onboarding flow will tell you up-front whether your specific bank is supported.

If the feed disconnects (CDR consent expires every 12 months by design): you’ll get a banner in MYOB Solo. Re-consent through the bank takes ~2 minutes. Don’t delete and re-add the bank account. That breaks the historical link to all reconciled transactions.

3. Issuing your first invoice

Three details that trip people up:

• ABN on the invoice: required on every tax invoice in Australia. Add it to your business settings once and it’ll appear on every template thereafter.
• “Tax invoice” wording: if you’re registered for GST, the document must be titled “Tax Invoice” (Solo defaults to this when GST is on). If you’re not GST-registered, it should just say “Invoice”.
• Payment terms: the default is often 14 days net. For new clients, consider 7 days or pre-payment until you’ve established a payment track record. MYOB Solo’s invoice template lets you change terms per invoice.

4. Reconciling: matching bank lines to invoices & expenses

Reconciliation in MYOB Solo is the daily / weekly habit that makes BAS time painless. The system suggests matches between bank-feed lines and your invoices/bills automatically; you confirm, allocate to a GL account, or create a new transaction.

Discipline that pays off later:

• Reconcile weekly, not monthly. Memory of what a $47 charge was for fades fast.
• Set up bank rules for predictable recurring transactions (rent, subscription software, fuel). They auto-allocate on each new feed line.
• Use the “keep in suspense” option sparingly. Anything you can’t classify within a few minutes should be queried with the supplier the same day, not parked.

5. GST tracking and preparing your BAS

If you’re registered for GST, MYOB Solo tracks G1, G2, G3, G10, G11 (sales, exports, GST-free sales, capital purchases, non-capital purchases) and 1A/1B (GST on sales, GST credits on purchases) automatically, provided you’ve coded each transaction with the right tax type.

Quarterly BAS deadlines (ATO):

• Q1 (Jul–Sep): due 28 October
• Q2 (Oct–Dec): due 28 February
• Q3 (Jan–Mar): due 28 April
• Q4 (Apr–Jun): due 28 July

If you lodge through a registered tax/BAS agent, you get an automatic two-week extension on each of those deadlines. Solo prepares the BAS draft from your reconciled transactions; you (or your agent) review and lodge through ATO Online Services for Business or via the agent portal.

Source: ato.gov.au, How to lodge your BAS

6. Single Touch Payroll (STP) for one or two employees

Sole traders without employees don’t need STP. The moment you put a single person on the books (even a part-time partner or a casual) you’re an employer for ATO purposes and STP Phase 2 reporting kicks in on every pay run.

Solo supports STP Phase 2 reporting, including tax treatment codes, gross/PAYG itemisation, and EOFY finalisation (due 14 July each year). Set up correctly once, it submits to the ATO behind the scenes on every pay event.

Award classification, super stapling, and minimum-wage compliance are NOT things MYOB Solo decides for you. They’re your responsibility as the employer. We frequently see misclassification when sole traders graduate to having an employee. A one-off setup review from us catches that before it becomes a Fair Work problem.

7. Switching to MYOB Solo from spreadsheets, Xero, or older MYOB

From spreadsheets: straightforward. Pick a clean start date (usually the first day of a financial quarter), capture your opening bank balance plus any unpaid invoices/bills, and start reconciling forward from that day. Prior-period numbers stay in the spreadsheet for reference.

From Xero or QuickBooks Online: MYOB has a migration assistant that takes care of the chart of accounts, customer/supplier list, and (optionally) historical transactions. The catch: any custom report layouts, tracking categories, and integrations with third-party apps (Stripe, Shopify, payroll add-ons) need to be reconfigured manually in Solo. Budget an afternoon, not five minutes.

From older MYOB (AccountRight desktop, Essentials): MYOB provides an in-product migration path. Worth doing at financial year-end so you have a clean break.

Pragmatic rule of thumb: if your books are clean and reconciled in the old system, the migration takes about 90 minutes. If they’re not, fix the old system first. Migrating mess just moves it.