Axiom Software by Syntellis Performance Solutions vs. Sage Accounting

Axiom is extremely well suited to optimize the Budget process. Using Axiom, we have cut our overall budget cycle time in half and have a much higher level of accuracy in all facets of the Budget including Fee Income, Expense, and Margin. Axiom is also well suited for advanced data users as you have the ability to create your own custom database tables which allows you to join to the existing Axiom tables and has allowed us to create custom reporting that we could not even think about on our previous system. The other big benefit of Axiom is that it sits on top of Microsoft Excel and inherits all of its functionality, which most people have experience with.

Incentivized

VAT returns are so simple to do. Just a click of a button and it produces a report for the period in concern. Submitting the return is then just a single click. The only thing I wish it would do is remind me when my VAT submissions are coming up so that I can avoid penalties.

Incentivized

• Compared to a previous EPM we used, Axiom's template load and saving performance has been much better even for large plan files.
• Axiom consultants can create completely customized reports for any of the collected data. Super users within your organization can then fairly easily modify their work to create additional reports without Axiom's help (and invoices)
• Setting up user security is a fairly easy one-time task and very easy to maintain when people change departments, leave the organization, etc. I would recommend you use role-based security settings.
• Compared to our previous EPM, Axiom allows more customization and possibilities for templates. There's very few "the product can't do that" statements.

Incentivized

• Traceability - where you are spending. I started with a spreadsheet which had a column for 'electronics & computing' this captured everything from monthly software subscriptions to hardware and from light bulbs to dash cams. Sage has helped me streamline the spending.
• MTD - I am MTD compliant, although I do not need to be as my accountant is and they complete my HMRC submissions. It does mean that I have a contingency plan if I have to change this service.
• Debtor's - It is easy to be a busy fool and not realise that accounts are overdue. For a small business, the restriction in cash flow due to late paying clients is a killer. The dashboard feature helps with this.

Incentivized

• Implementation is quite Complex and requires both IT and Financial buy-in
• Reporting solution has some learning curve for end users
• Calculation methods within reporting can be opaque and hard to trace

Incentivized

• I find it difficult to record journals in cloud accounting. Maybe I just don’t have the knowledge.
• It’s important to export all unrecorded sync bank transactions to Excel to send to clients to explain the payment receipts before being posted. This function is not available on the cloud and makes life harder, having to call out the transactions to clients over the phone.

Incentivized

I could not live without Sage Accounting, it has become an integral part of my everyday. The more I have used Sage Accounting the more I have fallen in love with it. I am excited to be part of this ever-evolving accounting system that has grown from strength to strength, making life easier is something Sage does so well.

Sage Accounting is built for the business owner/user and not the accountant, it therefore guides the user and thus detailed accounting knowledge and experience is not a necessarily a prerequisite . It offers a monthly price and therefore no significant up front spend and it tailorable to your business with useful dashboards that again you can tailor to instantly see what's important to you.

Sage Accounting availability is generally very good. They post messages which appear on users screen time to time, highlighting where functionality in a particular area is undergoing maintenance. More often than not, maintenance is completed in a timescale quicker than initially estimated by Sage. Where significant maintenance is required, Sage usually perform it overnight.

Sage Accounting work quickly and performs well, I have never had an issue with it running slow. It integrates with other software swiftly, so no waiting for the screen to load. Error messages are only something I have had when I have done something wrong.

For the scale of our implementation, Axiom only assigned two consultants who were both completely new to the company. It felt like we were all learning about the product together, when you would expect them to already be experts at their own product. The team also made a good bit of mistakes throughout production and go-live, which then caused more work internally for us. The team lead for our project also just left the company, so we'll see how next year's planning goes

Incentivized

The support is world class - never ever during 30 plus years in business I have received such helpful, knowledgeable and genuine support as I have from Sage. At Sage people matter and i can chat to someone safe in the knowledge that they will actually listen and assist. This also backed up by huge online portfolio of help and resources

Staff are always friendly, and patient, always work at a speed that suits you. You are never rushed, and In only a short time they seem to be able to help you make great strides. It has been a pleasure not a chore, learning how SAGE Accounting works and benefits me and the company.

I find the online training was very informative and they answered all my questions. I am also certified in Sage One and provided online training in the program which I have set up several people on and they love how it keeps them organized.

The clients' business owner worked with Sage on implementation before I began working for them. After consultation with them it is clear the process was quickly performed and without complication. The key takeaway was that Sage is seen as a partner to the business. That said, it was always necessary to engage with an accountant such as myself to extract the best out of the software.

Axiom was selected based on the impression of ease of use and integration. It is capable of holding all of our entities data while giving us an easier more accessible way to deliver monthly Financials and reports to managers. Then in costing we signed up because the impression of budgeting.

Incentivized

Sage Accounting is a simpler, more streamlined version of the more complex Sage 50cloud Accounting. For a small, simpler company Sage Accounting is a much more cost-effective option. There are a few features that Sage 50cloud Accounting has that Sage Accounting does not have (such as making e-payments and a few reports are unavailable) but it is still a very good product.

The pricing structure is fair and offers good value for money. The billing is done through their online system and you can access your bills at any time. Most contacts only require 30 days' notice, so no need to feel tied in, although I can't imagine why you would want to leave Sage.

I do not consider Sage Accounting to be Sage's best product for scaling up business as its functionality for doing so is limited. Sage 50 Accounts or Sage Intaact are far more suited for this. I would evaluate very carefully the possible need in the future for scalability in the first instance before selecting software.

Sage has always been extremely professional, and they continue to be professional in their dealings with me.

• Forecasting has improved
• Complexity of analysis has improved as well
• Our main data has been confused as we started using Axiom

• Sage One has allowed us to provided better customer service to all our clients. It has allowed us to provide a reasonable price accounting product to our customer who typically just have handwritten invoices, or Excel spreadsheets.
• Sage One has reduced the manual data entry that my team does on a monthly basis, which in turn allows us to have more time for our customers.