Sage 50 vs. Spreadsheet Server

Sage 50 Accounts is well-suited for small to medium-sized enterprises, where there is a moderate number of expenses and invoices that need processing, typically by a company with a smaller finance team. Sage 50 is probably less suitable for a large organisation that needs to handle a higher volume of transactions and manage significant stock levels.

Incentivized

Spreadsheet Server is a set it and forget it type of thing. However, if you are wanting to change up the data you get on a regular basis, this may not be the product for you.

Incentivized

• We can build "templates" for recurrent charges/invoices. This saves some time and also ensures that we always use the right accounting rubric.
• A lot of additional information can be filled out such as client information (name, address, ...) which makes the software a little more complete.
• If you don't need an updated version every year (my case) then the software is not too expensive. The pro version that I'm using was just a little over $300.
• I really like the banking statement consolidation which allows you to ensure you got the right information registered.

Incentivized

• It's easy to use and learn how to create new spreadsheets.
• Spreadsheet Server makes it easy to create custom financial statements for your company. It is a great tool to use with Vista by Viewpoint.
• We can create custom graphs and KPI's in Spreadsheet Server.

Incentivized

• Sage 50 could use some improvement in the Invoicing Module to allow for more flexibility in the design of the Invoice fields. The report customization tools could use some upgrading for easier use.
• Fixed assets management module needs to be included with unlimited number of fixed assets.

• The only issue that we came across, is that not all of our companies have the same financial structure as each other. So the GLs we use for one report, would not necessarily work for all the other companies. We did not want to create separate reports for each company either. We did find a workaround in that we created a lookup tab with GLs to use for each category for each company, then used v-lookup to pull those GLs over. This workaround worked great, but it would have been nice to have something built in to cover this.

Incentivized

I use this rating simply because I have a thriving Sage 50 consulting practice and will continue to keep my expertise in the product. I have consulted on both Sage 50 and QuickBooks for over 25 years so I have to maintain expertise in the solution as well as accounting and verticals.

Incentivized

Very easy to use and user friendly.

Incentivized

I think Sage 50 is a trusted product and is reliable from a product delivery and support perspective. They have deep domain expertise in the non-profit space and should be a consideration for new non-profit startups or existing non-profits looking to migrate from other platforms. Overall, I believe that Sage 50 does many things well with few limitations.

Incentivized

Easy to use and flexible.

Incentivized

They were very knowledgeable of the product, understood my timeline was limited for a software issue and allowed me to get back to my day to day work. The dial into your computer is great so you can monitor what they are doing and learn some tricks yourself

Customer Relations reaches out to me periodically.

Incentivized

We implemented Sage 50 Premium Accounting in house, not using any third party or professional service. It was a relatively trouble free process, but can be tricky. Just read all instructions carefully, especially if you need to load the program on a network with more than one user

Incentivized

As we did the conversion almost 10 years ago it is hard to answer this question. At the time it was the ease of being able to produce both cash and accrual financial statements and reporting that led us to pick Sage

Incentivized

Vista did not offer reporting that met our needs. We were not able to easily customize the standard reports to fit our company needs. We are able to create different reports depending on management's needs and level. It is easy to create reports for auditors as well in Spreadsheet Server.

Incentivized

I define scalable from two perspectives; 1) the scalability to handle more bookkeepers/accountants using the product, and 2) the scalability to handle increasing customer/vendor/employee and transactional data. Sage 50 does a good job on both fronts. From the single users operating a micro-business accounting for customer invoices and bill payments only, to the multi-staff, multi-location, multi-departmental complex transactional operation. Although Sage 50 is quite expensive for that smallest user, it is quite inexpensive for the larger business entity. So, for the new enterprise expecting rapid growth, Sage 50 is the application of choice.

• Sage definitely needs to do a better job with customer service. I have had to use them only a handful of times and it was not a great experience but not the worse I've seen. They didn't make us a priority and I felt that they didn't have a sense of urgency. They did address my lack of satisfaction and I can see that they are at least aware of the issues and they are trying to correct them.
• Sage is exactly what we need in my current organization and I wouldn't change it for another system. I have used quite a few in my lifetime and I would say that it fits our needs.

• Allows us quick access to cash flow statements which assist in decision making
• Provides accurate reporting for our banking needs
• Provides accurate information to our insurance and bonding vendors

Incentivized