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Sage 50

Score7.7 out of 10

183 Reviews and Ratings

What is Sage 50?

Sage 50cloud Accounting (formerly Sage 50 Accounting) is accounting software designed for small businesses. Sage 50cloud Accounting (formerly Sage 50, and formerly Peachtree) lets businesses invoice customers, pay bills, manage inventory, control costs, and pay employees. The solution includes high-level dashboards and in-depth reports.

Categories & Use Cases

Top Performing Features

  • Direct deposit files

    Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.

    Category average: 7.9

  • Standard reports

    The software offers pre-built reports with metrics standard to the category.

    Category average: 8.4

  • Accounts payable

    This includes the automation and tracking of payment to vendors and suppliers, with features such as payment scheduling, check printing, open purchase order alerts, document management, direct ACH bill payment, and vendor records.

    Category average: 8.3

Areas for Improvement

  • Self-service portal

    The software provides online portals for certain stakeholders to find information relevant to them, such as employees, vendors and customers.

    Category average: 7.5

  • Global Financial Support

    Account using multiple ledgers, multiple currencies, and multiple entities

    Category average: 7.5

  • Multi-currency support

    The software supports transactions across multiple currencies.

    Category average: 7.6

Sage 50 is a life saver for any starting business.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Sage 50 for accounting purposes in our business, as well as support other companies that implement and utilize Sage 50 for their accounting and payroll processing needs. We set up a network, a multi-user setup, server connections, and a firewall config to implement and support Sage 50 software. Keeping up with updates throughout the year and updating company files.

Pros

  • Vendor and Supplies accounting.
  • Payroll
  • Multi-user setup.

Cons

  • Better cloud version as we are forced to stay on local desktop app.

Return on Investment

  • Saved us time and grief on accounts receivable management to make employees more efficient.
  • Payroll deductions and year ends are a breeze.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Premier, Sage 300 and Sage Accounting

Other Software Used

Sage 300, Sage Accounting, QuickBooks Commerce, QuickBooks Desktop Premier, QuickBooks Online

Great software for SME.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Sage 50 for all of our accounting requirements in our organisation. This bespoke software solution is used within our organisation to support the team in recording all our day-to-day transactions, including sales invoices, purchase invoices, employee expenses, and other required financial transactions. The software also allows us to attach all our receipts to transactions, allowing us to go paperless and reduce our need for printing items.

Pros

  • Recording purchase invoices.
  • Preparing BACS files for bank import.
  • Bank reconciliations.

Cons

  • Invoice template functionality.
  • Bank feeds can be a bit clunky.
  • Challenging for VAT returns for those with complex VAT requirements.

Return on Investment

  • Produces standardised reports for management.
  • Records prior year transactions.
  • Attachments allow simplified record keeping.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Sage Accounting, Sage HR and Sage Intacct

Other Software Used

Sage Accounting, Sage HR

Sage 50 for Non-Profits from an end user and consultants perspective

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Sage 50 is used for financial management, budget controls and accounting functions for a non profit that tackles homelessness. Sage products in general are well known for non-profits needing to manage their organizations financial posture. Sage 50 allows the non-profit to manage cashflow, handle accounts payables & receivables, handle account reconciliations and provide financial reports to stakeholders.

Pros

  • Strong financial reporting features
  • ease of use and work flow for various accounting functions
  • strong accounts payable functionality for compliance and auditing

Cons

  • Some custom reporting functionality would be welcomed
  • Account drill down capabiities are limited
  • multiple company limitations. This is cumbersome for a non-profit with 10+ companies
  • consolidated reporting structure is not very intuitive to combine company financials

Return on Investment

  • Sage 50 allows an effective consolidation of multiple companies in a fairly solid manner
  • Sage 50 has ample reporting functionality for most small to medium non-profits.

Usability

Other Software Used

Bright Data, Deel, SAP Crystal, Avanan, Cylance Smart Antivirus, Splashtop, Action1

Sage is a good value for the money.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Sage for our day-to-day accounting of receivables and payables. We also use it to order parts from our vendors by issuing purchase orders. We are able to look at open orders of hardware and determine what needs to be ordered in the future based on what is already pending. We monitor our past due accounts as well.

Pros

  • Reporting for PO tracking
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable,

Cons

  • Reporting could be more flexible
  • Autofill when typing the same thing over and over again in PO's or invoices.
  • Storage of descriptions and pricing for commonly used items without using inventory
  • The ability to connect a credit card charge to a PO

Return on Investment

  • It allows easy entry of invoices and payment which saves time.
  • It provides the ability to track accounts receivable so we can follow up on past due invoices and collect money in a timely manner.
  • It offers financial statements at the click of a button which saves time.

Usability

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Adobe Acrobat, Webroot Endpoint Protection, TeamViewer

Sage 50cloud Accounting for small businesses

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am the bookkeeper and sole user of Sage 50cloud Accounting for a small agricultural buying group. Sage 50cloud Accounting is perfect for our business as we have a large number of clients, who wish to pay by Direct Debit and the integration with GoCardless is seamless.

We also import a large number of transactions from a csv file and Sage 50cloud Accounting makes this incredibly easy to do.

Pros

  • Direct Debit with GoCardless
  • Exporting reports to Excel
  • Bank Reconcilation

Cons

  • It is expensive. A cheaper option for small businesses would be good.
  • A better way of logging conversations/communications with customers, for example notes on Credit Control. The current notes section is lacking and I make all my notes outside of Sage 50cloud Accounting.
  • There are lots of reports that I don't use. It would be helpful if Sage 50cloud Accounting remembered the ones used most often, to save me trying to remember. For example, where do I find the report for unallocated sales receipts.

Return on Investment

  • Collecting payments by Direct Debit was a great additional to Sage 50cloud Accounting and helped our business enormously

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, Timetastic