Sage Accounting
Sage 50 cloud Accounting is not difficult to learn if you have some understanding of accounting. Sage Accounting is software for managing your business’s accounting. It allows you to quickly and easily create and track invoices, track cash flow, accept payments, record transactions, automate admin, capture expenses, and much more.
Sage Accounting is a software platform offering accounting, analytics, payroll, HR, and other features for small-to-medium businesses. For over a decade, Sage has grown and iterated to include more functionality (like acquiring CakeHR for human resource features) and scaling for medium and larger businesses.
Today Sage Accounting has developed strong cloud accounting features and the ability to scale with your business, though it is still largely used as legacy accounting software.
Smart invoicing
Through Sage you can create, send, and track invoices automatically to improve your bookkeeping process and cash flow. This feature also allows for quotes and estimates that are particularly useful for service industries like construction who need to manage customers on the go. With Sage50 you can also add a “pay now” button and receive one-click payments through PayPal or Stripe. This invoicing provides some light project management, but isn’t the ideal accounting platform for detailed project management.
Expense tracking
Link your bank account with Sage software to automatically import your expenses and create reports for analyzing cash flow. Sage Business Cloud Accounting also allows for extensive workflow creation and auto-entry of receipts and invoices for smarter expense tracking and easier bookkeeping. Reporting is visible in the Sage Business Cloud dashboard, and includes cash flow forecasts, revenue, and sales goals.
Inventory management
Many small businesses prefer Sage as an accounting solution for the included inventory management software with lower-tier plans. Inventory and price management is included in the Sage Accounting and Sage Accounting Start plans for $10/month or less. (With QuickBooks you don’t have access to inventory management until you jump to QuickBooks Plus at $70/month). This is an easy choice for small business shops who rely on good inventory management at a competitive price.
Sage Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Free trial | Basic design |
| Lots of integrations | Over-complicated |
| Desktop, cloud, and mobile access | Difficult to learn |
| Great for entrepreneurs and very small businesses | Limited data storage |
| Multiple company functionality | Poor customer service |
| Strong reporting features | No payroll or time tracking |
The biggest advantages Sage offers are the many, many integrations available. Unfortunately, this is a limited advantage as many of the integrations or extensions are only available in the UK.
Another major drawback is the lack of transparency and definition around Sage’s product offerings. They offer a wide range of products and plans, but fail to clearly define and differentiate those products. For example, small business owners might not know whether Business Cloud Accounting, Sage Intacct, or Sage 50cloud is the right choice for them (or even the difference between them).
Sage leaves much to be desired in the visual interface, and simply can’t compete with the smooth and attractive design of QuickBooks, Freshbooks, or ZipBooks when it comes to online accounting software.