Overview – Sage 50 Accounting

Sage 50 Accounting is a cloud-based solution designed for small businesses, offering two budget-friendly plans. It includes key bookkeeping and accounting tools, along with detailed reporting and inventory tracking.

Compatible exclusively with Windows devices, Sage 50 Accounting provides robust accounts payable and receivable features, advanced inventory management, and comprehensive reporting. While it offers a wide range of capabilities, small to midsize businesses (SMBs) may find it more feature-rich than necessary. Despite its cost-effectiveness, some competitors deliver a more modern interface, built-in mileage tracking, and a broader selection of third-party integrations.

How it works?

Setting up a program as sophisticated as Sage 50 Accounting requires substantial support. The software simplifies the initial setup with a guided wizard that helps create a new company by prompting users with key questions to customize their company file. Additionally, Sage offers a variety of support options, including extensive online resources, to assist users throughout the setup process.

Account Setup

Once you sign up for Sage 50 Accounting, you can log in to your account and access your dashboard. The default view is the summary tab, which provides an overview of essential financial data, including sales, expenses, and cash flow. A navigation bar at the top of the dashboard allows easy access to different sections of your account.

During your first login, the Quick Start wizard will guide you through the initial setup. You’ll be prompted to enter basic business details, such as your company name and address, and link your bank accounts. After linking, transactions will automatically sync with Sage, simplifying the reconciliation process.

The next step involves adding customer and vendor details. If you already have contact information stored in a spreadsheet, you can import it directly into Sage 50 Accounting. Additionally, you’ll be able to configure your chart of accounts, input opening account balances, and review your trial balance report.

For further assistance, you can access Sage’s online help center at any time or reach out to customer support via chat, available Monday through Friday.

Plans and Pricing

Sage provides a 30-day free trial for both the Accounting Start and Accounting plans. Additionally, you can book a one-on-one session with a Sage 50 Accounting expert to get answers to your questions or contact the sales team for more details about the product.

Sage Accounting Start

Price: $10 per month

Sage Accounting provides a range of essential features, including invoice creation, sending, and tracking. Users can connect their bank accounts to monitor expenses and perform automatic bank reconciliations. The software also allows for adding and managing customer and supplier information. Additionally, it supports online credit and debit card payments, enabling seamless transactions. Financial reports can be generated and exported as needed. Users can also access their accounts on the go with the free Sage Accounting mobile app. Furthermore, the platform integrates with approximately 40 apps available in the Sage Marketplace.

Sage Accounting

Price: $25 per month

In addition to all the features included in the Accounting Start plan, this upgraded version offers several advanced capabilities. Users can add an unlimited number of team members and access accrual accounting for more comprehensive financial tracking. The plan enables the creation and management of quotes, estimates, recurring invoices, and payments. It also allows customization of sales tax rates and provides tools for inventory tracking and cash flow forecasting.

Businesses can issue purchase orders, generate accounts payable aging reports, and process foreign currency invoices. Additionally, the AutoEntry feature facilitates receipt capture and posting, with a separate subscription required—though the monthly fee is waived for the first three months.

Tools and Features

Invoicing

Sage 50 provides highly detailed and customizable invoices, offering more sales form templates than most accounting software. In addition to invoices, users can generate credits, proposals, quotes, returns, sales orders, and statements. The platform also includes job tracking, allowing users to manage jobs as projects. However, competing software like FreshBooks and QuickBooks offer more specialized project management tools.

Purchase Transaction Records

Sage 50’s vendor module is just as robust and detailed as its customer module, making it a better fit for expanding businesses or larger small businesses compared to platforms like FreshBooks or Wave. Users can manage bills, checks, credits, purchase orders, and returns, with electronic bill payment available for an additional fee.

The software also allows the creation of vendor records and IRS forms for 1099 vendors. Additionally, it supports larger clients by tracking payments and generating 1099-INT, 1099-MISC, and 1099-NEC forms, demonstrating its flexibility and depth. Like sales transactions, purchase transactions have dedicated landing pages for streamlined management.

However, Sage 50 falls short in certain areas compared to its competitors. Its document management capabilities are limited, as users can only attach previously saved documents to transactions within the application.

Expense and Time Tracking

In Sage 50 Accounting, users can create time tickets either by completing a form for a single work session or by filling out a time sheet. These time-tracking features can be used for payroll processing or billing customers for services rendered.

Expense tickets, however, may not be practical for all businesses. While users can fill out an expense ticket and bill it to a customer, they must first create an inventory item for the purchased goods, which is only useful if the item is regularly stocked. This limitation prevents salespeople from easily recording meal expenses or IT staff from immediately purchasing equipment for later reimbursement. Additionally, Sage 50 does not support scanning receipts and automatically transferring their details to an expense form, though users can attach receipt images manually.

Inventory Tracking

Sage 50 offers outstanding inventory management tools that surpass those of most small business accounting applications. Item records can store extensive details, including item types, locations, multiple pricing levels, and serialized inventory tracking. Additionally, the software supports product assemblies and various costing methods, making it a powerful solution for businesses with complex inventory needs.

Reporting

Sage 50 provides convenient access to reports, with links embedded throughout the software on relevant pages, as well as a comprehensive list of all available reports. It offers a wider selection of report templates than most small business accounting applications.

Every module within Sage 50, including inventory, jobs, payables, and receivables, is supported by its reporting features. Users can apply filters to focus on specific data and customize columns, fonts, and page layouts. Since the default templates are fairly basic, it’s recommended to personalize the appearance of reports, especially if they will be shared. Additionally, some line items can be clicked to reveal underlying transactions, and reports can be easily shared via email or exported to Excel.

Security

With decades of experience in managing cloud data, Sage employs advanced tools, technologies, and cybersecurity best practices to safeguard its systems, devices, and data. It uses the latest recommended version of the internationally recognized Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to encrypt information, ensuring secure data transmission.

Additionally, Sage proactively searches for potential vulnerabilities within its software to prevent cyber threats. Its Cyber Defense Operations Team continuously monitors production environments for any signs of malicious activity. For enhanced security, users who enable the Remote Data Access feature can also set up two-factor authentication.

Conclusion

Sage 50 Accounting is a powerful desktop accounting solution that offers advanced inventory tracking, extensive financial tools, and in-depth reporting. Its comprehensive features make it an excellent choice for growing businesses that require detailed accounting capabilities, particularly for inventory management. The software includes a customizable dashboard, well-structured forms with extensive fields, and a wide range of reports that can be easily exported for further analysis.