Good...But A Little Expensive

I use the Canadian version of the software. I suspect it's basically the same as the American version, except for sales tax and payroll, but I would check a review of that version for any American users.

Pros

Sage 50 is an easy-to-use piece of accounting software aimed at SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), and it is one of QuickBooks' major competitors.

It's fairly easy to find people who are familiar with Sage 50. That's a plus for small businesses looking to find an employee or outside service provider to take care of their books.

If you are looking to do the books yourself, Sage 50 is relatively easy to learn. They have thorough tutorials available to walk you through the basics.

Major transactions are grouped together under tabs on the left-hand navigation panel. The various workflows--receivables, payables, inventory and services, employees and payroll, and a 'company' category--are all shown graphically. Each task within a major area is represented as a labeled icon, making it is to start a new transaction from this screen. The 'company' link is a catch-all category, including general journal entries, the chart of accounts and tools for managing your data and accounting tasks.

Virtually every report that a small business could need is available in Sage 50.

Cons

I found Sage 50 to be glitchy in the past. I have spent too many hours on hold or on a call with their tech support.

I use the payroll-included version of Sage 50. I also have a support package. In all, that's not competitively priced. If it weren't for the fact that some clients have been using this software for years and are reimbursing me for the cost of the software, I would not be using it. QuickBooks is a better value.

Easy to use, nice reports; troubleshooting and updates can be a pain

I used this software for really basic accounting functions and used a separate CRM and ERP software that I just journaled information from into Sage. It was great for that and for the everyday AP, payroll and GL. Overall I really liked it and it gave me few problems. The issue was that when there was a problem, it was really time-consuming to fix and I often had to bring in outside tech support when Sage couldn't solve the problem, so it cost a lot of extra time and money a few times a year.

Pros

I loved this program in that it seemed to be made for accountants, unlike some software that seems to be made for non-accountants. There are a lot of great reports to choose from, and each can be easily formatted to whatever file type you need. The payroll is awesome and easy to use.

Cons

Updates can sometimes cost you functionality, which can be a real problem if you are in the middle of payroll. Payroll information is only available for the current and previous calendar years, which is tough when you are undergoing an audit or due diligence. Some reports have limited time range parameters, so if you have a fiscal year that doesn't fit into those parameters, it can be annoying to run more than one report and combine the information. Also, there was one formula in the tax functions that didn't provide the correct number for some states, you had to enter it manually, which made us provide incorrect information and pay penalties because of it. I tried to do a data transfer from one company in sage to another, and several files were corrupted and didn't make it over. At one point, I needed to have two companies open at once, and the windows did not title which company was which. I literally had to go into the the menu drop down to figure out which company was which. They looked identical, so it was a real pain.

Sage 50 Accounting

Sage 50 Accounting is ideal for the small business that is looking for a comprehensive, customizable core accounting solution that includes: A/P, A/R , well developedBilling, Invoicing, Inventory Management and Financial reporting. Sage 50 Accounting integration with Microsoft Excel, Outlook and PDF are some of its other features. Sage 50 Acwell-developed program that is great for the small business to keep their books organized. Sage 50 Accounting recognizes that small businesses may not need some of the more advanced features that some of its higher versions have. This is why Sage 50 features are pretty basic, providing support for tasks such as project management, costing, invoicing, reporting among others.

Pros

Easy to Use.
Ease of implementation.
The flexibility of financial reporting.
A functional software for small uncomplicated businesses.
Integration with core Microsoft applications like Excel makes a good product for analytics export into a spreadsheet.

Cons

It is very basic. And also does not have many capabilities.
Finding Transactions can be a bit Tricky.
Check printing has its own set of problem.
Need to have a fair level of accounting knowledge to use it correctly.

Sage 50 'Quantum' Canadian is very stable but limited. No significant new features for last 4 years.

Pros: - Sage 50 Canadian is very stable, any 'crash' is almost always a hardware or operating system issue. - Vendor technical support is prompt and helpful. - Uses a solid 'Enterprise-grade' back end database. - ODBC is free, and included. - Free SDK is available. Cons: - Response to bugs is to provide work-arounds - No significant new features since 2011. - Screen designs are stuck on 1988. Data entry fonts are unusably tiny on modern monitors, and can't be adjusted. - Features and prior bundled software has been removed, no longer supported, or flat out disabled: . web store integration, . Crystal Reports, . ACT! CRM integration . Simply HR Manager - Numerous limitations in the 'Quantum' version to prevent use by all but the smallest companies: . no transaction reports show purchase order numbers, . ship-to addresses are limited to 99, . multiple vendor shipping addresses are not supported at all . if using multiple 'locations', inventory reports are wrong due to wrong beginning onhand. . Multiple shipments to / from a single invoice are not supported. . No way to report on Purchase Order vs invoice purchase amounts or pricing. . No reports - Designed for Accountants, not for business operations. . 'Job Tracking' will record what you put in, but not tell you what to bill out. . Year end process is unnecessarily convoluted and cumbersome for the business. . Inventory 'available' isn't displayed during invoicing, only 'On Hand'. . Only 2 years of sales statistics are tracked - current and prior year. Since current is always opened before the prior year is completed, there is never any point in time where a comparative report is of any use. . Canned reports are inadequate and can't be customized. - Time Tracking to Invoicing only works if you never have separate jobs for a single client - and who wouldn't? - Inventory statistics are broken - Quantities are correct, but adjustments rack up the statistics on number of transactions (one sale, adjusted two times will show as 5 transactions) - Virtually all inventory, sales, and purchase detail reports show all adjusted and reversed transactions, but don't output any indicator that they are just dead, junk data. - Few third party software integrations - Other Sage software does not work with it AT ALL. (Asset tracking, Time & Billing, CRM)

Used to be the standard for small business in Canada, but no longer.

I have recently discovered Xero and moved my accounting practice to this software. It is so simple with the convenience of being cloud-based. I now recommend Xero to my clients and given its simplicity (yet still very powerful) I can foresee clients taking charge of their own bookkeeping and getting rid of their existing bookkeepers.

Pros

Sage 50 was the accounting program I used to recommend to all my small business clients. Stable program that has most of the simple functions needed for most small businesses. Most used small business accounting software among my clients and almost all bookkeepers in our area use and have experience working solely with Sage 50.

Cons

It's not the most user-friendly program and has a reputation of being difficult for non-bookkeepers and bookkeepers alike to use properly. Sage has been slow to make it more user-friendly and were behind in moving to cloud options. Personal experience is Sage support is very slow to respond to queries.

It gets the job done!

The software is pretty self explanatory meaning I don't believe new users would require additional training in order to use the product. I think if they would develop a better adjustment scenario (ie. Journal Entry adjustments) I think this product would rate up there with QuickBooks. This product is definitely worth the look!

Pros

The customer service at Sage is extremely helpful! I have had to call multiple times, and each and every time they patiently help me through my problem. I think it's great if you have a small to medium sized manufacturing business and want something to keep track of everything.

Cons

Comparing the software to QuickBooks, I think there is a lack of efficiency in entering Journal Entries especially when you happen to find a problem that originated in a prior year. Other than that, I think the software is great for recording daily transactions and keeping track of inventory (for small to medium businesses).

My Best Friend

For all of us who stuck with Peach Tree from back in the day, our time has come. I simply love this application. Its my best friend. As a small business owner I can tell you the ability to have my accounts at my fingertips while I am on the go blows my mind. I am tickled pink. I have to pinch myself. I am able to see my inventory, check prices and stock and give clients discounts and assurances that I can reliably trust in real time. The subscription cost is almost nominal for the value it gives me.

Pros

Access to my Accounts in real time on my mobile device.
Easy to use and covers all that I need for a small business owner who is the the head cook and bottle washer.
I can process payments and check on outstanding receivables while on the go. check stock and see sales.
the reports are exactly what I need to know to make informed decisions
I can communicate with my customers and suppliers with built in correspondent templates.
based on the information at my finger tips I can have a better relationship with my supply chain and customers.
requires very little setup.

Cons

I am sure that I will think of one in the future but for now I am at a loss. the speed could be better when searching a large record set, buts thats on me and my resources.

Sage Peachtree is better...not easier

I have used both for several years. There is no question that Sage/Peachtree is not as "user-friendly" as Quickbooks...at least for the first month or two. But as you begin to actually understand accounting and your bookkeeping goes on and on you discover some very frightening things about Quickbooks. They put everything onto one, big, gigantic database-unlike almost every other accounting system in the world. That has several disadvantages but the biggest is why quickbooks has a nickname..."slowbooks". If you complain loudly enough they will recommend you "start over" after a year or two by opening a new company for the new year. Their constant ads are something you can live with. But what if you've had quickbooks for 4 or 5 years and you want to put it on another computer because your older computer blew up? Sorry. You'll have to get the latest version. At least with peachtree that is not an issue (if you saved all 3 of the registration numbers needed). My biggest complaint about quickbooks, though, is that it lets you do anything you want. That sounds good for somethings. It's not good for accounting. Peachtree makes it harder to go off track (although you can certainly mess up your peachtree books as well). Another thing I like about peachtree (for me) is that the fonts are bigger and they don't try to put everything on one page. Quickbooks has tiny font but you can certainly see lots of stuff on every page. I really dislike quickbooks reports which also have tiny fonts but that is personal preference.

Pros

Usually lower in price. It doesn't try to hide the "debits and credits" as much as quickbooks does. In the long run that is a good thing. You will learn real accounting much quicker with peachtree than quickbooks (and you should learn it anyway).

Cons

Peachtree is not as popular as quickbooks so there are not as many "3rd party add ons" available. If there is some particular 3rd party add on you need to use and only quickbooks has it then the decision is made for you.

Decent accounting software for small business

It is good software

Pros

It is easy to teach a new user how to begin entering transactions. You can set up an assistant to begin entering basic transactions almost immediately. When searching a list (purchases, payments, etc.) of transactions, it is not necessary to have entire name or number. The software will locate the search criteria even if it is just a couple of characters in the middle of a string of text.

Cons

Chart of accounts does not have a true hierarchy so you cannot get totals to roll up for sub accounts. It is often tricky to customize a report accurately. Some reports will omit data because it comes from a specific "journal" and there is no way to make the report include all relevant "journals".

Great product that serves basic accounting functions

Pros

This product is a great product for small to medium sized businesses. It allowed us to track over 20 different departments based on the way we structured our chart of accounts. Within those 20 different departments, we were also able to track 7 different expense categories (not accounts, groups of accounts). Reports look nice and are somewhat easy to build. Entering AP invoices does not require you know your debits or credits. Same goes for AR invoicing. Journal entries are simple enough to put in and the general ledger reporting is very clean.

Cons

We were limited based on the number of items we wanted to track. In addition to account number, department, and expense category, we were hoping to track school projects, use tax, physicals expenses, location. This forced us to do a lot more reporting in excel than we would have preferred.

Major limitations for everything but the most simple operations

Want to do accounting? Sage 50 will do it almost as well as Quickbooks for a higher cost and with less support. It's also a lot harder to find an accountant that works with Sage and actually knows what they're doing. Want to buy and resell products? Sure, it'll mostly work. Want to use it for manufacturing/assembly? Forget it, Sage 50 can't do it properly and will cost you an incalculable amount in lost time and opportunity. No lot tracking, horrible reporting, no forecasting, only 5 user defined fields (none of which are very useful), no BOM variances, no part revisions allowed, no mass BOM update, etc.

Pros

Better than chiseling on a stone tablet, though less reliable.

Cons

Oh so many things:
Database is SLOW
No user workflows, cannot require approvals, checks, releases, etc.
No ability to limit access to fields, or to require approvals on data entry
Fields are not updatable in table views and require opening a screen for each item to update.
Finding information in Sage is difficult, must search through multiple screens, reports, or excel spreadsheets t