Sage 50 Accounts 2014 review

The mobile app provides key functions such as viewing customers and raising invoices

IRREGULAR PULSE

You can also use the Sage 50 Accounts Pulse Windows 8 app, although you must pay a £5-per-month subscription. It’s described as ideal for showing at-a-glance financial summaries to those not involved in finance, but while Sage told us this was still available, the Windows Store reported that it wasn’t. It’s a shame that we couldn’t try it out, as this is one area where Sage 50 Accounts may prove lacking for some users, as it displays financial data almost entirely in tables and lists. Its reports are dry financial documents that are invaluable to accountants, but they might not suit managers and business people who prefer visual representations of data. Sage said that Excel integration makes it easy to generate charts, but we’d prefer to have key business indicators such as sales and expenses graphed in a dashboard.

As you’d expect from modern finance software, VAT returns are scheduled, generated and submitted electronically from within the program, and it’s possible, through free plug-ins, to import bank account data from a wide range of banks, which simplifies record keeping and reconciliation. There’s no built-in payroll module, but the optional Sage Payroll 50 (£305 ex VAT, from shop.sage.co.uk) can make the relevant entries with each pay run. It costs £21 per month for up to 25 employees. As with other Sage bookkeeping software, there’s native support for the Sage Pay card payments system, which costs from £30 per month.

Overall, this is an impressively comprehensive package, with standard features encompassing everything that an accountant in a small firm is likely to need, with the possible exception of foreign currency trading. It’s a £144 option with the edition we reviewed, but it’s a standard feature in the Professional version.

There’s also the reassurance that external accountants and other financial professionals are likely to be familiar with Sage, which helps minimise cost and hassle come the end of year. Experienced accountants will love Sage 50 Accounts, but small business owners without much financial experience will be better served by simpler, friendlier cloud-based services such as Sage One, or Crunch.co.uk with its integrated accountancy service.