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TopTenREVIEWS - Silver Award - Awarded for excellence in design, useability and feature set

Spend more time growing your business than managing your business with Sage 50 Complete Accounting. This accounting software is cleverly designed to anticipate the needs of small business owners, whether it be billing clients or tracking down inventory. Sage 50 provides everything your CPA requires and yet is simple enough for non-accountants to master. This industry-leading accounting solution once again hits near the top of our list and earns our TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award for small business accounting.

Sage 50 Complete is specifically designed for small businesses and includes all the modules you need to run every aspect of your business, including accounting, billing, customer and vendor management, payroll processing, banking and inventory management. This software can do everything from printing pick lists to generating income statement reports. This accounting system can generate more than 140 reports and includes the option to filter and track custom data fields.

This small business software produces professional-looking invoices, prints checks and manages direct deposits. It has a powerful inventory manager that can handle a wide range of inventory data, including location, preferred vendor, substitutions and assemblies. The payroll and employee module is also impressive. It can manage all employee details such as emergency contacts, accrued vacation time, commissions and overtime. Sage 50 is, as the name implies, complete.

Reporting & Analytics:
10/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
10
10
7.5
8.8
6.3
7.5
6.3
5
5

Sage 50 provides more than 140 preconfigured reports and unlimited options with customized reporting options and custom data fields. This small business accounting software can easily generate reports for your CPA or investors, as well as to illuminate business trends to help you make better financial decisions. Using this software, you can quickly generate and share income statements, journals, ledgers, gross profit reports, audit trails, transaction reports and much more. For further convenience, you can drill down on most report items to obtain the original entry and additional information.

All fields can be altered using Sage 50 or exported to other software for further editing. You can share reports via email and export them as PDF or Excel files. It is simple to create reports using filters, sort methods and dates. With Sage, you can save time by performing edits such as column adjustments, font changes and print setups within the accounting software rather than having to export the content and edit it using other software before printing it.

General Accounting:
10/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
10
10
10
8.8
10
7.5
6.3
6.3
5

Sage leads the small business accounting industry. Sage 50 Complete meets all basic accounting needs, including the reports that CPAs require. This small business accounting software manages customers, vendors, sales, billing, invoicing, payroll and banking. Sage 50 is ideal for small businesses because it includes all accounting modules in one package rather than requiring you to purchase each module separately. However, as with all accounting software, some modules require an additional subscription to obtain full functionality, such as payroll processing, direct deposit and tracking the deprecation of fixed assets.

Payroll & Employees:
10/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
10
10
10
7.5
8.8
8.8
6.3

This accounting software includes a payroll and employee module that can manage all types of employees, including hourly, salary or commission paid employees. Like most accounting software, the ability to process payroll (taxes, deductions and such) and direct deposits requires an additional fee. Sage 50 can distribute payroll via a printed check or direct deposit. Sage payroll services can provide 260 federal and state forms, calculate payroll taxes, deliver W2s and more.

Sage 50 manages all payment rates including special rates and overtime pay. It also tracks time and expense tickets in addition to weekly timesheets. Employee data that this software tracks includes contact information, demographics, emergency contacts, employment status, pay information, withholdings, vacation/sick time, and image and custom fields. Sage 50 Complete includes 12 preconfigured payroll reports such as tax liability, yearly earnings and compensation reports. If your small company has more than a handful of employees to manage, you will quickly appreciate how effortlessly (on your part) Sage 50 manages payroll.

Inventory & Services:
10/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
10
10
10
7.5
8.8
8.8
6.3
5
2.5

Sage 50 includes a capable inventory and services module that can manage items, assemblies and time-billed services. This module also manages purchase orders, receives inventory (by original PO), tracks shipping, watches reorder points and manages substitutions. Inventory items can have up to 10 price levels and more than one associated vendor. Item file sections include general, custom fields, history, bill of materials, attributes and serial numbers. You can also attach files to an item, such as an image, scanned receipts or scanned packing lists. Using Sage 50, you can print pick lists, assign commissions, align items with associated accounts, monitor locations and assign cost methods.

This small business accounting software also includes a vendor and purchasing section that manages vendors, purchase orders, time and expense tickets, and bill paying. Vendor files include the ability to store multiple addresses, phone numbers and contact persons. Vendor files can also store terms of credit, history, events (phone calls or letters), and a log. Time tickets include a built-in timer, and expense tickets can manage billable and non-billable expenses.

Productivity & Integration:
8.8/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
10
8.8
7.5
7.5
5
6.3
6.3
2.5
2.5

Sage accounting software is compatible with numerous add-ons and third-party business solutions. As with most accounting software, most of these add-ons require an additional subscription fee. Compatible services include payroll processing, POS software, distribution software, document managers, fixed asset tracking, time clock software, expense tracking solutions and more. Other add-on services include credit card processing, payment processing and remote access. Sage 50 includes backup and restoration tools. Using Sage's backup tools, you can back up your database to an online storage service and configure it to remind you to back up your database on schedule. Sage also offers a service called Business Intelligence that performs advanced reporting.

Scalability:
10/10
Compare
QuickBooks
Sage 50
DacEasy
Cougar Mountain
CYMA
Account Edge
Bookkeeper
Business2Go
Express Accounts
8.8
10
7.5
10
7.5
6.3
2.5
3.8
2.5

Sage offers products that support companies from one employee to 499. This accounting software company also offers online versions, solutions for nonprofits and government organizations, and industry-specific solutions. Solutions for larger organizations are offered in modules so that you only have to purchase the parts you need. Sage 50 Complete Accounting supports up to five concurrent users and an unlimited database size. Sage 50 supports more than one business and can be configured to support more than one warehouse. Sage 50 Quantum is available for up to 40 concurrent users. For security, this software can manage screen-based security and provide audit logs of all transactions. If you want to migrate from one Sage product to another, Sage provides migration services at a discounted rate to Sage customers.

Summary:

Sage 50 Complete is an excellent choice for small businesses. It is a comprehensive system that handles so much more than basic accounting. It provides business with insight, reporting, payroll processing, customer management and inventory control. Sage also offers helpful add-ons such as credit card processing, POS software, documents management and mobile access. Sage grows with your business, with the ability to manage up to 499 employees and an unlimited inventory database. If you are looking for a product to help manage all the tiny details of your business easily, Sage 50 Complete is an apt choice.

 
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Sage 50 Complete

Pros
Sage 50 Complete includes all basic accounting modules as well as payroll processing, automatic backup, credit card processing, inventory management and reporting. It is compatible with other products, and Sage software is scalable up to 40 users or 499 employees.

Cons
This is a comprehensive small business solution, and most will not find that Sage 50 Complete is lacking. However, many of the add-ons and services are an additional subscription or purchase and should, in our opinion, be incorporated into the overall cost of using the software to its fullest potential.

The Verdict
: 9.83/10

Sage 50 Complete is particularly adept at managing inventory and payroll and is a good choice for those who need to manage a lot of inventory. It generates useful reports, provides banking tools and is scalable. It is one of the best accounting systems for managing all aspects of a small business.