Sage accounts - Accountants' review copy?

Sage accounts - Accountants' review copy?

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I know very little about Sage but have a client who uses Sage Line 50 (version 8). QuickBooks has a facility for clients to send their accountants an "Accountants review Copy" which contains the accounts data and allows the accountant to make adjustments to the clients figures. When the copy is returned the clients copy is automatically updated.

1. Does Sage have the same/similar facility?

2. If so, which program would I need to read it and make adjustments?

3. If not, what do other members do in this situation?
Stuart Jones

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By AnonymousUser
02nd Jun 2004 16:30

We have developed a soution
It sounds as though you do not have a copy of Sage Line 50 (this is not uncommon and in any event why should you have the expense of maintaining a product you do not use personally). We have a product called Data Capture that is FREE, which sits on the clients PC and creates an Excel file from Sage by merging all the fields from 5 tables that you would normally use, thus giving you an electronic copy of the clients data.

We also have a product called Data Review which costs £100, which displays Draft Annual or Monthly Management Accounts and allows sorting, filtering by row and hiding columns prior to outputting data. It also provides export facilities to all Accounts Prep and Tax systems. Data Review simply reads the file sent to you by the Client if they are using Data Capture, which can be downloaded from http://www.excelforaccountants.co.uk/downloads

You can create csv Journal Files in Excel or Data Review, which can be imported into Sage very easily - let me know if you need more information - contact details on above website.

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By tom123
02nd Jun 2004 16:48

Beware versions
Don't forget, you can backup from an earlier version of the software and restore in to a later version but not vice versa

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By Briar
02nd Jun 2004 08:50

To work on Sage then update your client's
1) make a note of the last transaction number in the backup you have obtained from your client's Sage system
2) Make sure that any adjustments you make to Sage are not "corrections" (i.e. don't use file maintenance) but actual transactions
3) When you have finished all your work (and run the year end procedure), make a csv file of all transactions whcih the client has entered on their system since you took your backup (see step 1 above)
4) Import this csv file into your version of Sage. Take a backup. The restore this into your client's system

The problem with the Quick Books Accountants Copy is that it does not allow you to make some adjustments - you have to go back to the client's.

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By tom123
28th May 2004 15:58

Not available as far as I am aware
As far as I am aware this feature is not available on Line 50, I have V8.

The accountant would need his own licenced copy of Line 50, and a backup of the client data.

Journals would then have to be posted back on to the clients machine to bring the two systems back in line.

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David Winch
By David Winch
28th May 2004 16:31

Sage is very popular . . .

Sage Line 50 is very popular (by which I mean a lot of clients use it) but it does not have the flexibility of QuickBooks nor is it intuitively easy to use for someone who does not have any understanding of double entry bookkeeping (whereas Quickbooks is).

That having been said, the flexibility of Quickbooks can be a disadvantage unless steps are taken to avoid clients accidentally posting transactions into a past year which the accountant has already 'ruled off'.

However if you have a client who changes his year end date you will immediately appreciate one of the advantages of flexibility!

David

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