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I think I hear the sound of a dam about to burst
If SFS is rolled out for Instant Accounts, it will mean anyone who chooses to can file iXBRL accounts with Companies House and HMRC, relatively cheaply, without the need for an accountant to get involved.
Hopefully many will choose to keep their accountant involved, but this may represent a bit of a tipping point for the general practitioner.
I received my version on 4th.April, I now find I can not edit the account titles eg:change work done to sales etc. I am therefore using Vt all of the time and will eventually cease to use Sage.
4 years ago I used all of Sages products (£3,000 per year) but slowely with problems caused by sages inability to get things right including trying to dd my bank account twice a month I have found Vt,Payroll Moneymanager and Taxcalc. All of these programs work (including ixbrl) without the need to use the support and as for the cost £3,000 per year down to £660 its a no brainer.
nb:When on the odd occasion I have telephoned the support of any of these programs I have received almost instant replies and find myself talking to a knowledgeable person that does not treat you like the local idiot.
The reason
Sage software was in essence designed in the 70s and 80s and has then had a succession of bolt-ons since then. I am a big fan of VT. 10 clients use Sage and only one of them gets it right. Examples from the other 9 in the last 2 years:
1. Running the year-end process by mistake instead of month end. Nightmare!
2. [***] up the VAT return. I have just advised the client of the £3k of VAT he missed last year, which amounts to about one quarter.
3. A TB which does not tie into the P&L which does not tie in to the balance sheet.
4. Control accounts which don't tie in to the aged debtors / aged creditors.
In a nutshell:
PANTS!
Don't understand
We use SAPA, which has had built-in iXBRL production for 18 months or so. I don't understand what SFS adds to this, other than an additional layer of complexity. I have had no problems with the hundreds of iXBRL accounts we have filed with HMRC out of SAPA. Unless I'm missing something, this sounds like tinkering with some ulterior motive behind it - like perhaps the long overdue revamp and merger of SAP and SAPA?
Agreed ... SAP's days are numbered
We use SAPA, which has had built-in iXBRL production for 18 months or so. I don't understand what SFS adds to this, other than an additional layer of complexity. I have had no problems with the hundreds of iXBRL accounts we have filed with HMRC out of SAPA. Unless I'm missing something, this sounds like tinkering with some ulterior motive behind it - like perhaps the long overdue revamp and merger of SAP and SAPA?
Quite agree.
For us, SFS is looking like being the "straw" that finally frustrates the partners to the point of abandoning Sage.
I was trialling the module last week using data that was PERFECTLY set up and formatted in SAP and after 3 hours of total frustration, I still had over 25 unresolved errors, 20+ of which were admittedly caused by only a few related issues, but NONE OF WHICH could be solved, according to Sage's "helpdesk".
So I tried VT accounts just to see how they compared.
What a difference. Admittely it took me a whole 1/2 an hour to download it, learn how to use from scratch and another 1/2 an hour to set up the company's details and balances ready to file. Click to create the fully or partially tagged accounts ... job done. No errors at all. Just job done. Incredible.
If it was down to me we would drop SAP like a hot brick.
CNE
Call me paranoid but....
The responses above focus on the quality of Sage's service to practitioners who, up to now have been the gatekeepers for submission of accounts to Companies House and HMRC.
Sage Instant is used by end users (I may be switching to it myself before too long given the expense of Quickbooks and its lack of iXBRL capability and the lack of a suitable template in HMRC's offering) and I think this represents a shift in emphasis on Sage's part, from agent/practitioner to the client.
So Nigel, it may or may not be a revamp and merger of SAP and SAPA - I really don't know, or indeed understand the difference. But if your clients think they can now do for themselves things which you once did for them, they may decide they don't need you any more.
Your income goes down, Sage's income goes up and, quite possibly people end up paying more tax than they should. They may also submit non compliant accounts, but under iXBRL it's unlikely to matter too much because nobody will notice.