Finding it extremely difficult to find the right a/c software for our upgrade. It needs to have job costing as some of our work is sub contracted out so we need to keep track of these costs and invoicing for each job. We have approx 200 jobs live at any time some of which can roll on and thus require invoicing over a couple of years depending on the size of the job.
We raise 60-80 sales invoices per month, need flexibility over invoicing templates as invoices can vary substantially depending on the project. We process 60-80 purchase invoices each month. We outsource payroll. Not much in the way of fixed assets so that can be kept on spreadsheet.
Have looked at sage 50 but can’t get round the lack of a hard month end close off - so to produce mgt accounts would need to do so via excel. Read so many negative remarks about Sage too....
Using Pegasus capital gold currently, main issue is that much of our reporting and all of our sales invoicing has to be done via excel as we cannot do it direct from Pagasus.
Want to make it easier for directors to access the info they need themselves which means simple to access reports in the software itself and be able to raise invoices in the accounts package rather than excel.
Liked the look of zero but not sure it could cope with our project costing requirements, and the lack of telephone support is a worry. Seems to be marketed at smaller businesses than ours from comments I have read...
so what alternatives are there to sage 50? Sage 200 is just too far outside our budget.
Many thanks
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Replies (5)
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Xero and Projects would do the job for tracking costs.
You could use different brand templates for invoicing in Xero.
Alternatively, if projects module not suitable then you get an add on that does.
I don't think Xero Projects would be nearly good enough compared to what Sage50 can do in this area. Xero's a mere toddler in the project costing area.
Yours is one of the few cases that I think would benefit from using Sage50.
If your only real gripe is that it can't do a hard close off at month end, have an inhouse rule that old supplier invoices coming in after month end are dated 1st of the next month.
I have several clients who have outgrown Sage50 and need too many complicated things for the likes of Xero. It's such a big jump to the next level of software you could be talking £40,000 for the first year if you changed to something that could really handle your problems. That's the issue for my clients at the top end. For now, they are sticking with Sage 50 (with all its irritations and lack of a true cloud option).
I don't think Xero would work for you given that it's completely based on posting dates and not period based.
Have you looked into AccountsIQ? I don't know how the pricing compares with Sage 50 and 200. I imagine it would sit somewhere in between.
simpro or servicem8 linked to Xero would easily handle what you're looking for and loads more options here: https://www.xero.com/uk/marketplace/app-function/s/invoicing-jobs/
Don't worry about not having telephone support - it's unnecessary as Xero is easy to use and easy to fix mistakes. Many add on partners still provide telephone support and most clients will sit in the add on more regularly than the accounts side of things.