hi there
I am a sole practitioner with only two clients using sage. I have looked at getting sage 50 on order to work with their data at yearly accounts time but it seems so darn expensive to get it just for this purpose. we use VT on a day to day basis.
what do other people do? it also seems that excel extract from sage are not that great, for example compared with QB. can you recommend a particular way o extracting data from sage?
I don;t suppose Sage will offer me a free copy :)
Many thanks
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I get a hard copy print or a pdf of the tb, nominal ledger, drs, crs and bak rec and work from there. I then go to the client's premises to post my journals and year end if they have not done so. I have been doing this for years and it works ok.
Export csv files
Export the reports you want as csv files. Much easier to deal with than the Excel exports. Personally I would probably just get a csv export of the TB which you can import into VT. Also worth getting a csv of the Nominal activity as that will allow you to search and analyse (pivot tables useful here) without ploughing through prints. Use pdfs as Taxhound suggests for Aged debtors and creditors.
BTW somewhere on this site is a series of articles by David Carter on extracting and analysing Sage data.
@bduncan and Sage versions
Are you sure that Sage 50 data can be read on Sage Instant? In my experience it cannot, although the reverse is true.
Another general point with all versions of Sage is that if a client gets a newer version then it will not be possible to restore it on the accouantants older version.
Sage 50 Data in Sage Instant
Are you sure that Sage 50 data can be read on Sage Instant? In my experience it cannot
As long as the versions are the same, Sage 50 data can be restored in to Sage Instant and vice versa with no issues as the data file structures are identical.
John
Get clients into the habit from the start of providing you with PDF reports (or Excel / csv if that's your thing). Once they get used to you accepting a Sage file (to use with Sage Instant, never bother with the main version) they'll not want to stop and when they upgrade you'll need to (and they will). You'll get the 'well if I give you the sage back up you can get the reports off quicker than I can' whine whereas if they don't know better......
give them a try
interesting - how good are they?
I found it was pretty good - not as amazing as I'd have liked it to be - bur it was impressive - they give you three free credits - why not try it?
Cost v Value
I resisted buying Sage50, mainly to do with cost.
Since buying it I have found that it has added value and led to further work, especially where clients do their own bookkeeping and make mistakes.
I would suggest that the additional revenues you should get (and the time saved by being able to import TB's direct from Sage to VT) will more than compensate.
By the way, I don't like Sage - I use xero for my business accounts and recommend it (and VT Transaction) to clients, however it does have a place in my business.
Sage
I used Sage for over 15 years, was a Sage reseller and was one of the first to get the now defunct? Sage Line 50 qualification from Newcastle College. Sage basically paid my wages for years but not any more. It is way too expensive for small enterprises nowadays when you compare it to other products out there such as VT Transaction + (which I now use for all my bookkeeping clients). For those on Sage, I can still support as I still have the Sage knowledge. I get them to pdf all the reports to me,
thank you all for you help
thank you all for you help -will try http://www.ledgerscope.com/ to see if it saves any time and if not I will implement the pdf/csv route
Use their's
Plus they issue a new version almost every year.
If practical, maybe you could go to their offices to do their books, and use their software on their machines.