Review Of Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting

Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting continues to offer a product that evolves with the needs of the small business. Sage Peachtree 2012, due to be released in May 2011, contains all of the features that have made Sage Peachtree a necessity in millions of small businesses, along with an impressive array of new features that only serve to make this product even more desirable.

Best Fit:Easy-to-use application for those who handle inventory, job costing or other complex areas; evolves with the needs of small businesses.

Basic System Functions: Installation was quick and problem free, taking about 10 to 15 minutes. And Sage Peachtree 2012 offers easier network installation capability. Sage Peachtree’s company setup wizard allows the user to choose the business type that most closely matches their needs. Charts of accounts for over 75 common business types are available, including construction, manufacturing, retail, distributor and services.

Strengths: Scalable application with numerous industry versions Business Status Report, along with New Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence reporting, Business Analytics for Sage Peachtree & existing Crystal Reports for Sage Peachtree offer most reporting options Inventory & light manufacturing Natural upgrade path to Sage Peachtree Quantum, which supports up to 40 named users Some Business Care support plans also include upgrades, payroll tax updates & new Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence reporting Potential Limitations: So many products & services in ecosystem that it sometimes becomes confusing Supports a single currency (USD) & available only in the United States Multiple warehouses only supported in Sage Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing Edition ..

The Business Status dashboard is completely customizable and contains a wide variety of company statistics, including Account Balances, Revenue-Year to Date, and Aged Payables and Receivables. Sage Peachtree uses navigation centers for each function, grouping them according to workflow. So customers and sales would be one function, vendors and purchases another. The product is easily navigated, with uncluttered data-entry screens and lookup options throughout. The toolbar also provides easy module access.

While users can choose a company type, specific templates and features are only found in the industry-specific versions of Sage Peachtree and Sage Peachtree Quantum that are available. Sage Peachtree currently runs on Windows platforms.

A default chart of accounts is selected during setup and can be further customized by adding, editing or deleting accounts as needed. Cash flow is easily monitored to track both current receipts and current expenses. Budget information can be set up and maintained for performance reports comparing up to four years of data. A budget can also be set up for each individual cost center or department as needed. The system tracks jobs and allows for processing purchase orders, time and expense tickets, vendor returns, sales orders, and quotes and proposals. The new Vendor Management Center allows users to create a dashboard display for any vendor in the system. The display is customizable, and filters can be entered to display data as desired.

Sage Peachtree offers complete sales tax functionality, with the appropriate tax entity and corresponding tax rate set up and applied when processing sales transactions. The vendor also provides three payroll options: Simple, Select and Managed. Simple and Select are processed on the desktop, and Managed is processed online. Tax tables are included with many support plans, or can be purchased separately

All Sage Peachtree products feature a solid audit trail that tracks system usage, including user name, date and time of all transactions, as well as the specific action taken. The product does not offer multi-currency capability at this time. Sage Peachtree does support the option to produce consolidated financial statements for multiple companies. Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2012 supports up to five users. Companies with more than five users can easily upgrade to Sage Peachtree Quantum, which supports up to 40 users.

Day-To-Day Operations: Sage Peachtree offers direct integration with UPS, allowing users to easily process orders and print shipping labels, along with tracking shipments. Multiple sales tax rates are easily supported, with the ability to set up multiple rates for each tax jurisdiction. Sage Peachtree does not directly offer shopping cart integration, but does offer a bridge that will link the program to a web store.

As previously noted, the new Vendor Management Center is essential for tracking and maintaining vendor information. Sage Peachtree also integrates with Sage ACT! for a complete CRM solution. Users can email bills, statements, and invoices to customers and vendors. The Inventory module utilizes LIFO, FIFO and Special Unit valuation for all inventory products. Bill of Materials is available for assembly products, and retail accounting is easily supported, as well. All inventory adjustments are entered using the inventory adjustment feature.

Sage Peachtree also offers an online bill payment option, and Sage Payment Solutions allows users to accept and process credit cards. The new Sage E-marketing for Peachtree provides easy-to-use templates and robust reporting tools for developing marketing campaigns. Remote access is available to all Sage Peachtree users via GotoMyPC.

Management Features: Sage Peachtree Quantum Accounting 2012 has added 11 additional modules to its My Dashboard feature. Additional enhancements to Sage Peachtree Premium include improved search function and better navigational tools. ODBC capability allows for more advanced reporting options. All reports offer some customization capability, and reports can be run singularly or in groups. All system reports can be exported to Excel or PDF, and can be emailed to recipients from within the program.

New for 2012, Sage offers an add-on product called Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence Powered by Alchemex, which allows users to create custom financial and transactional reports in Microsoft Excel. This tool allows flexible reporting and enables drilldown to transaction details from within Excel, and can be used to create reports that combine from multiple sources into a single report.

Multi-level security is available, with options to set security within each module as well as to each task within that module.

Integration/Import/Export: Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting utilizes import/export filters that allow users to choose the fields that they wish to import/export. All files must be in ASCII format. Users can also convert data from QuickBooks directly into Peachtree Premium Accounting. The new Sage E-marketing add-on offers users the ability to leverage Sage Peachtree data when conducting email marketing campaigns. Accountants can utilize the remote access option, where they can access files and make changes that will be immediately reflected in company data.

Help/Support: A comprehensive Help function can be accessed from anywhere within the program. Other Help and support options include the Getting Started guide, as well as “What’s New in Sage Peachtree,” which details all of the new features in the current version. Numerous tutorials are also available, as well as links to Sage Peachtree’s customer support center. All software service releases and updates are available on the Sage Peachtree website and can be accessed and downloaded at any time. The Sage Peachtree Knowledgebase contains a tremendous amount of information and FAQs. Sage Peachtree offers a variety of U.S.-based support plans, all of which include phone and email options.

Executive Summary & PricingSage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2012 costs $499.99 for a single-user system. A five-user version will cost $1,199.99. This product offers solid core accounting functionality, along with a host of features that will make their job much easier. Designed for small and growing businesses, Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2012 remains a strong solution for any small business.