Sage 50 Accounts, Plus and Professional 2010 is now shipping throughout the UK.  For the last month or so, anyone who purchased any of the Sage 50 Accounts products, would have been given a download link to access the 2009 version, with the 2010 version to follow, so you can expect your new 2010 software very soon.  However please be aware that there is a backlog, so you may not receive your boxed product for around another week.

All new purchases will automatically have the 2010 version shipped direct on our usual 1-2 day delivery timescale.

We have also applied further discounts for the remainder of September, we believe we are currently offering the cheapest Sage 50 Accounts in the UK, so please visit our shop for pricing and ordering information.

The links below will take you directly to the Sage website and show videos demonstrating some of the new features in Sage 50 2010, they are presented by Sage’s own technical staff.

Sage Pay Integration

Generate Barcodes within Products

Importing Data into Sage 50 2010

Sage will be withdrawing support for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with the release of Sage 200 2010. Microsoft withdrew mainstream support for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in early 2008 and are due to withdraw ‘Extended Support’ in 2013.

In addition, Microsoft released SQL Server 2008 in April 2008. Sage 200’s development policy is to only support the current and prior release of this database platform with it’s software applications therefore from the 2010 release we will support Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008 only.

We recommend customers use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard as this is required for those customers utilising BI, and it is the latest version

Do you have to sign up to Sage Pay to use PayPal as part of the “Pay Now” button on electronic documentation?

Yes – in order for Sage Payment Download to capture all the information it needs about invoice numbers and customer details you need to use SagePay.

How do you deal with expenses that are paid directly from the till account?

Enter them via bank payments – they will then appear on the cash transfers list where you can transfer money from the notional till account to the bank. You tick them in the same way you do a receipt and the value is deducted from the transfer 

Can you issue part Sales Payments (refunds to customers)

Yes – just like sales receipts and purchase payments you don’t have to refund the whole of a customer’s or supplier’s invoice using the customer refund or supplier payment option.

Will the “last run date and time” from the Report Explorer screen be present in a restored backup?

Yes – the date stamps on this screen are saved as part of a backup and restored.

Can you un-pause the year-end messaging screen if you have accidentally paused it.

Yes – this is done with a tickbox in Company Preferences

Will zero value invoices be posted to the sales ledger?

No – this is still on the wish-list. If this is an issue that affects and/or you clients then please log it on the wish-list with Sage

During August 2009 Sage have stopped shipping all variants of Sage 50 Accounts, Plus and Professional, in readiness for the launch of version 2010 in September this year.

Therefore anyone who buys Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Accounts Plus or Sage 50 Accounts Professional during August 2009 will be sent a link to download 2009 immediately via the Sage website, before receiving a new boxed version 2010 in September.

The download can be installed and activated with the license key and activation code supplied upon purchase, then when the upgrade arrives, it can easily be installed and will automatically upgrade all data to the latest version. Please visit our online shop for pricing, or contact us for further information.

We have been told that our “Test Drive” feature on the main website, will be updated with Sage 50 Accounts 2010 from the 3rd August this year.  So if you would like to see the new features in action, please bookmark us, as we will keep you updated if this changes, alternatively just come back on or after 03/08/09 to try out the latest version of Sage 50. Best of all it’s still completely free!

We are still asked on a weekly basis about Sage Line 50.  Sage have re-branded most of their software over the last couple of years, so Sage Line 100, became MMS which is now Sage 200, Sage Personnel became Sage 50 HR, so likewise Sage Line 50 has now become Sage 50 Accounts. The product range is essentially the same, so Line 50 Accountant is now Sage 50 Accounts, Accountant Plus is Accounts Plus, infact the only one which really had it’s name changed was Sage Line 50 Financial Controller, which is now Sage 50 Accounts Professional.

So why the change?  The main reason seems to be the suite approach to Sage software, users are demanding better software integration, so for clarity all “50″ products are part of the same suite, “200″ is the same.  I can only guess that the reason for moving away from numbering the versions (v11, v12, v13 etc) is for a similar reason, does the average user really care if it is the 11th or 12th release of a product, or is it more important to know that all their software is say 2009 and therefore compatible.

Perhaps next time someone asks me about Sage Line 50, I can just email them a link to this post.

Sage Line 100 has been replaced by Sage 200 now for some time, so Sage have now made the decision to cease sales of new Sage Line 100 systems from 1st October 2009.

If you are already using Sage Line 100 you will still be able to buy user upgrades and support, The Line 100 software has not really been developed for some time now, but many existing customers have bespoke development to their software, hence have not yet upgraded. 

Any new customers will need to purchase Sage 200 instead.

Sage are currently developing an SQL database for Sage 50 Accounts, which is due for release next year.

So what will this mean to the average user?  Firstly improved product integration, Sage 50 HR, construction and 200 are already on SQL databases, so it’s highly likely that all products in the Sage 50 suite will follow in time.

Probably most importantly though is the potential scalability of the SQL version, at present Sage limit the user count on the standard product to 10 concurrent users, in addition many users report a slow down when they start to approach 100,000 transactions, although they can be cleared down and archived.

Rumor has it Sage are testing the new SQL database at the moment with 50 concurrent users and are up to 250,000 transactions, it’s still going strong!  This could mean a much larger user count and transactional limit for larger companies who want to keep using Sage 50 Accounts.

The new version is due for release in 2010, so as we learn more we will update you here.

The latest release of Sage 50 is due to start shipping in September. So if you buy any of the Sage 50 Accounts range of software from Ledger Services during July, you will receive a boxed product version 2009 in our usual 1-2 days delivery time, but you are also entitled to a free upgrade to Sage 50 Accounts 2010 when it’s released.

This offer applies to all software in the range:
Sage 50 Accounts
Sage 50 Accounts Plus
Sage 50 Accounts Professional
All this and huge discounts with free delivery on all software! So if you are considering buying an accounting software package, now could be the ideal time.