Sage Business Cloud Accounting Review

Small business owners, freelancers, and self-employed individuals looking for an accounting solution should consider using Sage Business Cloud Accounting for its features and ease of use.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting, formerly Sage One, is ideal accounting software for freelancers and the self-employed who are just starting out working independently and need assistance navigating the complexities of self-employed finances.

Sage is affordable and easy to use, with a strong selection of features, including invoicing, reporting and expense tracking. It has a mobile app for both Apple and Android devices that allows you to perform core accounting tasks and monitor your business finances from anywhere.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting

Pricing

Sage Business Cloud Accounting's pricing is competitive. As with other top accounting software applications, you pay a monthly subscription fee instead of purchasing a license and annual updates. The software is updated on a frequent basis, so you'll always have the latest version. Your subscription also includes customer support. Sage Business Cloud Accounting is available in two service plans:

• Accounting Start costs $10 per month and supports a single user. It includes a bank feed, invoicing, expense management and reporting. A mobile app is available for iPhones and iPads as well as Android phones.
  
  
• Accounting costs $25 per month and supports multiple users and companies. It has all of the Start features plus bill tracking and simple inventory management. It allows you to create quotes and estimates, and you can also use it to forecast cash flow and automatically upload expenses.

These price points are manageable expenses for freelancers or other self-employed individuals who need a platform for financial organization. They are certainly cheaper options than hiring a business financial planner or using more in-depth accounting software.

Tip: There's no contract, so you can cancel anytime without incurring early termination fees.

There's no contract, so you can cancel anytime without incurring early termination fees. While most freelancers probably only need the basic features of Accounting Start, you can upgrade your account from Start to Accounting at any time.

For those who are uncertain of their needs or how accounting software can enhance their business finances, Sage offers a free trial that lets users test the software before making a financial commitment.

Source: Sage

Features

Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers a wide range of valuable features.

Easy setup

As with the other accounting software we reviewed, you can set up your Sage Business Cloud account online in just a few minutes. When you first log in, you're greeted with a Getting Started checklist on the Summary menu that lists tasks you need to complete. You can customize features to your personal preferences so that they're compatible with your work style.

The other tabs on this screen – Sales, Expenses, Cash Flow Statement and Cash Flow Forecast – display your key information as attractive graphs and charts that give you a clear overview of your financial health.

Both Sage platforms are compatible with Windows, Apple and iOS, and Android.

Timesaving Features

With the Accounting plan, you can create quotes and estimates and convert them to invoices with a single click. If you want to offer customers the option of paying their invoices online, you can connect your Stripe payment account to the software.

You can also connect your bank and credit card accounts to your Sage Business Cloud Accounting software. It automatically downloads your transactions and now has a smart bank reconciliation tool that automatically matches your bank transactions to those you've created in the software. If some transactions remain unmatched, you can search for possible matches from a filterable list.

You receive access to Sage's mobile app with your account. You can use it to create and send invoices, take pictures of receipts, record expenses, and view graphs of your financial performance, allowing you to keep tabs on your business and quickly accomplish accounting tasks on the go.

Source: Sage

Inventory

If you sell your own products, Sage Business Cloud Accounting can help you track your inventory. You can set reorder quantities and manually adjust stock quantities as needed. You have the option to enter items into the system manually or import them in bulk with a spreadsheet, which is a timesaver if you carry a lot of items. You can have multiple sales prices for each item and add categories and descriptions.

FYI: You can run more than 20 financial reports to analyze the health of your business, including profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance, general ledger, and aging reports.

Financial Reporting

You can run more than 20 financial reports to analyze the health of your business, including profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance, general ledger, and aging reports. From the reporting menu, you can click the star icon next to the reports you use most often so you can quickly find them under the Favorites tab. Organized financial reports will make it easier to assess what you owe for quarterly self-employment taxes.

Whether for work or general organization purposes, if you're keen on analyzing accounting data, several types of reports are valuable. Real-time data helps many freelancers make business decisions, and the ability to analyze financial data quickly helps make Sage Business Cloud Accounting a useful resource.

Sage Accounting Pros

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is designed with small businesses and the self-employed in mind. Knowing that you have to do most of your business bookkeeping yourself, Sage makes its software and application simple to navigate and easy to understand. Sage gives freelancers more time to focus on their work, as it automates invoicing, cash flow, and expenses.

In addition, nearly 40 integrations for Sage Business Cloud Accounting are available through the Sage Marketplace. This allows you to connect to other business software, such as your POS and CRM systems. That's especially helpful if you're already using a few business software solutions for your finances and records.

In case you need help using the software, Sage's website features multiple resources, including a blog, community forum, knowledgebase and how-to videos. You can purchase training courses through Sage University as well. For customer service, you can reach the company by phone, live chat, email or support ticket. If you're new to Sage or accounting software in general, the wide assortment of tools will come in handy.

Sage Accounting Cons

While there is a lot to like about Sage, you should consider a few caveats before committing to the service. One of those is that there isn't an option to create recurring invoices, which may be inconvenient if you offer any subscription products or services. This would have been a useful feature for freelancers who send their clients invoices on a regular basis. You can't schedule automatic payment reminders for clients with the software either; however, as a workaround, you can schedule it to send your customer a monthly invoice statement.

Another missing feature is the ability to track billable hours and add billable expenses to invoices. For freelancers, this means you'll have to keep your hours organized through a separate platform. You can manually enter billable time and expenses to invoices, but there isn't a built-in feature that streamlines these tasks, and you can't attach receipts to invoices.

Finally, although it can track inventory, Sage doesn't create purchase orders. This may not be a major issue if you're self-employed, but it would be a useful feature if you sell products.

Did you know? There are workarounds to many of Sage Business Cloud Accounting's missing features, and you can learn about other users' workarounds through Sage City, its community forum.

There are workarounds to many of Sage Business Cloud Accounting's missing features, and you can learn about other users' workarounds through Sage City, its community forum. However, you might not want to take the time to figure out those alternatives if those missing functions are important to your operations.

Customer Service

Sage offers an online support system called Sage Knowledgebase. This platform allows you to type in your questions and issues and read responses from Sage support as well as other users. All of its product reference materials and guides are available here as well for you to read.

Sage Knowledgebase includes Sage City, a 24/7 interactive community in which you can talk to peers, partners, Sage experts, and any other Sage users about their issues, tips, and ideas.

For those new to the small business and self-employment sector, Sage University offers training courses to help you get the most out of the software. Not only do these training sessions give you a comprehensive understanding of the program, but they also offer general advice on running a business to accelerate your success.

If you prefer to speak with an expert directly, Sage offers chats with customer support agents Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST. You can also schedule a one-on-one session with an expert during that timeframe for additional guidance.

Overall, Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a quality solution that should draw the attention of freelancers in need of accounting software, especially those in need of software with the ability to analyze financial data. Its intuitiveness and well-designed layout make it ideal for the self-employed worker.