account charging me to have to upgrade my sage?

[Manaquin]

Hi all,

just a quick query.

i recently became self employed in march, started using sage instant accounts given by my accountant.

now, she recently did my vat return, and emailed me the back up of sage, it wasnt compatible with my version. Apparently her version is sage 50 and has to be updated each year. So now im having to pay 350 pounds for the privilage?

Im I right to feel raw about this or not?

This price is ontop of what i agreed to pay initially.

[Scootek]

I have had a very similar issue few years ago.

I purchased Sage Line 50 reluctantly. Then I didn't like the service from the accountats so switched accountants and my new accountant doesn't use Sage. So it was a total waste of money. You can't sell it afterwards as it is licensed to you.

It's your call. For most small businesses Sage Line 50 can be an overkill. There are a lot of user friendly accounting software out there for non accountants. A lot of them are free and HMRC approved.

[Big Pete]

Hi all,

just a quick query.

i recently became self employed in march, started using sage instant accounts given by my accountant.

now, she recently did my vat return, and emailed me the back up of sage, it wasnt compatible with my version. Apparently her version is sage 50 and has to be updated each year. So now im having to pay 350 pounds for the privilage?

Im I right to feel raw about this or not?

This price is ontop of what i agreed to pay initially.

You have every right to feel narked my accountants said the same ..

But i do my own VAT and the new Sage reads earlier versions .. so do your own VAT and then just send them your Copy ..
Or find a new accountant who can come to you

[Nilesh Mandvia]

Sage does "Accountant Link" / Client Manager which allows you can carry on using sage while your accountant works on your sage accounts. Once the accountant finishes his work you can restore the file (back up) supplied by your accountant.

You do not need to get upgrade because your accountant does. Ask your accountant to get accountant link/ client manager. This will resolve the problem you have.

One thing I do not understand why your accountant upgraded your data without your consent? She should work on your software. The client should not have to change or buy particular software because accountant use it.

The work around is that you use or sage version and data you sent to her. Ask her what adjustment she has done and you carry out on your sage version.

HTH

[wood1e]

If an accountant is using sage to provide your accounts, then he/she should be paying for Sage.

If you provide Sage then you provide the payments for sage.

We would only use our sage and restore your back into our sage. We would be using the latest(ish) version of Sage...

Not a huge fan of Sage as they make their money by charging for updates.... That are not always needed.

SAge Accounts 2009 should be able to open/convert older versions of Sage.

So in theory you could carrying using your older sage. And the accountant, should in theory be able to take your back up and restore into their newer version of Sage.

[Accountsportal]

Hence why a lot of poeple are moving to online acounting - no upgrades, no manually exchanging files, etc.

[Ian Morgan]

Must agree with most of the others.

I have some clients who use Sage, a lot on different versions. It is not up to them to keep up to date but for me to be able to access the data and return it with adjustments in a format which they can still access.

I would be asking your accountant to be supplying you with a backup where you can restore the data without requiring you to upgrade.

[beancounter]

We haven't used sage - but with other accounting porgrams such as MYOB or Quickbooks, accountants have special "Accountants Copy" of the software - We as bookkeepers also have that access. This means that we can work on any client's file without having to upgrade them, and we can still have the latest version ourselves

Maybe your accountant hasn't looked at that avenue - phone up other accountants and see if they would normally have to automatically upgrade you for their own convenience

Otherwise it may seem your accountant is "pulling a swifty" and stuffed up by opening your file in the upgraded version, and now they cannot save it to be compatible with your software - so they are passing the blame (and expense) to you