Sage instant financial suite v12

[TheMonkey]

Anyone use this? If so any comments on how good it is?

I'm using a home hacked up system at the moment which is costing too much time and money in maintenance. I can get these for £160 off Amazon

[paulb567]

I use Sage Instant Accounts and have found it does everything I want it to do. I also looked at QuickBooks but fell out with it fairly quickly.

[ladymuck]

I use MYOB Business Basics, it's about £50 off amazon. Does the job ok although not exactly fancy and you can't really do proper control of debtors/creditors and it doesn't do payroll. It's great for a basic start up but not suitable for anything more complex.

[TheMonkey]

Ok going to buy Sage instant financial suite - apparently it files your HMRC payroll paperwork for you *jumps for joy*.

I need payroll unfortunately as I've just landed a bloody contract that requires other staff (shock!) and I'm a cheapskate therefore I won't be allowing someone to rape my pocket for payroll services.

[Pondlife]

I need payroll unfortunately as I've just landed a bloody contract that requires other staff (shock!)

Aren't you better off just using them as contractors with an agency type contract. Much less hassle/risk etc IMHO

[TheMonkey]

Aren't you better off just using them as contractors with an agency type contract. Much less hassle/risk etc IMHO

This is a fairly big contract that I nailed yesterday so I need some credibility and permanent staff looks more credible (I can drag another cronie along to meetings with me). The guy is in sales so works for peanuts unless he does stuff and has about as many morals as me.

[boredsenseless]

Ok going to buy Sage instant financial suite - apparently it files your HMRC payroll paperwork for you *jumps for joy*.

I need payroll unfortunately as I've just landed a bloody contract that requires other staff (shock!) and I'm a cheapskate therefore I won't be allowing someone to rape my pocket for payroll services.

Bear in mind that all Sage software is pretty much useless without a valid support contract as the rules change frequently. The support is usually as much as the software in the first place

[Cowboy Bob]

Bear in mind that all Sage software is pretty much useless without a valid support contract as the rules change frequently. The support is usually as much as the software in the first place

And you have to pay for bugfixes!!! We made the mistake of buying Line 50 when we first started out. There was a showstopper bug that affected our ability to use the product. Firstly they said they wouldn't fix the problem until the next iteration (6 months time) and secondly we'd have to pay for the patch when they did decide to release it.

Boll*x to that. Now we just use a combination of pen and paper (P11D etc) and the free Revenue tax discs - then leave our accountant to sort out the rest - who incidentally is cheaper than the software anyway once you add in the cost of support/patches.

[boredsenseless]

And you have to pay for bugfixes!!! We made the mistake of buying Line 50 when we first started out. There was a showstopper bug that affected our ability to use the product. Firstly they said they wouldn't fix the problem until the next iteration (6 months time) and secondly we'd have to pay for the patch when they did decide to release it.

Boll*x to that. Now we just use a combination of pen and paper (P11D etc) and the free Revenue tax discs - then leave our accountant to sort out the rest - who incidentally is cheaper than the software anyway once you add in the cost of support/patches.

and the hourly rate that you charge for your time, since even if you do it out of hours you could be doing extra revenue generating work or even just relaxing

[Cowboy Bob]

and the hourly rate that you charge for your time, since even if you do it out of hours you could be doing extra revenue generating work or even just relaxing

Note the "we". I run a proper company and have someone else to do the accounts in-house before it all gets passed to the accountant at year end