I wasn't sure whether I shoudl post this here or in software but as I rarely venture into software here goes.
We use Sage 50 Payroll We bought the software when RTI first came in, up until then my colleague had been operatinga manual payroll with the working deductions cards. Its a desktop version, one user licence and we currently process payroll for 35 employees. We don't use the pensions module. The software calculated pension contributions according to the percentages I entered when we "staged" but the pensions company prefers us to send our monthly returns and pay contributions using their own system.
Our Sagecover runs out this month and Sage have informed us that they now only offer Sagecover Extra. Last year we paid £376 plus VAT, this year they want to charge us a whopping £783 plus VAT. The person I spoke to told me that unless we pay we will get no updates and so we won't be compliant whenever there is a legilation change.
In the very early days when myself and my colleague didn't know what we wer doing with the software we used the helpline a couple of times. Now we just tend to ring the accountant if we have any problems (we chose Sage because that is whet he uses for his clients for whom he runs payroll and he finds it easy to run his reports etc. I havn;t used the helpline for a good few years. I need to speak to the accountant but I think I need to put some sort of proposal about changing software to my directors (one of whom is the main book-keeper/financial director). It seems an extortianate increase. (After sending an email to that effect they have now offered a reduction down to £680).
So any suggestions/pitfalls etc as to alternatives.
Look at Moneysoft (c £159 from memory) - recommended a lot on here and Aweb. I use this - easy to navigate and I think they are a good help desk (but not had many 'issues'/queries)
Or 12 Pay (good, no idea of costs these days now its owned by Iris (if I remember that correctly)
Or Brightpay - never used personally but again recommended on Aweb.
No brainer on cost alone!
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Will look at those thanks (we only pay employees through Sage, we don't use the CIS module for subbies) We don't even use it to calculate sick or holiday pay as we use a holiday scheme called Welplan. Figures are entered into Sage manually.
-- Edited by pictures on Friday 6th of April 2018 10:46:01 AM
Flipping heck, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!!
Another vote here for Moneysoft. Excellent piece of software imo, and I've used it for at least 5 years now. £130 + VAT is a steal if you've been paying much more for Sage.
Lots of detailed reports as well so I'm sure the accountant will be able to get the information he needs. You've also got the added bonus of folks who use it on here, so any niggly problems we can hopefully help with.
Just one slight drawback, they don't have good telephone support, but they don't claim to have either, and they suggest you email rather than phone.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Thats fine, I do email better than hanging on the telephone.
My colleague is constantly complaining that figures she wants/needs are not easy to extract from Sage. Plus we won't have to pay out for stationery or do the convoluted P60 plain paper workaround. And she can install it on a pc at home for our 2 week christmas shutdown period. Acvually how does that work, does it upload/download the figures. I've run payroll for the first week of the tax year (first payday is today) so is it easy to transfer everything across?
I spoke to her earlier and she seemed open to the suggestion.
-- Edited by pictures on Friday 6th of April 2018 12:19:13 PM
I'm another Moneysoft fan/advocate. It's so simple to use and I can save and send reports to the accountant whenever he wants an update.
I also help a client who uses Sage One (only get involved when he does something wrong which used to be weekly!) but I'm not as impressed with that software or the support line tbh.
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Janet
They keep making the system idiot proof but then make bigger and better idiots!
The files are independent of the program, so she could take a copy of the payroll file and take it home with her, then link it to her program.
In Moneysoft there is a mid year update: Tools > Mid Year Start then just copy the month 1 data from Sage
Hi John
i vaguely recall moving the software to a new PC a while back, but can you please explain to a technophobe how it works when you take a copy from one PC and try to use on another? I thought you might need two licences. I'm away on a key payroll date (mine!), can't do it before I go (as its before 5th of the month when I go) and just realised I need a backup plan!!!! Of course my trusted part time, sometimes (ie often) cannot be bothered, assistant can always do it for me, but looking at options.
TIA
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Hi Julie
As John says - Earlier Year update is available, although if you are going to move it I would do it asap before you get too much into the new tax year. You can import (from memory, another one where its been a while since I did so). Q re remote access o/s to John.
Ive only ever needed email support and its always been pretty spot on - if you have a question on the back of an answer, they dont mind. I dont think there is weekend cover, but as John says - should be enough bods to help out should the need arise. There are the helo files contained within the software itself and the website of course.
Hi Janet
Sage one is a whole different kettle of fish. Ive used it for a client - hated it but only because they were in an industry generating tons of paperwork and the damned thing was soooooo slow, clunky even with the one at a time keying in certain areas (I guess if you havent used quicker desktop products you might not even notice it). That said, they absolutely took such feedback on board where they could and have implemented many suggestions/upgrades since inception (eg quick purchase and sales input - albeit its still not as quick as their premier sage desktop products). Ive fed back loads of suggestions to them over a period and would say 90% of them were implemented so if you have an issue - feed it in as a suggested upgrade and watch this space. Im not currently using it though as I dont look after that particular customer any more.
Good thing also about some PAYG software (Sageone being one) is that you have 24/7 telephone and email support and if you dont like the answer then a stamp your feet/complaint approach results in the right answers. Obviously some of the PAYG lot only provide email support, or even just forums.
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
i vaguely recall moving the software to a new PC a while back, but can you please explain to a technophobe how it works when you take a copy from one PC and try to use on another? I thought you might need two licences. I'm away on a key payroll date (mine!), can't do it before I go (as its before 5th of the month when I go) and just realised I need a backup plan!!!! Of course my trusted part time, sometimes (ie often) cannot be bothered, assistant can always do it for me, but looking at options.
Hi Joanne
In Julies's case they will need two licences, in your case if you're wanting it on two computers at the same time then most probably* yes, unless you delete it from the old computer. (Just checked the licence conditions and they say you can transfer the Software from one computer to another, provided it is used on only one computer at any one time and never used by more than 1 concurrent user)
First of all take a copy of the file(s) you need first from the first computer, you can do this one of two ways. File - Utilites - Back up/restore. Back up files.
Install moneysoft on the other computer and run the program. Then go to file - utilities - backup/restore and restore the files.
If you're wanting to have it on two computers I would suggest putting the files in a dropbox or similar folder that both computers have access to, that way you are using the same file rather than two separate copies. If doing this I would create a payroll folder first in dropbox then restore your files to that location. You'll need to do the same on your first computer as well then delete the old location.
*Not sure how to read this, does it mean you can have it on two computers providing you are the sole user or does it mean you can only have one copy on a computer but can move it to a different computer whenever you want? If the former then make a note of the user licence which is in help - about
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Hi John
Thanks for the update. Ive gone through that process (a while back) when I ditched my old PC and it worked very smoothly. Easy to do - as you say, make sure you have the backups, as you may recall thats my mantra! I had a very quick look at the terms this morning and nothing jumped out (but it was a very quick look). For mine - I should be back - its only that usually Im 'persuaded' to stay visting for longer! If not I will just ask my replacement assistant (otherwise known as Mum!) to process it.
Julie - might be worth a quick call to Moneysoft, or an email. They might be happy for you to move the licence to an employees PC just once a year if you are on shutdown, although I suspect as Jon says you might need two licences. But no harm in asking. How did you manage the process with Sage (as they are hotter on the double licence thing that probably most software companies - well they are with their Accounts package!) Other option is of course if you run on a server and you can arrange remote access. I have that for one of my clients.
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Other option is of course if you run on a server and you can arrange remote access. I have that for one of my clients.
Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that, good idea. You don't need your own server either. I'm pretty certain Windows 10 allows you to set up remote access over the interweb, and there's other software which will do the same thing.
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
At the moment Sage is actually installed on my colleagues computer. I just move to her desk for an hour once a week to run payroll.
Our accountant is on holiday somewhere hot (he always goes away at the start of the tax year apparently) but incidentally I had another phone call from Sage this morning offering a further reduction to £450. I'm still advocating for the change though.
At the moment Sage is actually installed on my colleagues computer. I just move to her desk for an hour once a week to run payroll.
Our accountant is on holiday somewhere hot (he always goes away at the start of the tax year apparently) but incidentally I had another phone call from Sage this morning offering a further reduction to £450. I'm still advocating for the change though.
Lucky Accountant, although its gorgeously warm here today so no complaints!
£450 is still 3.5 x off the plot!! Tell them to match Moneysoft and you will stay....make a formal complaint as that usually shoves it up the line to someone who can actually make a decision! (although it doesnt always work!)
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Other option is of course if you run on a server and you can arrange remote access. I have that for one of my clients.
Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that, good idea. You don't need your own server either. I'm pretty certain Windows 10 allows you to set up remote access over the interweb, and there's other software which will do the same thing.
Oh Im a stick to Win7 girl. Might venture into win10 when I get a laptop (been pondering a new one for about 3 blinking years), but I didnt want to take the chances with my sage software!
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Hi Janet Sage one is a whole different kettle of fish. Ive used it for a client - hated it but only because they were in an industry generating tons of paperwork and the damned thing was soooooo slow, clunky even with the one at a time keying in certain areas (I guess if you havent used quicker desktop products you might not even notice it). That said, they absolutely took such feedback on board where they could and have implemented many suggestions/upgrades since inception (eg quick purchase and sales input - albeit its still not as quick as their premier sage desktop products). Ive fed back loads of suggestions to them over a period and would say 90% of them were implemented so if you have an issue - feed it in as a suggested upgrade and watch this space. Im not currently using it though as I dont look after that particular customer any more.
Good thing also about some PAYG software (Sageone being one) is that you have 24/7 telephone and email support and if you dont like the answer then a stamp your feet/complaint approach results in the right answers. Obviously some of the PAYG lot only provide email support, or even just forums.
Thanks Joanne, I'm good at stamping my feet in some parts of life so might try it if/when they's a 'next time' with Sage
I'm about to put Moneysoft on to a new computer so thanks also John for the info of how to do it.
__________________
Janet
They keep making the system idiot proof but then make bigger and better idiots!
Other option is of course if you run on a server and you can arrange remote access. I have that for one of my clients.
Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that, good idea. You don't need your own server either. I'm pretty certain Windows 10 allows you to set up remote access over the interweb, and there's other software which will do the same thing.
Oh Im a stick to Win7 girl. Might venture into win10 when I get a laptop (been pondering a new one for about 3 blinking years), but I didnt want to take the chances with my sage software!
I've found the Win10 software to be quite reliable. My work comp is W8 upgraded to W10 and I did have some problems with it not long after upgrading, but seems to have resolved itself.
Home comp has W10 installed frpm new and has always been fine.
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
My only issue with Win10 is that when a couple of updates have been installed it's taken over 2 hours for the computer to be ready to use. I try to remember if there's an update when I'm turning it off to do a restart and let it work through the process. Other than that I like it
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Janet
They keep making the system idiot proof but then make bigger and better idiots!
, assistant can always do it for me, but looking at options.
but at least the snows gone!
