Compare the two tools, understand their features and decide which is better for your team
Sage is a world-leading accounting system and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software developer. Sage offers computerised solutions that allow companies of all sizes to automate Accounting, Payments, Payroll, and Human Resource Management solutions. Sage’s software collects, classifies, and summarises your company’s financial information, allowing you to view your financial performance in easy-to-understand financial reports.
Sage Intacct and Sage 200 have targeted Medium sized businesses and developed extensive user bases. Although both accounting software solutions have won awards and enjoy market-leading positions, they are not competitors. There are substantial differences between the two, and they offer excellent solutions based on their unique modules and features.
What is Sage Intacct, and what is Sage 200?
Sage Intacct is a native cloud-based Financial Management solution developed in the USA in 1999. Sage Intacct was designed only for the Cloud and was one of the first of its kind. It was initially developed by Intacct Corporation and later bought by Sage in 2017. The two available versions are the Sage Intacct Starter Edition for smaller businesses and the Sage Intacct for medium and enterprise-sized businesses. The software is available and very popular in the UK, USA, South Africa, Australia, and Canada and can be used across the globe.
Sage 200 was developed and launched in the UK and Ireland in 2004. This software was designed to be a highly customisable and scalable modular product. Sage 200 was initially launched under the name Sage MMS (Mid-Market Software), later renamed Sage 200, and finally rebranded as Sage 200cloud in 2017, as it is known today. There are two available versions, the Sage 200 Standard and the Sage 200 Professional. Many Sage 200 customers are in the UK and USA, some in Germany, France, and Spain. A minor percentage of users are in India, Australia, and Canada.
Key modules and features
Sage 200 and Sage Intacct owe their scalability and flexibility to their modular build-up. Although they share some core financial modules and features, others are unique to them and thus provide a slightly different solution. This section offers a detailed view of both software solutions and what they offer.
Sage Intacct key modules
Sage Intacct provides the following feature-rich modules:
- Core financials
- Dashboards and Reporting
- Billing and Purchasing
- Customisation Services
Sage Intacct also boasts the following advanced functionality:
- Fixed Assets
- Project Accounting
- Multi-entry and global consolidations
- Inventory Management
- Revenue recognition
- Spend Management
Sage 200 key modules
Sage 200 boasts the following robust modules:
- Financials
- Commercials
- Project Accounting
- Manufacturing
- Bill of Materials
- Business Intelligence
- Sage CRM
Sage Intacct key features
Sage Intacct offers a comprehensive financial and business management system in the following areas:
- Multi-dimensional General Ledger
- Accounts Receivable
- Sales Order Processing and Invoicing
- Accounts Payable
- Purchase Order Processing
- Cash Management
- Project Accounting
- Contract & Subscription Billing
- Fixed Assets
- Time & Expenses
- Multi-entity and Global Consolidations
- Revenue Recognition
- Financial Reports & Dashboards
- Inventory Management
- Spend Management
- CRM Integration to Salesforce.com
Sage 200 key features
Sage 200 has robust management systems in place in the following areas:
- General Ledger (Cost Centre & Department Analysis)
- Accounts Receivable
- Sales Order Processing and Invoicing
- Accounts Payable
- Purchase Order Processing
- Cash Management
- Project Accounting
- Stock and warehousing
- Manufacturing
- Bill of Materials
- Fixed Assets
- Time & Expenses
- Financial Reports & Dashboards
- Sage CRM Integration
Sage Intacct vs Sage 200: Industry Strengths
Although both software solutions provide many essential core modules, it is vital to understand which one would benefit your business the most. In this section, we investigate the main differences between Sage Intacct and Sage 200 to learn where their strength lies.
Main strengths and benefits of Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct is one of the most advanced cloud-based solutions available today. Its outstanding Core Financials functionality and features are paired with Advanced Real-Time Dashboard and Reporting. Due to high levels of automation that harness the power of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Sage Intacct can take over tasks that previously required much more time and human effort. Additionally, the Dashboard functionality is highly customisable for your company’s current requirements.
Sage Intacct is highly scalable and flexible, allowing your company to grow and accommodate an unlimited number of users and entities. Sage Intacct evolves with you as your business evolves due to many available additional modules. Intacct is highly globalised as it supports global consolidations, such as multiple currencies, tax solutions, and compliance worldwide.
Sage Intacct’s Advanced Audit functionality is another feature that stands out. It allows companies to track transactions and offer complete transparency and traceability.
Company growth with Sage Intacct is highly supported. It can handle a virtually unlimited number of financial transactions; it is already running 100m applications requests per day, 1b API calls per month, and 50b+ financial records.
Since Sage Intacct is entirely cloud-based, there is no need for your company to host hardware and software on your premises or in a third-party data centre. This way, you can reduce costs immensely, and Sage will take care of all the backups and disaster recovery and seamlessly apply software updates, so you always have the latest version and most up-to-date features.
Main strengths and benefits of Sage 200
Some of the critical strengths of Sage 200 include its strong integration with other UK-based Sage products such as Sage Payroll and Sage Payments. It is also fully integrated with Sage’s customer relationship management (CRM).
Sage 200 is scalable. It was designed to be customisable and flexible and to integrate with several 3rd party UK-based additional modules. Like with Sage Intacct, these modules can be found on the Sage Marketplace and help you build a better fit for your company’s accounting and ERP needs.
One of the main differences from Sage Intacct is that although Sage 200 Professional offers cloud-based capabilities, it also requires some hardware and software on your premises.
A key strength of Sage 200 comes from its strong supply chain, distribution, and manufacturing features. Paired with highly advanced inventory and product management facilities, it is an ideal tool for businesses that require manufacturing.
What’s best for you, Sage Intacct or Sage 200?
It is evident that Sage Intacct and Sage 200 are both market leaders, share similar core functionalities, and are popular across many industries. However, they target a different group of customers and industries due to the range of modules they offer.
Sage Intacct is mainly popular with companies that offer financial and professional services. Intacct's truly global financial functionalities allow them to oversee international transactions, use several different currencies and comply with tax legislation worldwide.
Intacct’s Advanced Audit functionality also attracts financial services businesses as it provides complete traceability and transparency.
Moreover, the highly customisable contract management and revenue recognition modules appeal to subscription and SaaS businesses. The multidimensional general ledger enables Non-profit organisations to easily track and manage grants, donations and funding streams.
For businesses that already use Sage products, such as Sage 50, a considerable advantage is that we have a well-worked strategy for migrating your data into Sage Intacct from Sage 50.
Sage 200, on the other hand, is more popular with businesses involved in manufacturing, retail and distribution.
Sage 200 is an excellent choice for them because they generally require advanced inventory and product management, and this solution also comes with cutting-edge barcoding, warehousing, and manufacturing functionalities. Its robust Sicon Manufacturing Suite and Bill of Materials feature allow the planning of orders, materials, and capacity.
Sage 200 is an excellent solution for businesses that prefer having their data on their servers instead of entirely in the Cloud.
Key takeaways
If you are looking for a solution that helps your business keep up with the ever-changing economic climate, you must find one that will grow and adapt the same way your company does. Compatibility with your needs and scalability is always vital when shopping for accounting and ERP software.
Sage is an industry leader in computerised solutions for businesses and offers multiple solution packages. Sage Intacct and Sage 200 are their most popular and successful products. Consider several factors to understand which solution will work better for you.
Some of the most important selection criteria are the modules they offer, your industry, whether your business is global, and how you want to operate.
For instance, if your business manufactures or requires complex inventory and product management facilities, you’d be wise to go with Sage 200. However, if your company offers professional or financial services or has a global presence, Sage Intacct has an edge as it provides better dashboards, reporting and financial consolidations.
Ultimately, it all comes down to which solution fulfils most of your criteria so that you can grow your business into a stable and adaptable enterprise. Ready to try Sage Intacct for yourself? Then, book your free discovery call with us via the button below.
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