Sage launches accounting package for SMEs in SA

Sage South Africa has announced Sage One, designed to be a simple and secure online accounting and payroll solution for local SMEs.

Sage has more than 5 years’ experience in the online accounting and payroll space, with Sage Pastel My Business having been launched in 2009. This was later complimented by a payroll component with the arrival of Sage VIP Liquid Payroll and Sage Pastel My Payroll Online. Sage’s online business software has been well received by the South African market, with both small business owners and accountants enjoying the benefits of a cloud based solution. Sage has built on this solid South African foundation, and applied global insights gleaned from the Sage One businesses in Europe and the US, to bring Sage One to South Africa.

Sage Pastel Accounting, Sage Pastel Payroll & HR and Sage VIP have enjoyed strong traction in the South African SME market with their cloud-based business solutions,” says Ivan Epstein, Sage CEO of Africa, Australia, Middle East and Asia. “As the next step in Sage South Africa’s continued investment in the cloud, we are now consolidating these offerings under the Sage One brand name.

“We are proud to bring to market a simple, secure and flexible online accounting and payroll solution. For small businesses owners, financial knowledge is key, and having crucial business insights available at your fingertips gives you greater control and confidence to achieve business success.

“Because Sage One Accounting is online, you can simply log in from wherever you are and start working,” says Steven Cohen, Managing Director of Sage Pastel Accounting. “You can access your data from the cloud, which means that your data is available online, anywhere, anytime and that you’re always working on the same data as your accountant or colleagues. This gives you a new level of flexibility in the way you run your business.

The Sage One Accounting mobile apps allows the user to log on from wherever they are to view customer information, record notes, search for customers and contact them directly from the device. It also allows users to find their way to customers’ offices using map links and process quotes and invoices – all on the go.

Many small South African businesses are employers and as such need to comply with the legal requirements regarding salary payments and SARS compliancy.

Sage One Payroll gives you the peace of mind that your employees will be paid in accordance with the requirements of legislation and statutory bodies such as SARS,” says Anton van Heerden, Managing Director for Sage VIP and Sage Pastel Payroll & HR. “With our solution, your payroll expands and shrinks as your business grows, enabling you to add as many employees or pay cycles as you like.

Sage One Accounting and Sage One Payroll are purchased separately and used with separate log-ins. However, they are also closely integrated to save you the time and effort spent manually recording your payroll journals in your accounting application. This ensures ongoing compliance and increased accuracy.

In addition, your accountant can work online on the same data at the same time as the business owner. Any accounting based questions can be sent directly via the software to your accountant. This time-saving feature ensures ongoing communication between the business owner and accountant.

According to Sage, other benefits of the Sage One Accounting and Sage One Payroll for SMEs include:

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