Sage One
Accounts
A guide to Sage One Accounts from your accountant
About Sage One
Sage One is a series of online services for small business owners and their accountants, allowing them to manage their business finances.
Sage understands small businesses
Over three quarters of a million UK businesses use Sage software; companies of all shapes and sizes, from start-ups to companies on the FTSE 100. The majority of Sage customers are small businesses, and Sage have thousands of conversations a day with them.
A brief history
Sage started selling accountancy software thirty years ago and since then has grown to be the only technology company on the FTSE 100. Sage has a certain amount of heritage and is a brand trusted by many.
Introducing Sage One Accounts
Sage One Accounts is an accounting service for small business owners who want greater control of their finances, but don’t necessarily have an accounting background or time for software training.
Accessing it couldn’t be easier; all you need is an internet connection and a current internet browser – you don’t need to install anything.
Become more organised and run your business effectively and collaborate online with your Sage One accountant.
Benefits of working online with your accountant
Sage One Accounts can make working with your accountant easier too. Sage One Accounts is online so they can access your financial information immediately if you let them, which means you could save time as there’ll be no more trips to the accountant’s office with your receipts.
Your accountant can access your data in real time to make sure your data is accurate and compliant.
They can enter any adjustments needed, or run management reports, and they can even check your VAT Returns or submit these for you. They have the tools to help you manage every aspect of your business accounts.
With Sage One Accounts you can
• Calculate your VAT Returns easily
• Submit your VAT Return online to HMRC directly
• Calculate your VAT on the Standard, Cash Accounting or the Flat Rate schemes
• Create and email great-looking sales invoices direct to your customers
• Track your business expenses and purchase invoices
• Produce profit and loss and balance sheet reports
• Perform Bank Reconciliations
• Record credit notes
• Record contacts details and make notes on each record
• Start working immediately, taking only a few minutes to sign up
• Use the software confidently without training
• Call the Sage One customer support team any time, night or day
• See a snapshot of your business performance. Easily view your sales, expenses and profit for the month and year to date. See how many days are left before your VAT period ends, what’s in your bank, and your top 5 outstanding sales invoices
• Keep an eye on who owes you money and who you owe money to using the Outstanding Sales and Outstanding Purchase invoice reports
• Produce a trial balance report, which your accountant will find really useful
Because the service is online, you will always be using the most up-to-date version of Sage One Accounts, as Sage will automatically take care of any updates for you.
No training or prior bookkeeping experience is needed; simply start using the software straight away.
Have peace of mind that if you do need any support you can contact Sage’s 24/7 customer service team on 0845 111 6611 with your questions, or send an email to [email protected]. If you prefer you can make use of the Sage One online help centre at www.sageone.com, where you can view the step-by-step articles or watch video tutorials.
Manage your VAT
Paying your VAT on time and accurately is important. Sage One Accounts calculates your VAT based on the information you enter. Once it’s calculated you can submit it online in a few clicks. Sage One can calculate VAT on all of the main schemes for small businesses, including Flat Rate.
Sage One Accounts can also cope with changes to your VAT scheme, so if you start using it and you’re not registered you can tell Sage One Accounts when you become registered. Also, when the VAT rates change Sage One Accounts can cope with that and easily change rates automatically with no effort required from you.
Manage your sales
Generate invoices using great looking templates and upload your company logos before you send them to customers. You can print or email invoices directly to customers as PDF files. Easily record sales credit notes against invoices and add in discounts where needed.
Enter your sales as bank or cash transactions. Then record any cash deposits you make as you pay them into the bank.
Manage your expenses
Record purchase invoices directly against your suppliers and also any expenses which you don’t receive invoices for using the Other Expenses feature. You can set up recurring expenses and have Sage One Accounts automatically enter these for you as they occur.
Manage your bank
Keep on top of your bank accounts by reconciling your bank statements against the information in Sage One Accounts to make sure everything is accurate and up to date using a step-by-step process.
Summary
Each time you sign in you’ll view the summary screen which shows how your business is performing at a
Reports
As a business owner you’ll want to keep a tight rein on your business finances.
In Sage One you can run a series of reports that will provide you, your accountant or anyone else, for example your bank manager, with all the information you need. You have access to the
full set of management reports, plus two that track your outstanding sales and purchase invoices.
glance. Get a quick snapshot of the sales you’ve made for the current month and as a year-to-date figure. See the expenses you’ve incurred and view a profit or loss figure for the month and year to date.
This summary also shows a graph detailing your current bank balance so you can easily see your cash position.
View a countdown to your next VAT period end date (for businesses who are VAT registered) to reduce the risk of missing important deadlines.
See your top 5 unpaid sales invoices so you can track who owes you money, how much they owe you and how long they have left before the payment is due (or if the payment is overdue).
Contacts
Keep track of your customers and suppliers and search for individual contacts to find important information quickly using the dynamic search option. Record specific information about your contacts and view their records with just one click.
Security
Sage One will give you the confidence that your business information is secure. With a series of policies and practices in place, you can rest assured that your data is safe.
The first thing Sage will do to protect your data is ensure all transmission of data between you and Sage One is encrypted. High grade 128–bit encryption is used, which is an industry standard also used in internet banking.
This stops people from being able to view the information you’re sending over the internet.
Support
Sage understand that your priority is running your business and want to make your life easier in doing so which is why there are a number options available when it comes to getting help with Sage One.
24/7 telephone support
You probably don’t just work ‘9 to 5’, which is why Sage’s customer service team is ready to take your call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 0845 111 66 11 - the call will always be answered by a real person at Sage’s UK office.
If you don’t want to pick up the phone, you can email your question to [email protected] and the Sage One support team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Online Help Centre
The online help centre is full of step-by-step help articles and guides to help you with the features of Sage One.
Messages
A recent addition to Sage One Accounts is the Messages feature – you can now receive messages direct to your online inbox from the Sage One team, informing you of any changes or updates to your service.
There is also a range of video tutorials for those of you who prefer to watch how it’s done.
What Now?
If you want more information on Sage One Accounts visit www.sageone.com/accounts
If you feel Sage One Accounts could be the right solution for you, contact your accountant to get set up today.
Sage (UK) Limited, North Park,
Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne And Wear NE13 9AA
© Sage (UK) Limited 2011 02/11 04169RC