Why Do You Need Sage Training? | To be able to use it more effectively ... |
 POSTED BY ALISON MEAD ON 21/01/2019 @ 8:00AM
Sage is a very popular product, and many companies buy it either having bought directly from Sage themselves or maybe their accountant has helped them. Either way, the right Sage training is very important ...
If you want to use your accounting package more effectively, you're going to ned Sage training! copyright: sebra / 123rf
More commonly though the people I meet through my Sage training have learnt how to use the software from the previous bookkeeper, or just by getting on and using it, and they have never been properly trained to use Sage themselves.
The accounting software is used as a basic data entry tool, and you may have never thought about how you could make the software actually work harder for your business.
"Basic Accounting"
Often when Sage is first installed and used, companies just start off by using the basic accounting functions. Many don't even use the system to raise invoices and track payment and receipts.
The software is used purely in order to produce the figures for the accountant to be able to create the annual accounts, with perhaps the VAT returns being submitted too. But did you know Sage can do so much more?
By looking at the way you produce your invoices in Sage, how you use products or service invoicing, and the nominal code structure in the background, you can use Sage to produce useful and meaningful management reports throughout the financial year, so you can actually make important business decisions before it is too late to do anything about it.
"Raising Invoices"
Does your company raise invoices in Excel or Microsoft Word andcopy the information into Sage afterwards? This is quite common in companies where the invoicing routine was established and in place before Sage was installed as the bookkeeping package.
It is so easy to produce professional looking email invoices directly from within Sage now, and they can be edited too so they don't look like Sage invoices if you don't want them too! These invoices can then be posted into your accounts without any re-keying necessary which reducing duplication and the chance of errors being introduced.
Alternatively though, if you use another industry-specific tool to raise your invoices, we also have add-ons which enable these invoices to be imported directly into Sage,
"Department Tracking"
Companies often have sales areas - either geographical or belonging to different reps, or customer types - like retail, trade and wholesale, which they may want to report on. Would you know easily from your accounts where most of your business comes from, or even which areas of your business of the most profitable? If you have performance related pay can you tell which sales team actually bring in the most profit to your business?
People can often look very busy and might have high volumes of invoices being raised, but if costs are not tracked and allocated, you might be working really hard for little or no profit. This is where department tracking, analysis codes and project costings come into their own with Sage.
"So, why do you need Sage Training?"
If any of my examples strike a chord with how you are using your Sage software, or if you feel you are not using the software to its full potential, then a Sage training session might be just what you need.
Often a session of 2-3 hours is enough to help you streamline your processes and just tweak the way you use the software to get some great benefits.
Often you just need to take time out and step back for a minute and look at how you use the software and actually think about what you want to get out of it. You can make your Sage work for your business, instead of feeling like you are a slave to meaningless data entry just to get your accounts submitted each year.
"Would you like to know more?"
If you'd like to find out more about Sage training in Northampton or Milton Keynes and surrounding areas then do give me a call on 01604 420057 or click here to ping me an email and let's see how I can help you.
Until next time ...
ALISON MEAD
More about Alison Mead ... |  | Alison loves bookkeeping and supporting bookkeepers. She has been helping clients to be better bookkeepers in Sage 50 for over 24 years and has been Xero Accredited in accounts and payroll for a number of years too.
She specialises in a very unique hand-holding method of training, helping bookkeepers and business owners to use their accounts software as and when they need support in setting up and producing their invoices, reports and financial information.
Alison combines her role at Silicon Bullet with her Forever Living network marketing businesses and is often to be seen at business networking meetings as she likes to keep busy.
You know what they say: if you want something done well ask a busy person!
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