Review of Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2012

Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2012
800-388-4697
www.peachtree.com

From the April/May 2011 Review of On-Premise Installed Accounting Systems for Small Business

Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting continues to offer a product that evolves with the needs of the small business. Sage Peachtree 2012, due to be released in May 2011, contains all of the features that have made Sage Peachtree a necessity in millions of small businesses, along with an impressive array of new features that only serve to make this product even more desirable.

Best Fit:
Easy-to-use application for those who handle inventory, job costing or other complex areas; evolves with the needs of small businesses.

Basic System Functions:
Installation was quick and problem free, taking about 10 to 15 minutes. And Sage Peachtree 2012 offers easier network installation capability. Sage Peachtree’s company setup wizard allows the user to choose the business type that most closely matches their needs. Charts of accounts for over 75 common business types are available, including construction, manufacturing, retail, distributor and services.

The Business Status dashboard is completely customizable and contains a wide variety of company statistics, including Account Balances, Revenue-Year to Date, and Aged Payables and Receivables. Sage Peachtree uses navigation centers for each function, grouping them according to workflow. So customers and sales would be one function, vendors and purchases another. The product is easily navigated, with uncluttered data-entry screens and lookup options throughout. The toolbar also provides easy module access.

While users can choose a company type, specific templates and features are only found in the industry-specific versions of Sage Peachtree and Sage Peachtree Quantum that are available. Sage Peachtree currently runs on Windows platforms.

Core Accounting Capabilities:
A default chart of accounts is selected during setup and can be further customized by adding, editing or deleting accounts as needed. Cash flow is easily monitored to track both current receipts and current expenses. Budget information can be set up and maintained for performance reports comparing up to four years of data. A budget can also be set up for each individual cost center or department as needed. The system tracks jobs and allows for processing purchase orders, time and expense tickets, vendor returns, sales orders, and quotes and proposals. The new Vendor Management Center allows users to create a dashboard display for any vendor in the system. The display is customizable, and filters can be entered to display data as desired.

Sage Peachtree offers complete sales tax functionality, with the appropriate tax entity and corresponding tax rate set up and applied when processing sales transactions. The vendor also provides three payroll options: Simple, Select and Managed. Simple and Select are processed on the desktop, and Managed is processed online. Tax tables are included with many support plans, or can be purchased separately.