I moved over from SAGE 2 years ago. Having to pay for license, having server needing upgrades, having a guru on contract so I could get remote access, having to have accountant on the premises for a few days at year end to look at data to prepare the reconciled trial balance and thereby statutory balance and P&L, post accrual and prepayment journals etc.........
All these costs add up.
So, I switched to a cloud based system called Liberty Accounts.
http://www.libertyaccounts.com/Access via internet, no server requirements, data backed up remotely or on your local server. No need for IT guru on call for when your system crashes or upgrades to install when SAGE make changes and your accountant can look in and post year end journals etc from their office so their travel time and cost is reduced.
We found a local accounting firm which had purchased 1000 licenses and got a very low price via them. They in turn do the year end accounts, monthly or quarterly management accounts or whatever because they have instants access to the live time date created when you process your sales, purchases, stock movements, cash receivable or payable etc.
I have a part time financial processor person but could in theory just have invoices and bank statements sent to them for processing and I can get access to all my data any time in any place in the world with an internet connection.
Compared to using SAGE I would say the total cost is approx. 50% when taking everything into consideration.
Security is always a concern but hackers will have more difficulty hacking their servers than your own local SAGE server. And it's only data transactions anyway so who really gives a fuck who can see it and you always have your local backup as does your accountant if you go through a licensed accounting reseller.
