Sage Tips

As a provider of SAGE we see many recurring problems and errors in the application of SAGE. This section is intended to steer you in the right direction when keeping your books on either SAGE Instant Accounts or SAGE Line 50.

Tip 1 - Opening Balances

Whenever you change over to a SAGE system, you need to enter your opening trial balance.

The way that SAGE deals with this is to put the other side of each double entry to the Suspense Account.

If you enter the trial balance correctly, the Suspense Account entries will cancel out to give a nil balance.

If you do not enter it correctly, you will end up with a (potentially large) balance on your Suspense Account - this needs to be avoided or corrected.

Tip 2 - Correcting Errors

If an error is made when entering a transaction, or a transaction is cancelled after it has been entered into the system, you may care to delete or edit it through the Corrections routine.

You cannot amend Journal entries using the Correction routine. To amend a Journal entry you must post a journal of the opposite values.

Tip 3 - Back Up Procedures

Computers can often get stolen or damaged, and hard disks can fail. Would your business survive if it lost all its accounts data?

The data file usually contains your entire accounting records. These must be kept for a period of six years for taxation purposes.

Back ups should be taken on a daily basis.

A separate back up of your data should also be taken before and after running your year end procedures.

The back up disks should be stored safely, perhaps in a fireproof safe away from the computer.

If you need any help starting out with a SAGE accounting system please email us at sage@moco.co.uk

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