Sage 50 – U.S. Edition 2019.1: All About Company Count Product Enhancements

2 minute read time.

The 2019.1 release of Sage 50 Accountant Edition delivers to you and your business several feature enhancements and improvements, with the helping accountants like you stay ahead of the curve, while providing the tools you need to offer better client service.  

One of the most important changes users will be able to do within Sage 50 is the ability to set company files as Active or Inactive the first time they open each company file. Company files designated as Archived / Inactive will function the same as in the past with all the data viewable and with reports able to be run. However, new transactions on these archived companies cannot be added. These archived companies will not count against the 50 active client threshold.

What to Expect in the 2019.1 Release & How to Set Active / Inactive Company Files

  

This is the in-product messaging you will see when you first open your 2019.1 software. 

The first time a company file is opened or created, accountants will be asked to designate it as active or inactive. You will always be able to see how many active company files you have already assigned, as well as how many you have left. 

As you approach the 50 company limit, you will be reminded that you need to add companies over 50 and will be directed to your dedicated customer sales contact to assist you through the process.

 

Please Note:

  • If you have 50 or less active clients, you may choose to clean up (delete and/or archive) old companies for which you no longer provide service. After the new release is loaded, you will begin designating which clients are “active” when you first open the company. If you no longer provide services for a company, but want to maintain the files, you can designate it as “inactive” when you open it. These companies will function the same as archived companies have in the past. You can view the data and product reports, but you cannot add new transactions or make adjustments. You can maintain an unlimited number of “inactive” companies.

  • If you have 51 or more active clients, please contact Customer Sales to add licenses for any companies over the 50 client connection threshold so you can designate them as “active” upon open. The cost for the license will be prorated based on the date of your renewal. For example, if your renewal is six months from November, you will only be charged 50% of the additional company fee (starting at $20). When you receive your renewal, you will see an additional line item for these additional companies over the 50 billed at the full year rate.

 Accountants are encouraged to set their active company files by November 30, 2018 to ensure active access to all their necessary company files, as well as an error-free billing process.

SAN Webcast: 11/01/2018

If you missed the U.S. Sage Accountants Network webcast session from November 1, 2018 -- please find the recorded session below.

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  • Sage50 accountants addition 2018 my employees (users in Sage Drive from remote locations) had the ability to reconcile bank statements and change accounting periods.  Now in Sage50 2019 they cannot because they are required to pause sharing and are not allowed to perform this task.  Support told me to tell them my credentials so they may log on as owner.  This is not working from me because if they are logged in as me (owner) I cannot log into SageDrive.  This seems to be a design flaw.  I was given no notice that my employees would not be able to perform task that I assigned to them and I feel Sage overstepped the boundaries.  I had planned on setting up a server but Sage salesperson said "Oh no you don't have to do that.  That is what Sage Drive is for"  Now I feel I was lead to believe that SageDrive would work for me and it is not.  

  • Certain functions (such as account reconciliation) in Sage 50 require exclusive locks on the database.  Prior to the introduction of multi-user Sage Drive this was accomplished by giving only the first person to login to Sage Drive write access to the database, in Sage 50 US 2018.2 and (earlier versions) all users who accessed the database after the first user were only given read access – thus the need for exclusive locking was satisfied.

     

    With the introduction of muti-user Sage Drive multiple users can simultaneously read and write to the database, because the program still requires exclusive locks to access certain functions the sharing on the company must be paused first to ensure that the exclusive lock is distributed to a user and maintained.  For this reason when performing account reconciliation the Sage Drive company must be paused.

     

    The pause function has always been exclusive to the data owner (the user who initially uploaded the company data to Sage Drive), for this reason it would be advisable to make the individual primarily responsible for account reconciliation the data owner of the company so that it can be paused when necessary.

  • One of the benefits of the Sage Drive sharing was that we as accountants could help our clients with certain functions like bank reconciliations that they were not comfortable doing on their own.  I don

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