Summary
Description
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Introduction
Sage 50 Accounts / Sage 50 Accounts v28.1 is now available, it's packed with new features and improvements. These release notes provide details of each improvement, plus a list of software issues resolved.
Community Hub requests
Many of the additions and improvements in v28.1 were requested and voted on by customers through Community Hub.
Open more than one company simultaneously
Currently, users can only open one copy of Sage 50 Accounts at a given time. In v28.1, users with a multi-company licence can open more than one company simultaneously. The limit to the number of companies that you can open depends on the computer memory.
Remember user logon credentials
The Log on window now has a ‘Remember my logon details’ option. This is useful when you process multiple companies and switch between companies regularly. Once the option is selected, the Windows user is not prompted for log on details on opening.
You can delete the stored log on details at any time, in Settings > User Management > Delete stored logon details.
Create users with read only access
In Settings > User Management > Users, there’s a new user type of Read-only. This user types can have the same granular access and Remote Data Access as the traditional user types.
Read-only users are blocked from adding, deleting, or changing any data.
Paste multiple lines into address fields
In previous versions, to copy and paste an address into Sage 50 Accounts records, you must paste each line into the address field, line by line.
In Sage 50 Accounts v28.1, a new icon next to each address field allows you to paste in a multi-line address. This saves you time when changing addresses in records such as customers and suppliers, and when creating invoices and orders.
If the address you copy has more than five lines, you can choose which lines should be used, as shown below. There’s also an option to clear the address.
Mark supplier invoices as disputed when posting
NOTE: Available in Sage 50 Accounts/Sage 50 Accounts Professional and Client Manager only.
In previous versions this was a 2-step process, first entering the supplier invoice and then marking it as disputed. In v28.1 the dispute process is integrated into the Batch Supplier Invoice window.
Quick search and filter in Quotations
The quick search and filter functionality, available in most other ledgers, is now available in Quotations, making it quicker and easier to locate records.
Duplicating invoices, quotations and sales orders as alternative types
NOTE: Sales orders available in Sage 50 Accounts/Sage 50 Accounts Professional and Client Manager only.
The existing Duplicate functionality has been extended so you can now duplicate invoices, sales orders and quotations as an alternative type. For example, duplicating an invoice as a sales order or duplicating a sales order as a quotation.
The tool bar has two new options to allow the new form of duplication.
The software blocks the creation of a duplicate in some circumstances, for example, you can’t create a sales order from an invoice that includes negative lines.
This feature respects user access rights, for example, if you don’t have access to the Sales Order module, the Duplicate as Sales order option is disabled.
Calculate carriage net
When entering carriage within the Footer tab in Invoices, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and Quotations, there’s now a button to automatically calculate the net value.
When you click Calculate Net, or press the F9 key, the gross carriage amount is divided between Net and VAT amounts.
Set payments due immediately on customer and supplier records
In previous versions, if the Payment Due on a customer or supplier record is set to 0, the due date within all data entry screens defaults to 30 days.
In v28.1, you can set the Payment Due so payments are due immediately. A help icon explaining how to do this has been added to the Payment Due field. Once this option is enabled, when Payment Due is set to 0 the due date is automatically the same as the transaction date.
e-Payments available for batch supplier payments
In Sage 50 Accounts you can pay suppliers individually, using Supplier payment, or as part of a batch within Batch supplier payment. In previous versions, e-banking can only be used for payments made individually in Supplier payment.
In v28.1, Batch supplier payments has a new option to ‘Create an e-payment for suppliers configured for BACs/SEPA’. This can be switched on by default and the help icon beside this option explains how to do this.
When you open the e-payments Send Payments window, payments posted as a batch are available to send to your banking software.
Extra reference on customer and supplier transactions
You can now add an extra reference to customer receipts, supplier payments and customer and supplier refunds to allow for additional analysis.
Part number included in the Product record drop-down
When you click the product record drop-down, there’s now an additional column for Part No. This appears by default in all product record lists but can be removed by right-clicking the column heading and deselecting the Part No. option.
Hide inactive accounts in the Active Search popup
Inactive accounts have always been excluded from account drop-downs. This has now been extended to exclude inactive accounts from the Active Search popup, which appears when you enter an account reference directly into the field.
File import supports charitable fund import
NOTE: Charities are not available in Sage 50 Accounts/Sage 50 Accounts Essentials.
The file import routine for transactions has been extended to include the ability to import a charitable fund. The Transaction CSV (Extended) report, import template and import mapping file have been updated to include the additional field.
File import supports the creation of multi-line transactions
You can now use File import to import transactions which contain a single header and multiple splits. In Data Import there’s a new ‘Audit Trial transactions – Grouped’ option and help option explains how this feature works.
Once imported, grouped transactions appear as a single header line with multiple splits.
File import supports full Intrastat commodity code import
You can now import the Intrastat import duty code as part of the product record import.
The Product record CSV (Extended) report, import template and import mapping file have been updated to include the additional field.
Don’t show again option on "This invoice has been posted..." message
Each time you view an invoice which has already been updated to the ledger, the following message appears:
In v28.1, you can choose to not show this message again.
Don’t show again option on "This invoice was created from a sales order..." message
Each time you view an invoice that was created from a sales order, the following message appears:
In v28.1, you can choose to not show this message again.
Transaction attachment reporting
In v28.1 you can report on whether a purchase invoice, purchase credit or journal has an attachment.
Three of the day books reports include a new a criteria value called Attachment filter. In here you can choose from three filters that display transactions with attachments.
You can also add the attachment information to other reports using Report Designer.
Report on external transaction links
For transactions which include a URL, for example, those which originated in AutoEntry, a new DOCUMENT_LINK table is available in Report Designer containing the URL information. To add this to reports, you can use the Join Editor to join the DOCUMENT_LINK table to the AUDIT_SPLIT table.
Dashboards
NOTE: Sage 50 Accounts only
In Sage 50 Accounts v28.1, there are several dashboard enhancements, based on customer feedback.
Five new widgets
- Unallocated customer credits and receipts – See the balance of unallocated customer transactions and drill down to transaction detail.
- Unallocated supplier credits and receipts – See the balance of unallocated supplier transactions and drill down to transaction detail.
- Debtor days – Using an industry standard calculation, this shows the number of days expected to be required to clear customer debts.
- Unpaid customer invoices – See the balance of outstanding customer invoices and drill down to transaction detail.
- Unpaid supplier invoices – See the balance of outstanding supplier invoices and drill down to transaction detail.
Profit & loss widget enhancements
- Choose to show net or gross profit.
- Additional bars to show direct expenses for gross profit and overheads for net profit.
- Include future totals, for users who haven’t closed their financial year.
- Label to show the financial year being reported on.
Top customer / supplier widget enhancements
- Choose to show net or gross values.
- Show extra records in list view.
Money in money out widget enhancement
- Option to display the bank balance as a trend line
Invoice summary widget enhancements
- Choose to show net or gross values.
- Option to show only updated invoices.
- Hover data updated to show more relevant data.
Other dashboard enhancements
- Print screen shows the full dashboard, including widgets off screen.
- Option to cancel widget calculation.
- Dashboards shown for all users with limited access.
- Allow widgets to be resized vertically.
- Send to Excel in widget drill-down screens.
- Added multi-select to lists.
- Pre-formatted dashboards can be added after creation of the first dashboard.
Data management
To help optimise software performance, if your data volume exceeds recommendations, a new ‘View Data management’ icon appears. This feature walks you through some routines to make copies of your data and then reduce the volume of data held in your live company.
If the View Data management icon doesn’t appear, this means your data volume is within recommendations. You can also access Data management at any time in Tools > Period End > Data Management.
The Data management wizard opens in an exclusive area, so no other users can log into the company while this option is open. If anyone is already logged in, they must log out.
Within the Backup and archive tab, you must take a backup if you haven’t already taken one today. You also have the option to create an archive.
The Review your data tab shows clearly whether your data is less than, approaching, or more than recommended levels. From here you can run routines to reduce the data volume.
The Clear audit trail option includes additional functionality to disable bank reconciliation.
When each routine is run, the necessary reindex, compress, and rebase routines are run automatically.
Switching off Data management
You can switch off Data management in Settings > Company Preferences > Parameters, by clearing the ‘Enable Data Management’ check box.
Sage 50 Client Manager
The View Data management icon does not show in the top right corner in Sage 50 Client Manager; however, the option is available in Tools > Period End > Data Management.
Compliance
Intrastat reporting
The following additional data has been added to the Intrastat screen, underpinned by several new business rules related to blank VAT numbers, upgraded data and delivery address triangulation.
Northern Ireland
- Country of origin
- Partner VAT ID (the customer’s country code combined with the VAT registration number)
Republic of Ireland
- Purchaser VAT (the customer’s country code combined with the VAT registration number)
VAT Return improvements
VAT Verification Settings
Within VAT Verification Settings, Select all and Clear buttons have been added so you can select or clear all check boxes in a single click.
VAT period improvements
Under certain conditions, HMRC may require a business to submit a VAT Return for a period more than 12 months ago. In previous versions this was not possible in Sage 50 Accounts.
The VAT Return Submission window includes a new check box to allow older obligation periods to be found and selected.
A new check has also been added to ensure that the VAT Return dates match the obligation period selected. If the dates don’t match, a warning is displayed.
A further improvement also means that the correct obligation period is chosen automatically in most cases.
Flat Rate VAT and Postponed Accounting
For VAT Returns with a start date of 01/06/2022 or later, HMRC have issued updated guidance regarding the way in which supplies covered by Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) should be shown for businesses using the Flat Rate Scheme (FRS). Supplies were included in the Flat Rate Scheme calculation, but should now be excluded.
Remove Internet Explorer v11
Following its deprecation by Microsoft, we’ve started the process of removing Internet Explorer from Sage 50 Accounts.
User Interface improvements
Updated theme
Sage 50 Accounts now has a fresh, modern theme.
Refreshed payment and refund windows
NOTE: Batch Supplier payment is available in Sage 50 Accounts/Sage 50 Accounts Professional and Client Manager only.
The Customer Refund, Supplier Payment, Supplier Refund and Batch Supplier payment windows have been refreshed to provide a consistent user experience and remove the outdated cheque style layout.
Remote Data Access improvements
Prompt to disconnect after 6 months of inactivity
If Remote Data Access has been set up for 6 months without any communication from another site, this is automatically disconnected and presents the following message:
Improvements to control data refresh
If an invalid sync state is encountered when using Remote Data Access, only users with the relevant access rights can upload their data to refresh the existing shared data. On other sites, users are prompted to take a backup before pulling down the new data.
Miscellaneous changes
Accelerated the year-end routine
Improvements to make the year-end routine more efficient, improving the process by 65%*.
* This is an approximation and may vary depending upon your computer specifications.
Improved data checking on nominal accounts
When running Check Data on large data sets, the nominal codes check is now 20 to 30%** more efficient, depending upon the mix of data.
** This is an approximation and may vary depending upon your computer specifications.
VAT reindex and compress
To assist with resolving unexpected issues within the VAT module, the Reindex data files and Data compression processes now include options to reindex and compress VAT records.
Update default SMTP to smtp-mail.outlook.com
In Settings > Email Defaults, the server name for Webmail > Windows Live Hotmail has been updated from smtp.live.com to smtp-mail.outlook.com. This means email settings can easily be applied to layouts for this email provider.
Issues fixed
The following issues have been resolved in v28.1:
| Scheduled backup fails to backup all selected company datasets |
| ‘Out of Memory’ when running year end on large data sets |
| Unable to open Intrastat after changing country code |
| Country code search field within Invoice ledger does not return expected results |
| Printing a cheque for a link removed transaction causes the usage.dta file to expand |
| Delivery address not updated when registered address is changed |
| User request not cleared from queue.dta when leaving Change financial year option |
| Ireland VCA - Sales order and invoicing carriage posts with incorrect transaction details |
| Backup standalone app keeps running after cancelling a backup |
| Software crashes during conversion when attempting to convert .sgt files |
| Add Attachment window on Memo tab is not modal and causes crash if record closed |
| A4 tear off remittance advice statements give incorrect brought forward balances |
| ‘Connection to the Sage Data service has been lost’ when click Swap in Invoices and credits |
| Unable to drill into archive vat return or print detailed vat return report if character map symbols are used in reference or description fields |
| Project corruption due to rounding when issuing stock allocations |
| Committed cost rounding issue when allocating stock |
| Batch changes using the % symbol in analysis fields causes crash |
| Standard Migration Reports syncing across Remote Data Access |
| SD transactions can be made to incorrectly show as reconciled on a VAT return |
| Unable to allocate a payment on account to an OSS transaction on Standard VAT |
| Bank Wizard - VCA opening balance bank payments use incorrect default tax code |
| Ireland VCA – Incorrect tax codes on supplier opening balance |
| Making Tax Digital -- Crash if no obligation period is available or selected in drop-down |
| Crash in Nominal Journal Entry |
| AUDIT_SPLIT.OUTSTANDING has incorrect signage for refunds |
| Unable to drill down on GO transactions on the Product Activity report |
| Dashboards - Incorrect date label when selecting year to date |
| Dashboards - Widget displays an error when accessed over network by a shared user |
| Forced Data service only update uses incorrect path to AutoUpdate exe |
| Closing batch invoice screen with date picker open causes crash |
| Global changes cause the software to crash and go into ‘processing’ |
| SDO - v28.0.226.0 SDO installer returns invalid data path error |
| Intrastat button missing when country code set as Northern Ireland |
| ‘Object reference not set to an instance of an object’ when Making Tax Digital service is down |
| Software hangs on ‘Processing please wait’ when running a report |
| Dashboards - Restoring a reports or layouts only backup deletes all dashboards |
| Ledgers are blank even though no search or filter is applied |
| Warning of errors on start-up but Check Data shows no errors |
| Display issues in Bank Reconciliation window after resizing |
| Customer refund and Supplier refund default to 1200 instead of selected bank record |
| ‘Unable to send all emails’ when integrating Microsoft Outlook 2013 |
| After attaching a file via browse, the memorise location defaults to attachment location |
| Deleting a prior year transaction displays a message with incorrect help information |
| A user with no access to lock date can set it using Month End or Year End |
| Making Tax Digital – ‘The client and/or agent is not authorised’ - stuck in a loop |
| No message for outside the financial year Credit charges |
| Subcontractor Activity button prompts terms not agreed in error |
| Pressing page down makes the batch invoice grid stop working |
| Warning message prompt on tabbing to new line after recalling batch invoices |
| Incorrect messaging for updated clients if server has not updated and is logged in |
| File import fixed asset template shows required fields as optional |
| Sage ID authorisation on login after upgrade |
| Recalled invoices and orders don't retain analysis field details |
| Account reference missing on editing a memorised invoice if the customer has an alert |
| Default Charity GASDS settings have incorrect values |
| When Schedule Backup set up with Microsoft 365, no email notification when backup has errors |
| Bank Feeds - Transaction detail on header but not copied to the split |
| RTD Return label displays 5.2% - RTD Forms at Revenue display 5.4% |
| No month end postings if user has no access to lock date |
| Write off / Refund locks the app for a lengthy period while it refreshes ledgers |
| Company Selection search is very slow if you have more than a few companies |
| Initial view is not used when logging off and on as a different user |
| Recurring entries at start up shows recurring invoice screen when none are due |
| In Invoice and credits, text entry halted by textbox size rather than character limit |
| Software pauses when closing out of Cash flow |
| SageDrive folder continues to expand in size |
| Unexpected error when trying to load ODBC data in Microsoft Excel |
| Incorrect hyperlink on message that appears when removing an active user |
| Incorrect hyperlink on invalid VAT number message |
| Logon window not centred |
| Software loses focus after restoring backup with no manager password |
| Unable to backup and incorrect backup message when other users logged in |
| Pressing F1 key in Company Selection opens two support articles instead of one |
| Pressing F1 key in Customise your company opens two support articles instead of one |
| Pressing F1 key in Add a Company opens two support articles instead of one |
| When viewing Edit Tax Code via an RDP connection, the Settings fields are hidden |
| Spelling mistake on Purchase orders list and status batch report description |
| RTD Return is missing the word ‘Postponed’ in the second column |
| Unable to cancel Check Data during nominal checks |
| Balance Sheet by funds report produces incorrect values |
| Period and Year to Date figures do not match on the Profit and Loss by Fund report |
| Failed to download payment from Opayo when using ‘Pay by Card’ |
| ‘Transaction Aborted. Payment not taken’ error when using ‘Pay by Card’ |
| SDO Report preview window is blank |
| Company Preferences > Parameters tab > Others section has inconsistent tab order |
| InterComm Code accepts imports of over eight characters and accepts letters |
| Partial users are not given dashboard access after upgrade |
| Dashboards - Top customers/suppliers - Transactions with no due date show as 01/01/0001 |
| e-Banking bank type not retained on bank record after saving - NatWest AutoPay Online Plus |
| e-Banking installers require users to stop Sage 50 Accounts and Control Services during installation to avoid a computer restart |
| Upgrade install creates extra folder in Sagebackups for a version not installed |
| View/Delete transaction window loses focus so unable to tab/hotkey |
| Limit of 50 characters for shortcut key F11 |
| Configurable columns in quotations for allocated and despatched |
| Software hangs for 4-5 seconds on refunding a Customer Payment on Account (SA) |
| Colour mismatch on Custom Alerts pop-ups |
| Incorrect tab order in Order details |
| Export RTD to Excel misses brackets on output |
| Print list not available in Memo tab on Sage 50 Essentials |
| In Chart of Accounts not all preview content is easily visible in default window size |
| Data providers missing from list when adding new data source in Report Designer v5 |
| Currency symbol missing from ‘Amount’ label |
| No maximum field length set on customer receipt and supplier payment wizard screens |
| Dashboards - Monetary figures are left aligned in drill-down |
| ‘Priority’ column heading is cut off in Suppliers > Suggest payments |
| ‘No’ column heading is cut off in Product and services > New > Activity |
| Information symbol ‘?’ is cut off in Bank accounts > Supplier payment > Wizard |
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United Arab Emirates
United States
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