Sage Instant accounts or Sage Line 50

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skyz

  • #1
    Hi again,

    I am looking to do a course to learn computerised accounts, I think sage is the best one to learn (maybe not best one to use?) mainly because it's the major one used by accountants and hopefully I'll one day be looking to work for an accountants.

    I am unsure if I should do the course for Instant accounts or Line 50, I think most accountants will use Line 50, however I also want to pass the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers computerised exam which is based around Sage Instant accounts.

    So does anyone know if I study for sage line 50 will I be able to use sage instant accounts and pass the ICB exam, or is instant accounts completely different to line 50. I don't really want to have to do the instant accounts course and then the line 50 course as they are not cheap courses!

    Thanks.
     
    DIY Accounting

    DIY Accounting

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  • #2
    As your main target appears to be the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers qualification then go for Sage Instant accounts.
    Once completed you would find other Sage programs and the majority of commercial database accounting software similar and not a problem moving from one to the other.
    You might also consider obtaining a copy of the sage instant accounts and working through it to teach yourself.
     
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    billie1

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    Nov 3, 2008
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  • #4
    I would learn Sage 50, because its used by most accountants. Sage Instant is only for a single small business. If your ambition is to work with an accounts Sage line 50 is definitely the best option. Several colleges offer sage 50 at reasonably prices i.e Bromley, Croydon, Orpington and I'm sure several others in your area.
     
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    MyAccountantOnline

    MyAccountantOnline

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    Sep 24, 2008
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  • #5
    I would say 50 as well - that's the one you'll see used by small businesses, and the one if an employer wants a bookkeeper in house it'll nearly always be to use Sage Line 50.
     
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    Alison Jones

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    Mar 14, 2008
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  • #6
    I would say that if the job you want to get is for a small firm of accountants where a lot of their clients are small businesses, I would say quite a lot of small businesses use sage instant accounts rather then Sage Line 50 mainly because this is the cheaper of the 2 and it is suitable for the size of company.

    If you learn one sage think it is easy to know how to use another version.

    Alison
     
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    billie1

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    Nov 3, 2008
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  • #8
    Which is why I would learn sage line 50 at a college. If you go on any accounts/bookkeeping website and look through jobs you will see most ask for sage line 50. I've never seen any asking for sage instant. I think most businesses with sage instant are very small and I think they do the bookkeeping themselves.
     
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    paulomunky

    paulomunky

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    Dec 12, 2008
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  • #9
    Hi Skyz

    Well I would suggest using Sage they are as you said commonly used throughout the accounting world.

    As far as line 50/instant is concerned it's actually just the serial number that you enter while installing sage that determines whether it is instant/line 50 (or it was until 2008 when they released them as seperate discs). They are essentially the same thing

    Sage instant uses exactly the same principles as line 50 and will perform the same accounting calculations it just has less features (like reporting, recurring entries, prepayments & accruals etc) It is better for the basic user who doesnt want to get bogged down by features!

    So I guess it would depend on what your employer was using as to which one you should study for. Doing instant will give you the same knowledge about double entry bookeeping, how to post bank/supplier/customer payments etc but you wouldn't know how to use those extra line 50 features.
    And doing line 50 on it's own would cover everything about instant you need to know but would be more expensive.

    Hope this helps,

    Paul
     
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