Selecting the right accounting software is crucial for businesses as it can greatly impact their financial management and efficiency. In today's digital age, there are numerous options available, making the decision-making process overwhelming. Therefore, conducting a comprehensive comparison between different accounting software solutions is essential.
In this analysis, we will focus on two popular accounting software options: Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online. By comparing their features, functionalities, and pricing structures, we aim to provide you with a clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each software. This will enable you to make an informed decision that aligns with your business's unique needs and requirements.
By carefully evaluating the features, functionalities, and pricing structures of Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online, you will be able to make an informed decision that optimizes your business's financial management. Remember, choosing the right accounting software is a crucial step toward ensuring the success and growth of your business.
What is Sage Intacct?
Sage Intacct is a comprehensive cloud-based financial management platform. It's particularly suited for mid-sized to large businesses and excels in handling complex financial transactions and multi-entity management.
Sage Intacct is known for its robust financial management capabilities, offering advanced features such as automated billing, revenue recognition, and advanced financial reporting. It is designed to cater to the needs of mid-sized and large businesses, providing them with the tools to streamline their accounting processes and gain valuable insights into their financial performance.
What is QuickBooks Online?
QuickBooks Online is a user-friendly bookkeeping solution for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers robust project accounting capabilities and is known for its ease of use and accessibility.
On the other hand, QuickBooks Online is a widely used accounting software that caters to small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy for non-accounting professionals to navigate and manage their finances. QuickBooks Online provides essential features like expense tracking, invoicing, and basic financial reporting, making it a suitable option for businesses with simpler accounting needs.
Overview of Differences between Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online
While Sage Intacct is designed to cater to the needs of larger, more complex businesses, QuickBooks Online is a user-friendly accounting software that is ideal for smaller businesses and freelancers. QuickBooks Online emphasizes user-friendliness and affordability, making it a suitable choice for those with simpler accounting needs.
Table: G2 rating of QuickBooks Online vs Sage Intacct.
| General Ratings | QuickBooks Online | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Meets Requirements | 8.3 | 8.6 |
| Ease of Use | 8.2 | 8.5 |
| Ease of Setup | 7.9 | 7.5 |
| Ease of Admin | 8.1 | 8.3 |
| Quality of Support | 7.5 | 8 |
With its robust features and functionalities, Sage Intacct provides advanced capabilities for mid-sized to large businesses, allowing them to handle complex financial transactions and multi-entity management effectively. Both software options offer unique advantages based on the size and complexity of the business, ensuring that users can find an accounting solution that suits their specific requirements.
Table: Overview of Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
| Feature | Sage Intacct | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Custom quote | Tiered ($20-$200/month) |
| Functionality | Advanced, multi-entity support | Simple, user-friendly |
| Target Market | Larger businesses | Smaller businesses, freelancers |
Target Users of Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Sage Intacct is a cloud-based financial management platform specifically designed for mid-sized to large businesses with complex accounting needs. It offers advanced features and functionalities such as automated billing, revenue recognition, and multi-entity management.
On the other hand, QuickBooks Online caters to smaller businesses and freelancers, emphasizing user-friendliness and affordability. With its straightforward solution, QuickBooks Online provides essential features like expense tracking and basic financial reporting.
Both Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online serve different target audiences based on the size and complexity of their businesses, ensuring that users can find a suitable accounting solution.
Table: Target Users Comparison
| Sage Intacct | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Mid-sized to large businesses | Small businesses, freelancers |
| Multi-entity organizations | Requires mobile features |
| Non-profits | Suited for beginners |
Pricing - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Sage Intacct's pricing is customized to business needs, reflecting its advanced capabilities. QuickBooks Online offers more straightforward, tiered pricing suitable for various business sizes.
Table: pricing comparison between Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online
| Software | Pricing Details |
|---|---|
| Sage Intacct | Custom quote |
| QuickBooks Online | $20 to $200 per month |
Feature Comparison between Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online
Firstly, in terms of accessibility, both software options can be accessed through a web browser. However, Sage Intacct offers more robust multi-currency support compared to QuickBooks Online, which has limited multi-currency capabilities.
And Sage Intacct provides project accounting functionality, making it suitable for businesses that require strong project management features.
But QuickBooks Online offers strong project accounting capabilities as well, catering to the needs of smaller businesses. These differences in features can play a crucial role in determining which software is the best fit for your business.
Table: G2 ratings for general ledger and accounting features
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Journal Entries | 8 | 8.9 |
| Tags / Dimensions | 7.9 | 8.4 |
| Audit Trail | 8.1 | 8.4 |
Financial Reporting Comparison
Sage Intacct offers robust financial reporting and dashboard features, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions with customizable dashboards and reporting. This provides deep visibility into business financials.
Table: G2 ratings for reporting & analytics - QuickBooks Online vs Sage Intacct
| Reporting & analytics features | QuickBooks Online | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Statements | 8.6 | 8.5 |
| Custom Reporting | 8.1 | 8 |
| Budgeting / Forecasting | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Dashboards | 8.2 | 8.2 |
Key features of reporting in Sage Intacct include:
- Customizable Dashboards: Tailor reports and dashboards for quick insight and deep visibility.
- Best-in-Class Financial Dashboard: Offers agility and flexibility to quickly analyze details important to stakeholders.
- Innovative General Ledger: Includes 10 dimensions to capture the business context of transactions, operational measures, and budgets.
- Operational Data Tracking: Tracks both financial and operational data.
- Rich Financial Reports: Provides 150 built-in financial reports and custom report creation.
- Interactive Custom Report Writer: Allows creating real-time reports to address complex financial reporting needs.
QuickBooks Online provides key financial reports such as income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows, allowing users to gain insights into their overall financial health. And it offers customer, vendor, sales, and expense reports to analyze different aspects of the business.
Users can also create management reports for specific stakeholders and generate payroll reports to breakdown expenses per employee. The software's customizable reports, automation capabilities, and user-friendly interface make it easy for businesses to generate and customize reports according to their specific needs.
Key features of reporting in QuickBooks Online:
- Key financial reports: You can access reports such as the income statement, the balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows to analyze the performance of your accounting software.
- Customer, Vendor, Sales and Expense Reports: QuickBooks Online offers a variety of reports to analyze different aspects of a business. You have access to both summary and detail report.
- Management reports: You can create specific management reports to send to the managerial team, shareholders, and financial institutions.
- Payroll reports: If you’ve a subscription of QuickBooks online payroll, then you can generate a variety of payroll reports to breakdown expenses per employee.
- Customizable Reports: Allows filtering to show specific accounts, customers, and formatting layouts.
- Automation and Management: Automates custom report generation and management.
- Flexibility and User-Friendly Interface: Known for its ease of use in generating and customizing reports.
Multi-entity /Consolidation
If multi-entity reporting and consolidation are essential for your business, then you must go with Sage Intacct.
Sage Intacct has been primarily designed for businesses with multiple subsidiaries, so it excels at multi-entity reporting and consolidation. In the realm of multi-entity and consolidation features, Sage Intacct and QuickBooks offer distinct capabilities tailored to different business needs:
Multi-entity/consolidation capabilities of Sage Intacct
- Sage Intacct is particularly well-suited for businesses operating multiple entities, such as holding companies. Its dashboard provides instant metrics for multiple companies, and custom dashboards can be created for specific departments or roles, ensuring efficient information flow.
- Especially beneficial for mid-sized nonprofits with finance teams and venture capitalists, Sage Intacct’s global consolidation module is adept at quickly consolidating hundreds of entities. This makes it ideal for companies dealing with multiple currencies and subsidiaries.
- Sage Intacct aids in overcoming challenges associated with manual, time-consuming, and error-prone processes in global and domestic consolidations. It offers a multi-currency financial management platform that is both accurate and user-friendly, enabling real-time reporting insights at both local and organization-wide levels.
- This capability allows for a quicker closing process, easy incorporation and setup of new entities, and reduced errors through automated financial consolidation tools.
- QuickBooks Online provides a more cost-effective solution for multi-entity consolidation and multi-currency consolidation compared to Sage Intacct.
- Users can use QuickBooks
- QuickBooks Online is significantly less expensive than Sage Intacct.
In summary, Sage Intacct stands out for businesses requiring robust, global consolidation capabilities and those dealing with multiple currencies and entities. Its advanced features are particularly beneficial for larger organizations with complex financial needs. In contrast, QuickBooks Online offers a more affordable and flexible solution for businesses that need multi-entity consolidation but are more sensitive to software costs and are looking for a wide range of integrations.
A/R and A/P Automation - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Sage Intacct provides comprehensive A/R and A/P automation, while QuickBooks Online's capabilities are more suited to smaller-scale operations.
Table: G2 ratings for Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts Receivable | ||
| Invoice Customization | 8.1 | 8 |
| AR Automation | 8 | 7.9 |
| Collections Automation | 7.8 | 7.6 |
| Accounts Payable | ||
| AP Automation | 7.5 | 8.2 |
| Payment Processing | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Purchase Orders | 8.2 | 8 |
Here’s more information about A/R and A/P automation and how it can benefit your business.
A/R Automation
- Invoice Generation: Automatically creates and sends invoices to customers based on the terms of sale or service.
- Payment Tracking: Tracks payments received and updates accounts receivable records accordingly.
- Reminders and Collections: Sends automated reminders for unpaid invoices and assists in collections efforts.
- Reconciliation: Matches received payments to the appropriate invoices and reconciles accounts.
- Reporting and Analytics: Provides insights into outstanding receivables, aging reports, and customer payment behaviors.
A/P Automation
- Invoice Processing: Automates the capture and entry of invoice data into the accounting system.
- Approval Workflows: Establishes automated workflows for invoice approvals, ensuring that the right people review and approve expenses in a timely manner.
- Payment Processing: Manages the scheduling and processing of payments to suppliers, including electronic payments.
- Vendor Management: Keeps track of vendor details and manages relationships, including payment terms and conditions.
- Financial Reporting: Generates reports on payable accounts, cash flow forecasts, and expenditure analysis.
Because of its multi-entity focus, Sage Intacct is better suited for A/P and A/R automation if your business has subsidiaries in multiple countries. You’ll be able to set different automation workflows and rules based on location of the customer and the vendor.
Bookkeeping and Accounting Services - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Sage Intacct recommends outsourcing financial services, whereas QuickBooks Online offers in-house solutions like QuickBooks Live.
As an app developed by Intuit, QuickBooks is much better suited to provide services related to bookkeeping because they already have a team dedicated to it. However, the services can be a bit limited depending on the size of your company. If you are already looking into Sage and Tact, then you may not want to go for QuickBooks Live as an option, but instead hire a team of bookkeepers and accountants for your company or hire an accounting firm and outsource your accounting to them.
QuickBooks Live offers a range of features and benefits to help small businesses maintain their books and prepare for tax time.
Here are some of the things that bookkeepers and CPAs at QuickBooks Live can do for your business:
- Get your financials up to speed: A super awesome QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper will update your existing financials to give you a fresh start.
- Keep your books in check: Once your financials are up to date, you'll be matched with a virtual bookkeeper who will take care of your books and chat with you via video.
- Sort out transactions: Bookkeepers will categorize transactions to make sure your books are accurate and up to date.
- Balance your accounts: Bookkeepers will reconcile your accounts to ensure your books are accurate and up to date.
- Work together with you: You can easily collaborate with your QuickBooks Live Bookkeepers on your books.
- Provide important reports: Bookkeepers will give you essential reports to help you understand how your business is doing financially.
- Get tax-ready books: QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping guarantees precise books, so tax time is a breeze.
Platform - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Both apps have a web application that you can access through an internet browser - Chrome, Firefox - but only QuickBooks has a mobile app, and that too for both android and iOS.
Web Application
Both Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online have comprehensive features to build workflows, customize dashboards, create templates, and manage user roles.
But QuickBooks Online is limited in these features. Especially when it comes to user management because QuickBooks has an upper limit of 40 users, and that too in its enterprise plan.
If different departments across multiple subsidiaries require access to the financial data, then QuickBooks simply isn’t going to cut it for your business. You’ll have to rely on Xero or Sage Intacct, both of which enable you to add unlimited users to the company.
Table: G2 Ratings for platform features of QuickBooks Online vs Sage Intacct
| Platform feature | QuickBooks Online | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Customization | 7.5 | 8.1 |
| Workflow Capability | 7.7 | 8.1 |
| User, Role, and Access Management | 8.3 | 8.4 |
| Internationalization | 7.9 | 8 |
| Performance and Reliability | 8.3 | 8.7 |
| Output Document Generation | 8.1 | 8.3 |
Both Sage and QuickBooks can export documents in multiple formats including:
- CSV
- Excel
You can connect them to your Google Workspace account to export data directly to Google Sheets.
Performance and reliability
Since both the apps run on your browser, the performance and reliability of both is pretty limited. You won’t get the performance of native desktop apps such as QuickBooks Desktop and Sage 50. But the up side is that you don’t have to install the software nor do you have to worry about upgrading it.
Mobile Application
QuickBooks Online provides a more comprehensive mobile app experience, including features like GPS mileage tracking and receipt scanning, while Sage Intacct has no mobile app that you can use to manage your business on the go.
But you can always access your data by logging into Sage Intacct from a web browser installed on your smartphone.
Table: Mobile Application Comparison
| Feature | Sage Intacct | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile App | Not Available | Comprehensive |
| GPS Mileage Tracking | Not available | Available |
| Receipt Scanning | Not available | Available |
Inventory Management - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Sage Intacct's advanced inventory management tools are suitable for larger businesses, while QuickBooks Online caters to simpler inventory needs of smaller businesses.
Here are some of the features of Sage Intacct's inventory management system:
- Advanced functionality: Sage Intacct's inventory management system offers advanced features that ensure the right items are in the right place at the right time.
- Optimization: By using cloud-based inventory management, you can optimize your warehouse operations to align with your business needs.
- Cost reduction: Sage Intacct's inventory management system helps reduce costs by configuring warehouse operations according to your business requirements.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction: By minimizing stock-outs and accelerating delivery times, you can improve customer satisfaction.
- Capital optimization: Sage Intacct's inventory management system allows for more efficient use of capital through optimized inventory levels and smarter reorder quantities.
- Real-time reporting: With Sage Intacct's real-time inventory management software, you can access comprehensive reports that provide insights across different locations, products, and inventory status.
Sage Intacct's inventory management system can help you streamline inventory operations, improve inventory visibility, and manage and optimize inventory levels.
You’ll require either a QuickBooks Online Plus or QuickBooks Online Advanced subscription to get access to inventory management features. You can specify item types - inventory, non-inventory, service, or bundle. You can create and assign tax categories to track sales tax on the sale of items. And you can configure the default accounts and vendors for each of the items.
However, QuickBooks doesn’t have a robust inventory management system, requiring medium and large businesses to go for a solution that specializes in inventory management. If you want basic inventory management features, then QuickBooks Online can suffice, but not if you’re a rapidly growing or large merchandizing or ecommerce brand.
Payroll and Timesheets - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
Intuit offers QuickBooks Online Payroll as an addon service that gives you the features to store employee information, calculate and run payroll, and file employee related taxes. You’ve to pay an additional fee for the same.
If using Sage Intacct, you can go with ADP for payroll. Sage Intacct Payroll powered by ADP can integrate with time keeping modules that allow employees to manage their own time entries from anywhere. It also says that the system can sync payroll, people, and accounting data, which may include timesheets, for better reporting and analytics. You can find more information about timesheets and Sage Intacct Payroll powered by ADP by searching the web.
Features of Sage Intacct Payroll powered by ADP:
- Integration: It easily integrates payroll, accounting, and HR systems with a full-service HCM suite.
- No processing fee: It simplifies pricing with no extra payroll processing and base fees.
- Payroll taxes: It tackles complex and challenging tax requirements with up-to-date Federal, State, and Local Taxpay.
- Automation: It improves the quality of your reporting and analytics with less error from manual entry.
- Encryption: It securely shares information between platforms.
But you can also use other payroll solutions such as Gusto and use the integration with Sage Intacct to enhance payroll features in your accounting software.
You can use third party applications to import timesheet data into these apps. For instance, QuickBooks Time has integration for both QuickBooks online and Sage Intacct.
Customer support - Sage Intacct vs QuickBooks Online
You definitely need good customer support when dealing with complex accounting software like QuickBooks or Sage. When you subscribe to either of the platforms, you get around-the-clock customer support. However, with QuickBooks, you may have to purchase an additional subscription for priority support.
Experts
QuickBooks has an extensive network of ProAdvisors, and it has even created a directory for its ProAdvisors so that users can easily find experts who are certified to provide services for their accounting app. Sage Intacct has no such directory and generally recommends that users connect directly with certified bookkeepers and accountants for help related to the software.
Online forums
Because of its large user base, QuickBooks has a forum that is far more active than that of Sage Intacct. You can go to the forum and search for any issues that you may be currently facing, and you may find a solution that has been certified to work for that issue. Sage Intacct also has a forum, but it is not as active and you may have to wait for a long time to get an answer or a solution that solves your problem.
Resources
Both QuickBooks and Sage Intacct offer resources to assist users in navigating and effectively utilizing their software. However, because QuickBooks has a larger user base, you will find a wider range of educational and helpful resources available for it compared to Sage Intacct.
Integration options for Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online
The integration capabilities of Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online cater to different business needs and operational scopes.
Integrations for Sage Intacct:
- Sage Intacct offers integration opportunities with a variety of applications, both custom and widely used systems.
- One of its notable strengths is the integration with Salesforce CRM.
- The flexibility of Sage Intacct is evident in its ability to connect with various applications through prebuilt connections available in the Sage Intacct Marketplace.
- This feature is particularly advantageous for businesses looking to synchronize their accounting software with specific, possibly bespoke, business applications or popular systems like Salesforce CRM.
Integrations for QuickBooks Online:
- QuickBooks Online excels in its breadth of integration options, currently boasting integrations with over 750 popular business apps.
- This extensive range includes well-known platforms such as Salesforce, HubSpot, PayPal, Square, Stripe, Shopify, and Amazon.
- The sheer volume of integrations available with QuickBooks Online makes it a highly versatile choice for businesses seeking compatibility with a wide array of commonly used business applications.
- This aspect is particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses that rely on various apps for different aspects of their operations.
Conclusion
QuickBooks Online and Sage Intacct target businesses of different sizes. Companies that have subsidiaries around the world need to rely on Sage Intacct and its multi-entity/consolidation features. Companies operating domestically in the US or Canada can rely on QuickBooks Online to effectively manage accounting, payroll, and inventory. QuickBooks has no consolidation features so it isn’t ideal for companies with subsidiaries.
If you want to learn more or aren’t sure which app to choose or stick with, then book a free consultation.
FAQs
Q: What are the key differences between Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online?
A: Sage Intacct offers more robust multi-currency support and project accounting functionality, while QuickBooks Online is more suitable for smaller businesses and offers a wide range of integrations.
Q: What are the financial reporting capabilities of Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online?
A: Sage Intacct provides robust financial reporting and customizable dashboards, offering deep visibility into business financials. QuickBooks Online offers key financial reports and customizable reporting options.
Q: Which software is better for multi-entity reporting and consolidation?
A: Sage Intacct excels in multi-entity reporting and consolidation, making it ideal for businesses with multiple subsidiaries. QuickBooks Online provides more cost-effective solutions for multi-entity consolidation.
Q: What are the A/R and A/P automation features of Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online?
A: Sage Intacct provides comprehensive A/R and A/P automation capabilities, while QuickBooks Online offers more simplified features suited for smaller-scale operations.
Q: How do Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online handle inventory management?
A: Sage Intacct provides advanced inventory management tools suitable for larger businesses, while QuickBooks Online caters to simpler inventory needs of smaller businesses.
Q: What payroll and timesheet options are available in Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online?
A: QuickBooks Online offers QuickBooks Online Payroll as an addon service, while Sage Intacct integrates with ADP for payroll and timesheet management.
Q: How do Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online differ in terms of platform and mobile applications?
A: Both have web applications accessible through browsers, but QuickBooks Online has a more comprehensive mobile app experience, while Sage Intacct can be accessed through a web browser on smartphones.
Q: What are the integration options for Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online?
A: Sage Intacct offers integration opportunities with various applications, including Salesforce CRM, while QuickBooks Online has a wide range of integrations with popular business apps.
Q: Does Sage Intacct integrate with QuickBooks Online?
A: No, it doesn’t. But Sage Intacct integrates with QuickBooks Time, which can export timesheet data for employees directly to your accounting software.
