The latest Clay Shaw Butler column from the Journal

Here is the latest Clay Shaw Butler 'Looking after business' column from the pages of the Carmarthen Journal -

By Ann Thomas, leading Consultant at West Wales Chartered Accountants and Business Consultants Clay Shaw Butler

Those who know me well will often tell you that I talk a lot, particularly when I stray onto a favourite topic.
The fortunes of the Welsh rugby team and the subject of food and drink are two cases in point. But, there again, I think we’ve all got a lot to say about those!
A popular third topic concerns the Sage accounting software package.
For those who haven’t enjoyed one of my monologues on the topic, here are some key points about Sage –
Sage is the brainchild of a printer, a Nasa scientist and a computer student.
It is now a global business valued at £3.5bn and has 6.3 million customers worldwide.
The company – originally called Sage Systems, then Sagesoft before becoming known simply as Sage – was set up by printer and entrepreneur David Goldman, with Newcastle University student Graham Wylie and Nasa scientist Dr Paul Muller.
It is celebrating its 30 anniversary.
The company focuses on accountancy software, mainly for the SME (small to medium-sized enterprises) market.
Brendan Flattery is the CEO for Sage UK and Ireland.
He says, “The increasing prevalence of broadband and smartphones has enabled many business people to break away from the confines of their desk, and empowering our customers with anytime and anywhere access to key business information has been a major development.
“It is a very exciting time for Sage and our customers. As new generations of instinctively web-centric entrepreneurs start their own businesses, we expect the proportion of accounting software delivered via the web to increase for small and micro businesses, and innovative cloud products such as Sage One will allow us to meet those needs.
“Twenty per cent of UK employees work in our research & development team and with more than 10% of those dedicated to delivering our online strategy, we are consistently exploring new technologies that will help make it easier for people to run their business.”
Some key facts about sage –
Sage founded with a £40,000 loan from Barclays.
Group valued at £3.5bn, has 6.3 million customers and operates in 24 countries.
Employs more than 2,300 staff in UK and 13,500 globally. Of these, 1,500 are based in the North East.
One in four UK employees are paid using Sage software.
400,000 UK businesses file their tax returns using Sage software.
One third of FTSE100 companies use Sage's software.
For further details on the software, whether it be for purchase, upgrade or training, you can give us a call at Clay Shaw Butler. It is also worth bearing in mind that we have team members here who are specialists in Quick Books software and other accounting packages. They can help with training and ‘hand-holding’ for inexperienced computer operators.
The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500 or through the website at www.clayshawbutler.com