Peachtree by Sage 2009 Gives Small Businesses New Tools for Business Planning and Analysis

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire - May 22, 2008) - Sage Software announced today the availability of the Peachtree by Sage 2009 product line, offering new features and improvements that assist small businesses in the long-term management of their operations through enhanced analysis, reporting and payroll management, real-time alerts, and time and expense tracking.

"Small businesses that select Peachtree are laser focused on their numbers, and how they can better manage those numbers to improve their operations," said Connie Certusi, general manager of small business accounting solutions, Sage Software. "That focus is crucial in the current economic climate, and with Peachtree 2009, we're providing even more customer-driven features to facilitate careful analysis and business planning for long-term success."

Sage Software worked closely with small businesses through its Customer-Connected Design Center to identify opportunities to enhance functionality and introduce new features in Peachtree 2009. Business planning and analysis capabilities were foremost among owner requests. Highlights include:

Cash management tools that improve ability to project cash flow: Peachtree 2009 expands the product line's already powerful cash flow analysis capabilities to bring even more critical analysis capabilities to small firms. With the new Cash Manager Tool, small businesses can easily anticipate cash needs by seeing what they have now, and what they should have in the future. They can also run "What If" scenarios to see the impact of certain activities such as addition or elimination of inventory, pricing changes, the addition of staff or other investments on the business, without running actual transactions, and can customize cash flow projections based on historical transactions or other activity. All of those scenarios can be exported to Microsoft® Excel for more in-depth analysis.

New multi-year reporting for richer budgeting, trend analysis and more accurate forecasting: Multi-Year Reporting allows small companies to report on General Ledger and Financial Statement data outside of two open years, allowing them to easily compare budgets and financial results using more comprehensive historical trends.(1)

Easier payroll management: Accurate payroll is vital to any small business, and in 2009, payroll management is even easier with an improved Payroll Setup Wizard, which walks small businesses through payroll setup and maintenance with a series of simple questions. The expanded payroll also supports many additional benefits, such as multiple retirement and insurance plans, as well as flexible spending accounts and additional state taxes, vacation and sick time tracking, and more secure presentation of employee data. All Peachtree reports now display only the last four digits of Social Security numbers to help prevent identity theft, comply with state laws, and help small businesses get a handle on the potential for fraud within their firms.

Real Time Alerts anticipate problems and reduce errors: With Real Time Alerts, firms receive a warning when they use a non-standard A/P or A/R account on Purchase and Sales Invoices, as well as when they use non-Cash accounts on Receipts and Payments. This alert feature takes the existing Internal Accounting Review feature a step further by warning small businesses as problems occur, so there's less likelihood of mistakes continuing and causing problems in the long term.

Streamlined Time and Expense tracking for professional services firms: Firms that track time can now set the first day of the work week for weekly timesheets, and to save time, they can also copy timesheets from the previous week, as well as see new Time and Expense Ticket List Views, for better analysis.

As an added bonus, Peachtree 2009 customers automatically receive 100 MB of off-site storage free with Peachtree Online Back-up powered by Iron Mountain®(2). Customers will continue to receive this benefit with each subsequent upgrade, or as part of Peachtree Business Care and Peachtree by Sage Quantum.

Also available in the product line is Peachtree by Sage - Quantum 2009. Introduced in 2006, Peachtree Quantum is the most comprehensive application in the product line, offering all of the new features and enhancements along with more user and transaction volume support. In addition to the existing 10 seat license, Peachtree Quantum now offers 15, 20 and 30 seat licenses(3), and with the new SmartPosting technology, even faster performance(4). This technology provides significant performance improvements in multi-user environments based upon repeated tests that have proven Peachtree Quantum 2009 significantly outperforms products such as QuickBooks® Enterprise 2008 with up to 4 times faster transaction processing in a 20 user environment.(5)

Pricing and Availability

Peachtree Premium Accounting 2009, Peachtree Complete Accounting 2009, Peachtree Pro Accounting 2009 and Peachtree First Accounting 2009 are now available direct from Sage Software and will be available from most computer retailers and office supply stores in mid-June. The suggested retail price for Peachtree Premium Accounting 2009 is $499.99, Peachtree Complete Accounting 2009 is $269.99, Peachtree Pro Accounting 2009 is $169.99, and Peachtree First Accounting 2009 is $69.99. The Multi-User Value Pack (5 seat license) of Peachtree Complete Accounting retails for $699.99, while the Peachtree Premium Accounting 2009 Multi-User Value Pack (5 seat license) can be ordered direct from Sage Software for $1,199.99. High value competitive rebates are available from Sage Software for customers on other small business accounting packages. Call 800-228-0068 for more details.

Also available direct from Sage Software and from hundreds of Peachtree Certified Consultants nationwide as well as selected resellers are Peachtree - Quantum 2009, Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing 2009, Peachtree Premium Accounting for Construction 2009, Peachtree Premium Accounting for Distribution 2009, Peachtree Premium Accounting for Nonprofits 2009 and Peachtree Premium Accounting 2009 - Accountants' Edition. The Multi-User Value Pack (5 seat license) is available for each vertical industry specific solution. Peachtree Quantum supports up to 30 licensed, named users, and is designed for companies that are outgrowing the capabilities of the Peachtree accounting line and the Peachtree Premium vertical industry solutions.

About Sage Software

Sage Software supports the needs, challenges and dreams of nearly 2.9 million small and medium-sized business customers in North America through easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software and services. Our products support accounting, operations, customer relationship management, human resources, time tracking, merchant services and the specialized needs of the construction, distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and real estate industries. Sage Software is a subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services to small and medium-sized businesses. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989. Sage Group now has 5.7 million customers and employs over 14,800 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the web site at www.sagesoftware.com or call (866) 308-2378.

1 Upon upgrading to Peachtree 2009, 3 years of converted Peachtree Financial Statement data and account balance data on General Ledger reports will be readily accessible, as well as any future closed years will be available.

2 Includes access to 100MB of Storage space for one year from date of installation. Upgrade to next Peachtree release required to continue free yearly service beyond initial term. Subject to third party terms and conditions. Internet access required. Terms, conditions, pricing, features and service options subject to change without notice. Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Terminal Services are not supported.

3 Multi User licenses available in packs of 10, 15, 20 or 30. A maximum of 30 licensed, named users is allowed. Only the first 30 named users selected in the user maintenance screen are considered licensed, named users.

4 Performance results are based on recommended system requirements for Peachtree Premium Accounting 2009. Results may vary based on configuration, size and content of data file, system and network traffic. For information on testing environment refer to www.peachtreequantum.com/test09.

5 Performance results are based on recommended system requirements for Peachtree Quantum Accounting 2009, which satisfies the system requirements for QuickBooks Enterprise 2008. Results may vary based on configuration, size and content of data file, system and network traffic. For information on testing environment refer to www.peachtreequantum.com/qbetest09.

©2008, Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. The Sage Software logo, Peachtree, and the Peachtree logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact Information: Media Contacts: Marchell Gillis 770-724-4256 marchell.gillis@sage.com Aimee Ertley 770-724-4556 aimee.ertley@sage.com