Customers claim that Sage, an accounting and payroll provider, forced them to accept expensive membership packages.
According to a Financial Times (FT) story, Sage has forced a number of U.K. firms to sign up for more expensive subscriptions or risk losing access to their accounting software products.
“It’s a lot of nonsense,” Kate Barton, owner of the model train manufacturer Reeves 2000, told the Financial Times.
Barton stated that she updated her so-called perpetual bundle in January 2019 for a 15-year license. However, she now faces monthly payments of 155 pounds ($187) under a subscription arrangement.
According to the Financial Times, small firms who use Sage software complained that the transition to monthly subscriptions appeared to be a method for Sage to raise the price of its packages, which Sage rejects.
Sage’s terms and conditions include a 15-year period for perpetual licenses. When Sage announced that software access will be discontinued by September 30, several users upgraded to monthly subscriptions to keep access to their data.
Sage stated that there is “nothing specified in the T&Cs” that allows them to disable the software for clients who have several years remaining on their licensing period.
As previously reported, corporations are having difficulty filling accounting positions.
“There aren’t a lot of people entering into the industry, and there are a lot of people departing from that profession,” OpenEnvoy CEO Matt Tillman told us earlier this year.
Despite a record number of job opportunities, audit and accounting roles are taking longer to fill. According to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, the percentage of new accountants starting jobs is down 15.9% year on year.
While automation and digitalization may not be able to solve the job gap, they do provide an appealing alternative for reducing recurring pain points.
