Accountancy vendors declare war

Access Accounting and Sage prepare for showdown

The battle between accountancy software vendors is hotting up once again, with Access Accounting launching a direct attack on rival Sage by offering significant price reductions through the channel.

Access said it is aiming to "steal vast market share" from Sage Line 50 with its Foundations XP software.

The product, which is provided entirely through the channel, will be sold to accounting firms which will then receive outsourced accounting from other companies. The price will be £150 for five companies, and £500 for unlimited companies, compared with Sage prices of £250 and £3500 respectively.

Alistair O'Reilly, managing director at Access, said his firm "already leads the market for mid-range ecommerce financials" and will bring "true multi-currency accounting" to the lower market sector.

Access is expecting a very positive response from channel partners, O'Reilly said, adding that the company has enjoyed a major increase in middle-market sales.

"While our competitors have suffered from the slowdown and seen mid-market sales dwindling, our sales are actually increasing," he claimed. "It will be interesting to see Sage's reaction to our price slashes. They could be unaffected, or we could be waking a tiger."

Michael Redmon, sales director of Access reseller Oyster Business Systems, is convinced that take-up will be strong throughout the channel.

"This product will directly compete with Sage Line 50, which has dominated the market for a long time," he said, adding that it will allow resellers to offer more of a choice to customers. "Sage is not going to get everything its own way as it has in the past," he warned.

A representative at Sage said: "We welcome any competition; it keeps us on our toes. However, we have 400,000 satisfied customers in the UK who value the excellent level of support and service they get from Sage and our reseller channel."