A Review of

Peachtree Accounting 2002

By J. Carlton Collins, CPA

The Company Behind the Product

When it comes to evaluating accounting software, too many evaluators dive right into the product without giving a second thought to the company behind the product. It is not prudent to disregard the stability and future of the accounting software publisher. Customers who have traveled this path before know that when you select an accounting software package, the resulting relationship is akin to a marriage. Once the product is installed, the customer becomes dependent upon the accounting publisher to supply updates for payroll taxes, sales taxes, and depreciation rates. The customer must also rely on the publisher to fix bugs, provide support, and continually enhance the product to run on the latest platforms and technologies. Like it or not, the continued success of the accounting software publisher has a direct bearing on the customer's continued success with the accounting software product. The bottom line is that some accounting software publishers have figured out the magical formula for producing top quality products, successfully distributing those products directly or through a profitable dealer channel, and supporting those products in an timely matter - all while remaining profitable and achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. Those companies that fall into this category should rate higher in your evaluation and selection process. With this in mind, presented below is an brief overview of Peachtree Software Inc. - the company.

1.

Company Name

2.

Address, Phone, Web Address.

3.

Ownership

Peachtree Software Inc., a subsidiary of Best Software, U.S. Operations 1505 Pavilion Place Norcross, GA 30093 1-800-247-3224 http://www.peachtree.com www.bestsoftware.com. Peachtree Software Inc., is a subsidiary of Best Software Inc., U.S. Operations. Best Software U.S. is one of the divisions that form Sage

4.

5.

6.

Group PLC, the U.K. parent company and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (Reuters: SGE.L) with annual revenues of more than $600 million Latest Product Versions Peachtree FirstAccounting 2002 Peachtree Accounting 2002 Peachtree Complete Accounting 2002 ePeachtree One-Write Plus, Release 8.0 Peachtree 2002, Release 8.0 Peactree Classic Accounting, Release 12.0 DacEasy, Version 11 List of other Accounting Software Products Sold by Best Softwa BusinessWorks MIP MAS 90 MAS 200 Platinum for Windows by Best MAS 500 Peachtree Softwares Key Management: Doug Meyer President and COO Senior Vice President of Product Marketing and Channel Sales Jim Ducker Teri McEvily Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Senior Vice President of Operations Connie Ceruse Susan Searle Senior Vice President, Customer Sales and Marketing Vice President of Development Tom Maszk Steve McHugh Vice President of Product Management Vice President of Customer Support Ron Taylor Walter Jeske Senior Director of Internal Systems Vice President of Human Resources Russ Wise

7.

Brief History of Peachtree Software

Peachtree Software Inc. was founded in 1976. They have approximately 500 employees and market business management software and services to small businesses with 1-50 employees.

8.

Total number of customers (companies) using Peachtree

9.

Accounting 2002 Total number of users (individuals) using Peachtree Accounting

Sage PLC Financial Highlights and Other Company Highlights:

Un-audited results for the year ended 30 September 2001 for Sage Group PLC: Sage pre-tax profit up 12% to 121.3 million for year ended 30 September 2001 Turnover increased by 17% to 484.1m (2000: 412.2m) Pre-tax profit increased 12% to 121.3m (2000: 108.7m) Earnings per share up 11% to 6.59p (2000: 5.92p) Dividends for the year raised 10% to 0.425p (2000: 0.386p) Operating cash flow up 14% to 119.6m (2000: 105.0m) Acquisition of Interact Commerce Corporation (Interact) for 189m, May 2001 248,000 new customers added (excluding Interact), bringing the total to 2.8m (2000: 2.5m) y Support contracts increased 15% to 897,000 (2000: 779,000) Selected Financial Data:
y y y y y y y y

2001 Turnover Operating profit 148.8 102.5 209.2 460.5 23.6 484.1 56.3 26.3 45.6 128.2 0.2 128.4

2000 Turnover Operating profit 55.0 22.6 36.8 114.4 (2.5) 111.9

UK Mainland Europe US Impact of foreign exchange* Acquisition US

132.1 98.2 195.0 425.3 (13.1) 412.2

* Foreign currency results for the year ended 30 September 2000 have been retranslated at current year exchange rates to facilitate comparison of results, in the table above and in the operational review above.

Selected Quotes from Michael Jackson, Chairman: Our businesses have continued to win significant numbers of new customers - nearly a quarter of a million - this year. Throughout the Group we continue to find new ways of selling more products and services to existing customers. Our strategy of marketing an everexpanding product and service offering to an ever-increasing customer base remains our clear focus. As in the past, we will continue to grow our business both organically and through acquisition. Notwithstanding the current economic climate, we believe that the strength of our brands, the breadth of our product offering, the resilience of our channel and the sheer scale of our customer base provide us with a platform for sustained long-term

growth. Therefore we look forward to 2002 with confidence. "In the US, Sage has a product offering that covers the market from entry-level to midmarket. Acquisitions are being used to build the business management software solutions offering and expand the customer base." "Market conditions have been challenging and were exacerbated by disruption following Septembers terrorist attacks. The market for new license sales was especially tough, but despite this our US businesses maintained their market share and the installed base business performed strongly so that revenues (excluding Interact) grew 7% over the prior year." "At the entry-level Peachtree attracted 71,000 new customers and successfully pursued a strategy of migrating customers onto new versions, additional modules, and higher-value support contracts, which has resulted in its operating margin increasing to 23% (2000: 14%). The ability to mine the Peachtree customer base for sales leads to mid-market products provides us with a unique opportunity in the US market. The first signs of the success of this are evident in that 26% of new license unit sales of the mid-market offering, MAS90 were generated from the Peachtree customer base." "Best Software offers business management software solutions outside the accounting core. It has focused its business objectives on its market-leading FAS (Fixed Asset) and Abra (Human Resources) applications and has de-emphasized its non-core products. The resulting efficiencies have improved operating margins to 21% (2000: 14%). Best is now well-placed to address the substantial opportunity to cross-sell its products to the large installed base in the US." "Acquisitions in the US have added complementary customer bases in strategically important industry-specific markets. Haitek, acquired in March, added a manufacturing module which enhances the mid-market Enterprise Suite offering. MIP, acquired in September with 5,000 customers, established a presence in, and an opportunity to consolidate, the fast-growing non-profit sector. In addition, the acquisition of Platinum For Windows in June added 6,000 mid-market accounting customers."
"Our US businesses are focused not only on driving growth through new customer

acquisition but also on maximizing the significant installed base opportunity in the US market. We will continue to benefit from the competitive advantage we have in covering all segments of the SME market." "The acquisition of Interact in May 2001 for 189m marked a significant step in our strategy to offer SMEs a comprehensive suite of business management software solutions, by establishing for the first time an offering in the CRM market. The two Interact products, ACT! and SalesLogix, address different needs in the marketplace. ACT! is a product used by 3 million salespeople worldwide which helps the user manage individual contacts very efficiently. SalesLogix is a comprehensive CRM suite enabling an entire organization to automate sales, marketing and customer service activities. Both products are being actively

marketed to SMEs in all our markets." "In the contact management field ACT! is a bestseller with few competitors. SalesLogix, a more expensive solution, operates in a more competitive market and has suffered this year from a difficult trading environment in the mid-market. In addition, SalesLogix experienced some sales deferrals in September. Following a detailed review of the product positioning for SalesLogix, we have refocused the product offering to be more compelling to the SME market as a whole rather than just the upper end of the mid-market. The product repositioning, a simplified pricing structure and the launch of a number of innovative channel marketing campaigns are expected to stimulate revenue growth." "ACT! and SalesLogix have an estimated user base of more than 3 million. Historically, however, Interact has done very little to sell additional products and services to this substantial installed base. We are developing a range of installed base marketing campaigns to the Interact customer base, focusing in the first instance on support contracts as well as industry-specific versions of ACT! and SalesLogix. We expect this installed base activity to lead to a significant increase in revenues for Interact." "Our research confirms that there is strong demand from existing Sage customers for CRM solutions that are tightly integrated to our core accounting products. Over the last few months, we have invested considerable time and effort in building an efficient software integration tool that will allow rich integration between ACT! and Sage accounting software products. The ACT! integration tool is now complete which means that Sage operating companies are able to launch new integrated versions of ACT! In the UK, for example, the launch of Sage Contact Manager powered by ACT! is planned for March 2002." "The integration tool that will allow seamless integration between SalesLogix and our accounting products will be completed during calendar 2002. In the meantime our channel partners have access to a number of development toolkits which facilitate integration between SalesLogix and our accounting products. Links, for example, between SalesLogix and our mainstream accounting products in the US, MAS90 and Sage Enterprise, already exist and are being actively marketed to our customer base." "Drawing on our experience of integrating acquisitions and improving their operating performance, we are confident of maximizing the strategic CRM opportunity represented by Interact, not only as a stand-alone business, but also as a provider of important additional products to sell to our installed bases around the world." Source of Financial Information: RNS http://www.londonstockexchange.com/rns/announcement.asp?AnnID=342693

Two-Year Financial Information for Sage Group PLC

CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

For the year ended 30 September 2001 Continuing operations Acquisitions 2001 Total 2000 Total

(unaudited) 000 Turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Selling and administrative expenses Operating profit Interest receivable Interest payable and similar charges Profit on ordinary activities before taxation Taxation on profit on ordinary activities Profit on ordinary activities after taxation Equity minority interest Profit for the financial year Equity dividends Amount transferred to reserves Earnings per share (pence) - basic Dividend per share (pence)
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET As at 30 September 2001

(unaudited) (unaudited) 000 000 23,555 (1,037) 22,518 (22,367) 151 484,137 (50,731) 433,406 (305,025) 128,381 3,192 (10,256) 121,317

(audited) 000 412,153 (43,066) 369,087 (257,205) 111,882 3,139 (6,273) 108,748

460,582 (49,694) 410,888 (282,658) 128,230

(37,609)

(34,799)

83,708

73,949

32 83,740 (5,515) 78,225 6.59p 0.425p

71 74,020 (4,898) 69,122 5.92p 0.386p

2001 (unaudited) 000 Fixed assets

2000 (audited) 000

Intangible assets Tangible assets Current assets Stocks Debtors Cash at bank and in hand

836,329 51,208 887,537 2,308 95,248 42,764 140,320 (138,479) 1,841 889,378 (237,585) (112,809) (62)

540,422 46,504 586,926 2,489 85,369 66,417 154,275 (110,178) 44,097 631,023 (78,472) (98,066) (94)

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Deferred income Equity minority interest

538,922 Capital and reserves Called up equity share capital Share premium account Merger reserve Profit and loss account Equity shareholders funds - END y y

454,391 12,680 432,690 61,111 (52,090) 454,391

12,725 437,671 61,111 27,415 538,922

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Peachtree accounting software is the only accounting software that was introduced in the beginning of the personal computer age and still in use today. What was once a complicated DOS program has now evolved into a Windows-friendly, intuitive accounting solution for personal, small-business and corporate use. For those unsure if the program will fit their needs, there is an online version that the user can take for a test drive.

1. History
o

Peachtree accounting software began its life inside Atlanta's first computer store, The Computer System, in the 1970s. Peachtree was bundled with the first IBM

PC when it shipped to customers in 1981. It has been bought and sold by numerous vendors over the years with Sage Software purchasing the program in the late 1990s.

Significance
o

Peachtree was the first software of its type to be offered to consumers for their accounting needs. As computer technology has changed, the software has kept pace and is available for all modern Windows based systems.

Function
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Peachtree accounting software offers the consumer all forms of accounting services. Not only does the software provide General Ledger bookkeeping, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Inventory and Job Costing can all be performed within the program.

Versions
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Peachtree Pro is designed for individual or small-business use, while Peachtree Quantum is targeted toward multi-user large corporations. Because of the different levels, every business can find the version of Peachtree that best suits their needs.

Considerations
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For users who are dissatisfied or have outgrown Quickbooks Pro, Peachtree can import those files seamlessly and require very little additional setup for the program. Setting up Peachtree accounting software from scratch will require that the user know all account balances, employee information and banking information as well as other accounting processes.

Benefits
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Peachtree accounting software makes keeping the books simple for companies large and small. Training and support are available and users are notified when upgrades to the program are available. Sage Software offers a host of compatible business programs that integrate with Peachtree to address specific accounting concerns and offers payroll and direct deposit for Peachtree customers

Read more: About Peachtree Accounting Software | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5044566_peachtree-accounting-software.html#ixzz1Un5yQlhR