Oracle NetSuite vs. Sage Intacct: Which Is the Better Accounting Software for Your Business?

7 min read

As SMEs grow and expand into the middle market, it is usually necessary to upgrade the business's accounting software system to a system that provides more comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) functionality in addition to financial management, traditional bookkeeping, and basic accounting features.

In the mid-market business space, there are two popular frontrunners: Oracle Netsuite® and Sage Intacct® . Both software suites are cloud-based and strive to provide comprehensive bookkeeping and accounting features in addition to more complex, comprehensive ERP options.

What Is ERP Software?

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) refers to a set of applications that integrate with a business's accounting software system to streamline and automate a company's operations including financials, customer service, inventory, order management, invoicing, sales, marketing, procurement, human resources management, e-commerce, and more.

In an ERP system, all applications operate from a single database to improve collaborative workflows, complex reporting, and automation across organization-wide departments or even multiple entities.

What Is Sage Intacct?

Sage Intacct is a cloud-based SaaS ERP software that includes core financial tools (for financial management) in addition to budgeting, planning, human resources, and payroll products.

The core product includes accounts receivable and payable, cash management, an intelligent general ledger, order management, and purchasing.

The software is highly customizable and its capabilities include invoicing, project accounting, fixed assets accounting, allocations, inventory management (warehouse management and multiple locations), revenue recognition, real-time customizable reports, subscription billing, and a personalized dashboard with featured KPIs.

Read More: The Pros and Cons of Outsourced Accounting Services for Businesses

Additionally, Sage Intacct includes a marketplace that includes hundreds of third-party applications that can be integrated with the core software to increase functionality for organization-wide management. Sage Intacct is also fully integrated with Salesforce for complete customer response management and e-commerce capabilities.

If the included integrations and applications are not sufficient for your business, Sage Intacct can also accommodate its users' custom-built applications.

Sage offers thorough training, implementation, and ongoing customer support.

Sage Intacct Benefits

One of Sage Intacct's primary benefits is its Dimensions feature which increases visibility, categorization, views, and multi-dimensionality in reporting. As a result, you can easily customize reports by location, department, vendor, customer, employee, project, item, or class. It also enables renaming and further customization of report categorization to accommodate each, individual business's needs.

Additionally, it offers the added compliance benefits of being fully compliant with GAAP reporting.

Intacct is also designed to support businesses with multiple entities, accounting for full or partial ownership an automating inter-company transaction eliminations during account consolidation processes.

Read More: How Switching to Sage Intacct® Can Set Your Business Up for Growth

What Is Oracle NetSuite?

NetSuite is also a cloud-based ERP software system. It offers various modules designed for managing business processes throughout an organization. This includes the availability of modules designed to support accounting, ERP, global business management, CRM, human capital management, professional services automation, omnichannel commerce, analytics, and more. It includes a fully integrated database, as well as revenue recognition capabilities. NetSuite features its own customer relationship management platform but can also integrate with Salesforce.

NetSuite's module for global business management (OneWorld) provides an exceptionally powerful tool for managing multi-currency accounting and consolidation in multi-national entities with over 200 countries supported.

NetSuite Benefits

NetSuite offers several benefits, as a complete, full-featured ERP system. It's highly customizable and can meet all of your business's needs with its add-on modules. In addition to providing everything as a part of its own accounting software, NetSuite still accommodates many powerful third-party integrations with Salesforce's CRM software.

Its user dashboard simplifies use, facilitates business intelligence insights, and provides a variety of financial and non-financial reports and KPIs.

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NetSuite vs. Intacct: Key Similarities and Differences

Similarities:

• Both Intacct and NetSuite are popular, robust, cloud-based SaaS ERP systems that cater to growing SMEs, mid-market businesses, multi-entity companies, and multi-currency companies.
• The products are suitable for businesses that have outgrown their entry-level QuickBooks system that no longer provides enough scalability or complexity to handle the business's needs.
• Both systems offer many similar features, but they differ quite a bit in terms of the functionality of these features, user experience, and system architecture.
• Both provide real-time reporting and cloud-based dashboard access and use.
• Both products use artificial intelligence to power data insights and management tools.
• Both provide highly customizable industry-specific software solutions to commercial businesses, government entities, and nonprofits.

Price:

Pricing is one key difference between NetSuite and Intacct. NetSuite comes with an enterprise-level entry price tag which means it has more expensive upfront costs.

While Sage Intacct has a lower entry price point, its pricing is more opaque and increases in relationship to the number of features and users a business needs.

Despite the difference in pricing structures, both software options are highly customizable. Due to the lower upfront cost of Intacct, it is typically considered the more affordable option because the price fluctuates with the options and features selected. As a result, you're more likely to pay for the features that you are using.

Important Endorsements:

Sage Intacct is the only accounting software system that holds an official endorsement from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). This means that the AICPA has signed off on Intacct's ability to handle and comply with the rules and requirements set forth by the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This is especially important regarding Intacct's subscription billing and revenue recognition capabilities.

Sage Intacct vs. Netsuite: Which Is Best for Your Business?

Based on nearly 6,000 reviews from primarily mid-market business leaders collected by G2 in a comprehensive comparison and rating, Sage Intacct finishes just ahead of Oracle NetSuite, with the software options earning 4.3 stars and 4.0 stars, respectively. While NetSuite offers slightly more features than Intacct, users overall are satisfied with Intacct's range of capabilities and customizations. They also believe that Intacct is more user-friendly and has a less significant user learning curve.

Build a Better Back Office With Outsourced Accounting

Pairing your ERP software with a scalable outsourced accounting team can help you shift your mindset from accommodating business growth to driving business growth. With the right team, tools, and technology, you can learn to use your financial data to tap into invaluable business insights that will help you make strategic, data-driven decisions and take your company to the next level - without having to cover next-level, in-house employee costs.