I work in accounts and although I find the job quite boring, I have worked in many places with different accounting software, and have to say that Sage Accounts 2009 does make your life a little easier.

The software is very user friendly, so even if you've not used it before, as long as you have a grasp of accounts and the double entry system, you shouldn't have too many problems working it out. The program has bars along the left hand side representing Customers, Suppliers, Company Information, Bank Accounts, Products, Projects and Diary, and so it's obvious when you are attempting to do something which screen you need to be in.

In the Customer and Supplier tab, you have the option to create new accounts for customers/suppliers, raise invoices, print letters, run statements, or print various reports from the reports icon.

The Company tab is where you manage things like VAT, department codes, journals, month end, and your financial statements mainly the P&L and balance sheet.

The bank tab lists your bank accounts, and enables you to pay suppliers or receive payments from customers through this screen, post payments, transfer money between accounts and do bank reconciliations.

The other tabs are self explanatory, with products being to help you manage your stock so you can see what's being booked in and out (I haven't used this for a while), and the projects and diary I have never used.

The only issue with Sage is that if you make a mistake and post a transaction in error, you can't just press an 'Undo' button like in Microsoft Office, instead you have to reverse the transaction through journals. This can look messy on the transaction history.

One thing to bear in mind with Sage, as with any other software, is that you will need to run regular back-ups of the software. If you fail to do this you can risk losing data if the system is corrupted, and I have learned through experience that this can cause many a sleepless night!

Overall though, this is an excellent package for maintaining your sales and purchase ledger, and running monthly and annual accounts. It cuts down on your workload as it posts the double entry transaction for you, you just have to choose the correct nominal code. I would say it's most useful in larger companies, and if not too many people have access to enter transactions as it's better if one person keeps control over the system.