Modern finance leaders are navigating rapid change, from real-time reporting demands to automation, multi-entity complexity, and digital transformation. The right financial platform can move financial management from manual, retrospective reporting to proactive strategic partnership. This guide helps CFOs evaluate financial systems, with a spotlight on Sage Intacct, its competitors, other Sage offerings, and key decision criteria.
What Successful CFOs need in a Finance System:
Today’s CFO must balance accuracy and compliance with strategic insight and agility. A strong financial platform should:
- Give real-time financial visibility
- Support automation and compliance
- Scale with organisational growth
- Integrate with wider business systems
- Enable scenario planning and forecasting
These capabilities reduce risk, shorten close cycles, and empower finance to drive value.
Is Financial Digitalisation the Future?
Future-focused CFOs are increasingly migrating to cloud accounting platforms, to overcome the limitations of legacy systems such as remote access issues, limited automation and visibility plus high upgrade and maintenance costs.
Cloud accounting systems like Sage Intacct are designed to deliver real-time insights, automation, and robust reporting, freeing up time while reducing manual error risks and IT overheads.
Sage Intacct’s key strengths include multi-entity consolidation, dimensional reporting, real-time visibility and scalability for growing organisations.
Intacct has strong core accounting capabilities, with a modular design enabling the solution to be customised to suit a wide variety of business needs (such as project accounting, multi-entity management etc.). Integrations with a wide ecosystem of business systems (including Salesforce) enhance Intacct’s potential further, aligning sales and finance departments and improving collaboration across an organisation.
Watch a 10 Minute Sage Intacct Overview Demo:
Comparison of Leading Financial Management Platforms
Let’s look at the leading accounting platforms CFOs are choosing including Sage Intacct, NetSuite, Dynamics 365, Acumatica, Sage 200 and Sage X3 and the types of businesses they suit best:
| Platform | Best Fit | Advanced Automation | Scalability | ROI Potential | Notes |
|---|
| Sage Intacct | Finance-centric, multi-entity, mid-market growth businesses | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (Strong financial automation workflows) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (Multi-entity, cloud scalability) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (High due to efficiency gains) | Best choice for finance automation & multi-entity reporting |
| NetSuite | Organisations needing full ERP across finance + CRM + operations | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Good automation across ERP) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (Highly scalable global ERP) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Strong but broader scope may dilute finance ROI) | Strong ERP breadth, heavier to implement |
| Dynamics 365 | Microsoft ecosystem adopters | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Good automation within MS stack) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Scales within Microsoft landscape) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Good, varies with configuration) | Best for MS-aligned organisations |
| Acumatica | Businesses needing flexible deployment and broad ERP functionality | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Flexible workflow automation) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Cloud & hybrid options) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Good, mainly for midsize) | Strong flexibility but less finance focus |
| Sage 200 | UK mid-market businesses with moderate complexity | ⭐⭐☆☆ (Basic automation) | ⭐⭐☆☆ (Moderate scalability) | ⭐⭐☆☆ (Lower ROI for complex needs) | Good for core needs, limited advanced automation |
| Sage X3 | Large enterprises with manufacturing or deep operational needs | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (ERP automation, ops focus) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (Enterprise scalability) | ⭐⭐⭐☆ (Good ROI for complex ops) | Good for tighter control & depth of finance, supply chain, manufacturing & operations |
Financial platforms are foundational to organisational growth and agility. Sage Intacct stands out for CFOs prioritising deep financial automation, real-time insights, and multi-entity management without the overhead of full ERP complexity. Competitors like NetSuite, Dynamics, and Acumatica each have strengths, while Intacct’s cloud financial capabilities and modular pricing often deliver faster time to value for finance teams. Ultimately, the choice should align with strategic goals, operational complexity, and long-term growth plans.
Which Financial Platform offers the highest ROI?
While financial platforms vary in pricing and ROI, key factors include:
ROI Drivers:
- Automation of repetitive tasks (close, reconciliations)
- Real-time reporting for faster decisions
- Reduced manual errors and compliance risk
- Shorter close cycles and better forecasting
Sage Intacct has documented ROI improvements including reduced close times and productivity gains through automation.
Acuity24 customers have reported significant efficiency improvements, substantial time savings and the ability to focus more on strategic activities since implementing Sage Intacct with us – explore more by viewing our Customer Case Studies Here.
Pricing Insights
Most enterprise financial platforms use subscription based pricing with modular add-ons, so the price is dependent on factors including number of users, modules and contract terms etc.
Software partners can provide custom proposals and quotations based on your specific business requirements.
For details on Acuity24 pricing for Sage Intacct or Sage X3, get in touch here or take our 2 minute Sage Intacct Price Check Here.
Choosing the right Software Partner
Selecting the right business partner for your software implementation is as crucial as choosing the platform:
Key Criteria to Consider:
- Industry experience with similar businesses
- Proven implementation track record
- Training and change management support
- Ongoing support and optimisation services
A strong partner reduces risk, accelerates time to value, and ensures finance teams adopt best practices throughout configuration and rollout.
Working with Acuity24 as your Sage Business Partner
Clients choose Acuity24 for specialist Sage expertise and a delivery model that removes surprises. Our fixed-price projects and flexible billing provide cost certainty, while our experienced Sage X3 implementation partners and dedicated Sage Intacct team focus on outcomes, not hours. You get practical resources, including free training content and case studies, plus access to consultants with global experience across the UK and South Africa.
Rapid Intacct onboarding, deep X3 domain knowledge and integration capability mean faster time to value and a smoother transition from legacy tools such as Sage 200. In short, we are the Sage Partner that combines enterprise know-how with transparent delivery.
Interested in discussing the potential fit of Sage Intacct or Sage X3 for your business?
If your finance team is struggling with manual processes or disparate systems, now is the time to evaluate platforms that can elevate finance management from operational support to strategic leadership:
