/ latin /. v., learn thoroughly
Flag of United States

Catalog of Sage 50 titles

Our Sage 50 practice sets immerse students in realistic merchandising scenarios in which they assume responsibility for completing a one-month accounting cycle for their business in an actual copy of the Sage 50 Complete Accounting software. Students follow the US GAAP accounting standard, use the perpetual inventory system, and manage sales tax as part of their transactions.

Instructors are encouraged to order a free review copy of their selected title.

Available titles and the differences in their design

The pedagogical approach between our titles differs, with each title having been written for a distinct purpose:


Practice set title cover

1. The Sage 50 Practice Set challenges students with a large project that is designed to be completed as a homework activity over a multi-week period. The student is appointed as the new accountant to an "Electronics Specialist" retail store and their first task is to convert the current accounting system of that store into the Sage 50 software. They then begin analyzing the transactions for the month before completing end of month processes and financial reporting.

This practice set is our most difficult title and expects students to submit answers and review their feedback, and then independently identify any individual transactions that may be causing discrepancies. Our multimedia resource, the Sage 50 Learning Center, provides students with significant support but they are still required to problem-solve on their own, and to identify and correct any mistakes they may have made in their Sage 50 files. This title is graded out of 419 points.


Practice set with download title cover

2. The Sage 50 Practice Set with Data File Download is similar to the first title above but provides students with the Sage 50 data files, suppliers, inventory, customers, employees and opening balances already pre-filled.

Other than during the file set-up phase, this practice set is as challenging as the standard Sage 50 title but takes less time to complete because students are not required to set up their own data file. This title is graded out of 331 points.


Simplified practice set title cover

3. The Sage 50 Simplified Practice Set is significantly easier than the first two titles. The student is the owner of their own sole proprietorship that sells gift baskets to larger corporates and their Sage 50 data files, suppliers, inventory, customers and opening balances have already been set up for them. The business is smaller with significantly fewer transactions, simpler transactions (for example, no discounts, no sales/purchase orders, and no sales/purchase returns) and no staff payroll to manage.

This title provides more guidance to students to assist them in reaching the correct answers and is explicitly written to be relatively more of a learning task. To build confidence and assist students to check their understanding, additional feedback is provided early in the practice set on key purchase and sale transactions to help students ensure they are making the major entries correctly before working through the remainder of their transaction list.

Detailed feedback includes a line-by-line break down of each transaction that is recorded in each general ledger account to assist students to quickly and easily identify any mistakes they may have made in their Sage 50 files. This title is graded out of 136 points.

You can review more detailed information about the academic content and pricing of this title using our content & pricing page.

PDF icon

Please download our Title Overview as a PDF brochure for a detailed comparision of the three titles in an easy-to-print format.

Selecting which title is the best fit for your course

Sage 50 practice set cover image

Use the content & pricing page to gain a deeper understanding of the academic design of each of the different titles. You may find that the design or content of your own teaching, or the skill and knowledge that you require your students to demonstrate, better suits a specific title.

Alternatively, the titles complement each other and can be used together for the same cohort of students with (say) the Sage 50 Simplified Practice Set being used as an introductory learning activity followed by the full Sage 50 Practice Set as a more rigorous assessment activity.

Because the Sage 50 Simplified Practice Set is designed to assist introductory accounting students gain familiarity with Sage 50, it is likely that the grade distribution for this title will be skewed towards high outcomes, and that a grade of 100% will not be uncommon.

On the other hand, the full Sage 50 practice set titles are significantly longer and more demanding, resulting in a lower average score and a more normal distribution of grades for most typical accounting courses. As a result, if assessing your students’ deeper knowledge of Sage 50 is your primary goal, you may find that one of these harder titles is more appropriate.

Adopting is easy

Adopting a Perdisco practice set is like adopting one from any other publisher. We'll help you select the best resource and send you and your teaching team free online and review copies. You can review our sets yourself, or we can guide you through a review and demonstration.

With over fifteen years experience in publishing tertiary level e-learning, we can also offer you insight into how other academics use our resources worldwide - including recognized best practice approaches for using Perdisco resources in teaching, revision and assessment programs. Our learning resources have featured in academic studies published in the
International Journal of Learning that demonstrate (quote) "students’ learning was significantly enhanced through the use of the Perdisco e-learning resources".

Once you adopt, we'll provide you with lecture slide packs and course syllabus inclusions to help students access their Perdisco resource. And once semester starts, our customer support team will stay in touch - providing ongoing assistance to both you and your students.

Don't teach Sage 50?

If your accounting course teaches students how to use a different accounting software package, or focuses on how to complete the accounting cycle manually, please check our manual practice set catalog for more information on the other practice set editions we have available.

Getting started

Contact us to find out more or to order a review copy.