Accounting and stock
Sage stock control
Sage 50 runs stock inside the accounts. The parts a multichannel operation leans on, such as order processing, allocations and returns, sit in the Professional variant.
If you sell through Shopify Plus, the question is which system is allowed to be right about stock, and what Sage 50 receives from it.
Professional only
Orders, allocations, BOM
Sales and purchase order processing, stock allocations, stock returns and bill of materials are listed for Sage 50 Accounts Professional only.
SourceUsers on Standard
Two
Sage 50 Accounts Standard is listed at two users maximum; Professional at unlimited.
SourceBill of materials
Up to 50 components
Sage: a product made of other products can carry a bill of materials of up to 50 items.
SourceRead from Sage 50's own published pages on 23 September 2026. Vendors change features without changing the pages that describe them, so check the current page before these inform a decision.
Three ways to run stock with Sage 50
Each is right for a particular operation. Channels and locations decide when you move from one to the next.
01
Stock stays in Sage 50
Fits when
One sales channel, one stock location, and an item count well inside what the package handles.
Who owns what
Sage 50 is both the ledger and the stock system. That's the simplest setup there is, and it's right for as long as the conditions hold.
02
An inventory app beside it
Fits when
A second channel or a second location has arrived, and the accounts still suit the business.
Who owns what
The app holds the count across channels and locations. Sage 50 holds the value and receives what the app posts.
03
A stock system that owns the truth
Fits when
Several channels, more than one warehouse or a 3PL, and Shopify Plus at the front.
Who owns what
Shopify Plus sells, the stock system says what exists and where, and Sage 50 keeps the books. Each owns one thing.
What a stock system has to hold, and how the products in that market compare, is set out on stock control software.
What Sage 50 has to receive
Sales
Every channel's orders, at the value the customer paid, with VAT split out.
Refunds
Against the sale they reverse, so returns don't sit as unexplained credits.
Fees
Payment and marketplace fees as costs in their own right, never netted silently off the sales line.
Payouts
Each deposit matched to the orders, refunds and fees inside it.
Stock value follows from whichever system holds the count. How those four flows reconcile, and where they break first, is set out on accounting and stock. The summary-or-invoice decision that shapes the connector is on the Shopify Xero integration page, and it applies whichever package keeps the books.
The same question for the other packages
Xero inventory management
Xero tracks up to 4,000 finished items, each with a quantity on hand and an average cost. For anything past its built-in tools, Xero itself points to an app.
QuickBooks inventory management
QuickBooks Online tracks stock on its Plus and Advanced plans, valued FIFO or at moving average cost. The method is fixed once chosen, so it's a decision to make before the first stock item exists.
Where stock should live alongside Sage 50
Tell us which channels you sell through, where the stock sits and how Sage 50 is set up today. We'll reply with the setup that fits and what it takes to get there.