As organizations grow, accounting requirements can become more complex, particularly for finance teams managing multiple entities, joint ventures, distributed operations, and expanding reporting needs.
In addition to commonly reported user concerns, this article includes observations Gravity Software has heard directly from organizations using Sage Intacct and evaluating whether another accounting platform would better support their growth.
Sage Intacct is a well-established cloud financial management platform used by many growing and mid-sized organizations. However, no accounting system is the right fit for every organization, and some Sage Intacct users report challenges with day-to-day usability, multi-entity processes, reporting flexibility, and the administrative effort required to manage certain accounting workflows.
These challenges can become more noticeable as organizations add entities, increase transaction volume, or require greater visibility across increasingly complex financial structures.
This article examines common Sage Intacct pain points reported by users and the considerations growing multi-entity organizations should evaluate when determining whether their accounting system continues to support their needs.
Which organizations may experience these Sage Intacct pain points?
The fit of any accounting system depends on an organization’s structure, processes, reporting requirements, and finance team. Challenges may become more noticeable for organizations managing multiple entities or increasingly complex financial operations.
This can include:
- Multi-entity businesses and holding companies.
- Private equity, investment, and family office structures.
- Real estate and renewable energy organizations managing multiple legal entities or projects.
- Franchise and hospitality organizations with distributed operations.
- Healthcare and professional services organizations with multiple locations or entities.
- Lean finance teams responsible for increasingly complex accounting operations.
For these organizations, the question is often whether the accounting system continues to provide the right balance of financial functionality, usability, reporting flexibility, automation, and scalability as the business grows.
1. Transaction editing can require additional steps
Day-to-day transaction corrections are an important part of accounting operations, particularly during month-end close. Some Sage Intacct users report that editing or correcting transactions can involve more steps than they would prefer for routine accounting work.
Reported frustrations can include:
- Reversing entries to make certain corrections.
- Updating multiple transaction lines.
- Navigating additional steps for routine transaction changes.
- Spending more time making corrections during month-end close.
For finance teams processing a high volume of transactions across multiple entities, even small workflow inefficiencies can add up. When evaluating an accounting system, organizations should consider not only whether transactions can be corrected, but also how efficiently users can make those changes as part of their everyday accounting processes.
2. Multi-entity accounting workflows can involve additional manual processes
For organizations managing subsidiaries, joint ventures, holding companies, real estate portfolios, investment entities, or other complex structures, the efficiency of multi-entity accounting processes can become increasingly important.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with processes such as:
- Managing intercompany allocations across multiple entities.
- Distributing shared expenses between companies.
- Completing multiple steps for certain intercompany transactions.
- Managing consolidation processes as entity structures become more complex.
These workflows may be manageable for organizations with relatively few entities, but the amount of manual work can become more significant as additional companies and intercompany relationships are added.
When evaluating multi-entity accounting, finance teams should consider how the system handles transactions that affect multiple companies, including whether related entries can be created automatically, how due-to and due-from balances are maintained, and how easily entity-level financial information can be consolidated.
The goal is not simply to support multiple legal entities. It is to make sure the accounting processes between those entities remain manageable as the organization grows.
3. Consolidated reporting can become more complex as entities are added
Organizations managing multiple legal entities often need both separate financial statements for each entity and a consolidated view of the organization. As the number of entities, subsidiaries, and reporting relationships increases, the process used to produce those consolidated views becomes increasingly important.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with areas such as:
- Moving between individual entities and consolidated views.
- Managing parent and subsidiary reporting structures.
- Completing additional steps as part of consolidation workflows.
- Creating and maintaining different entity groupings for reporting.
- Producing consolidated information without relying on additional spreadsheet work.
For growing multi-entity organizations, consolidated financial reporting should make it possible to understand the organization as a whole while retaining access to the individual entities behind the consolidated results.
When evaluating an accounting system, finance teams should consider how easily they can consolidate selected entities, change reporting groups as the organization evolves, and move between consolidated results and the underlying financial detail.
Gravity has also heard this concern directly from organizations using Sage Intacct. One growing multi-entity organization said that although Sage Intacct supported multiple entities, portions of its consolidation process were still completed manually outside the platform. As the organization added subsidiaries and its financial structure became more complex, simplifying consolidated reporting became increasingly important.
4. Reporting flexibility may not meet every organization's needs
Financial reporting requirements often become more varied as organizations grow. In addition to standard financial statements and consolidated reporting, finance teams may need to analyze performance across departments, projects, locations, entities, or other dimensions of the business, including reporting structures where dimensions have parent-child or hierarchical relationships.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with reporting flexibility, including:
- Customizing reports for specific management or stakeholder needs.
- Analyzing trends across multiple entities or reporting dimensions.
- Adapting reporting structures as the organization changes.
- Creating specialized financial views without additional workarounds.
- Using spreadsheets for analysis that is difficult to perform directly within the accounting environment.
For organizations with changing reporting requirements, financial reporting across multiple companies may need to provide several perspectives on the same financial information. Finance leaders may want organization-wide results, while managers may need information by entity, department, project, location, or another meaningful category.
When evaluating reporting capabilities, finance teams should consider how easily they can create new reporting views, analyze financial information across different dimensions, move from summarized results to the underlying detail, and distribute recurring financial report packages to the appropriate stakeholders without rebuilding reports outside the accounting system.
5. Bank reconciliation and ledger workflows can create additional friction
Bank reconciliation and general ledger processes are routine accounting activities, so the efficiency of these workflows can have a significant impact on the finance team’s day-to-day workload.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with areas such as:
- Navigating bank reconciliation workflows.
- Reviewing and matching transactions during reconciliation.
- Moving between ledger activity and supporting transaction detail.
- Researching differences or exceptions that require additional investigation.
- Completing routine reconciliation processes efficiently as transaction volume increases.
These challenges can become more noticeable for finance teams responsible for multiple bank accounts, entities, or high transaction volumes. Small inefficiencies in a frequently repeated process can add meaningful administrative work over time.
When evaluating accounting software, finance teams should consider how easily users can reconcile accounts, investigate exceptions, move between summarized and detailed financial information, and complete routine ledger processes without unnecessary steps.
6. Recurring accounting processes can require additional administration
Recurring transactions can help finance teams manage accounting activities that happen on a predictable schedule, including accruals, allocations, amortizations, and other routine entries.
Some Sage Intacct users report that managing recurring entries can require more administrative oversight than they expected, particularly when accounting processes need to be repeated across multiple entities.
For growing organizations, finance teams may need to:
- Create and maintain recurring journal entries.
- Manage recurring allocations across entities or departments.
- Update recurring transactions when amounts or assumptions change.
- Review scheduled entries before or during month-end close.
- Maintain recurring processes consistently across multiple companies.
When evaluating accounting software, finance teams should consider how easily recurring transactions can be created, updated, reviewed, and applied across the appropriate entities.
As the number of entities and recurring transactions grows, the goal is to reduce the amount of repetitive accounting work required to maintain those processes without sacrificing financial control.
7. Usability can be a consideration for lean finance teams
Accounting software can offer extensive functionality while still requiring time for users to learn how to navigate the system and complete everyday accounting processes.
Some Sage Intacct users report usability challenges such as:
- Learning how to navigate the system and locate frequently used functions.
- Completing routine accounting tasks across multiple screens or menus.
- Training new employees on established accounting processes.
- Adapting workflows as responsibilities change across the finance team.
- Maintaining efficiency when users work in the system less frequently.
The impact of these challenges can depend on the size and structure of the finance team. Larger organizations may have dedicated system administrators or employees who specialize in particular accounting functions, while lean finance teams often need the same users to manage several areas of the accounting process.
Gravity has heard similar usability concerns directly from organizations using Sage Intacct, particularly as finance teams add entities and need more employees to work efficiently within the accounting system.
8. Budgeting workflows may not fit every organization's needs
Budgeting requirements can become more complex as organizations add entities, departments, locations, projects, or other dimensions that need to be included in the planning process.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges when budgeting processes require greater flexibility, particularly when finance teams continue to rely on spreadsheets for parts of the planning process.
For example, one organization evaluating a move from Sage Intacct maintained project budgets in Smartsheet while its corporate-level budget remained in Excel. That type of environment can make budget-to-actual analysis more fragmented as projects and entities multiply.
Depending on the organization, challenges may include:
- Managing budget information across multiple entities or dimensions.
- Updating budget values as assumptions change.
- Moving budget information between spreadsheets and the accounting system.
- Supporting more complex financial models or planning requirements.
- Comparing budgets with actual financial results across different areas of the organization.
For growing multi-entity organizations, budgeting should support the way finance teams plan and analyze the business. When evaluating accounting software, organizations should consider how easily budgets can be created, updated, analyzed, and compared with actual results at both the individual entity and consolidated level.
9. Approval workflows can create operational bottlenecks
Approval workflows need to balance control with efficiency. As organizations add entities, departments, and more people outside the accounting team, the approval process can become more difficult to manage if rules and routing are not flexible enough.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with areas such as:
- Customizing approval rules for different entities, departments, or transaction types.
- Routing approvals to the appropriate users as responsibilities change.
- Encouraging adoption among managers and other non-accounting approvers.
- Managing workflow configuration as the organization grows.
- Maintaining clear auditability without adding unnecessary administrative steps.
For multi-entity organizations, approval requirements may vary by company, amount, department, location, or other financial responsibility. Finance teams should consider whether the accounting system can support those differences without requiring overly complex configuration or manual workarounds.
When evaluating approval workflows, the goal is to maintain appropriate financial controls while making it easy for the right people to review and approve transactions efficiently.
10. Document and attachment workflows can add administrative work
Supporting documentation is an important part of accounting operations, particularly during month-end close, audits, and transaction reviews. Finance teams need to be able to locate invoices, receipts, contracts, and other supporting documents without creating additional administrative work.
Some Sage Intacct users report challenges with areas such as:
- Uploading and managing attachments.
- Locating supporting documentation for specific transactions.
- Linking documents to the appropriate financial records.
- Retrieving documentation during audits or financial reviews.
- Managing supporting documents consistently across multiple entities.
These challenges can become more noticeable as transaction volume and the number of entities increase. When supporting documentation is difficult to locate or manage, finance teams may spend additional time gathering information for auditors, management, or other stakeholders.
When evaluating accounting software, organizations should consider how easily users can attach, organize, retrieve, and review supporting documentation within their normal accounting workflows.
11. Administrative complexity can increase as organizations add entities
Growing organizations should also evaluate what happens operationally when another legal entity is added. One former Sage Intacct customer told Gravity that its team did not want to “reinvent the wheel” each time a new company was created. For organizations regularly establishing subsidiaries, project companies, SPVs or joint ventures, repeatable entity setup can become an important scalability consideration.
As organizations grow, the question is not simply whether an accounting system has the functionality they need. Finance leaders also need to consider how much time and administrative effort are required to manage that functionality.
Some organizations using Sage Intacct may find themselves spending additional time on activities such as:
- Managing and maintaining accounting workflows.
- Troubleshooting processes when requirements change.
- Maintaining workarounds for specialized accounting needs.
- Exporting financial information to spreadsheets for additional analysis.
- Managing system configuration and other administrative tasks.
The impact of this complexity can vary considerably by organization. A finance team with dedicated system resources may have different requirements than a lean accounting team whose employees are responsible for both day-to-day accounting and financial analysis.
For growing multi-entity organizations, the goal is to find the appropriate balance between financial functionality, flexibility, automation, and operational simplicity. Finance leaders should evaluate not only what an accounting platform can do, but also the resources required to operate and maintain it as the organization grows.
What organizations using Sage Intacct have told Gravity Software
Not every organization evaluating an alternative to Sage Intacct is doing so for the same reason. In Gravity Software’s conversations with organizations currently using Sage Intacct, the reasons for considering a change have ranged from day-to-day usability and manual multi-entity processes to the ongoing cost of maintaining the system.
One renewable energy organization originally selected Sage Intacct in part for its multi-entity consolidation capabilities. As the organization expanded and added more entities, however, its team found Sage Intacct was not as intuitive or easy to use as expected and described portions of its consolidation process as manual and occurring outside the accounting platform. The organization ultimately moved to Gravity Software as it looked for a more repeatable way to add entities, manage intercompany activity, simplify consolidated reporting, and support its accounting team as the business continued to grow.
In another evaluation, a nonprofit had used Sage Intacct for approximately 12 years and had significant intercompany activity. The organization was not looking to change because Sage Intacct lacked the accounting functionality it needed. Instead, a change in its bookkeeping relationship substantially changed the economics of continuing with Sage Intacct, leading the organization to evaluate alternatives that could preserve its multi-entity and intercompany capabilities at a more appropriate cost.
These conversations illustrate an important distinction: organizations do not always replace accounting software because it cannot perform a required function. Sometimes the question is whether the system remains the right fit for the finance team’s usability, operational efficiency, multi-entity processes, and budget.
When Sage Intacct pain points lead to evaluating alternatives
Experiencing one of these challenges does not necessarily mean an organization needs to replace its accounting system. The more important question is whether recurring pain points are beginning to affect the finance team’s ability to operate efficiently, produce the information stakeholders need, or support the organization as it grows.
Organizations may begin evaluating other accounting platforms when they need:
- More efficient multi-entity and intercompany accounting processes.
- Greater flexibility in financial reporting and analysis.
- Less reliance on spreadsheets and manual workarounds.
- Accounting workflows that are easier for lean finance teams to manage.
- More flexible automation and approval processes.
- A platform that can scale with additional entities without creating unnecessary administrative complexity.
The right accounting solution depends on the organization’s structure, financial requirements, existing technology, and long-term growth plans. Finance leaders should evaluate whether another platform provides a better balance of functionality, usability, automation, reporting flexibility, and scalability for the way their organization operates.
If your organization is considering a change, our guide to Sage Intacct alternatives explains what to evaluate when comparing other accounting solutions.
How does Gravity Software compare with Sage Intacct?
Once recurring Sage Intacct pain points begin affecting consolidation, intercompany accounting, reporting or the amount of administrative work required from the finance team, the next step is usually to compare how other platforms handle those same processes.
Gravity Software is designed for growing multi-entity organizations and is built natively on the Microsoft Power Platform. It provides finance teams with a connected accounting environment for managing multiple entities while taking advantage of Microsoft technologies such as Power BI, Power Automate, and Microsoft Copilot for reporting, workflow automation, business intelligence, and AI-assisted access to financial information.
Key areas organizations may want to compare include:
- Multi-entity and intercompany accounting.
- Consolidated financial reporting.
- Reporting flexibility and financial visibility.
- AI-assisted invoice processing, workflow automation, and approvals.
- Microsoft Power BI and Power Automate integration.
- Microsoft Copilot and AI capabilities.
- User experience and administrative requirements.
- Scalability as entities and financial complexity increase.
For a detailed side-by-side evaluation, read our Gravity Software vs. Sage Intacct comparison.
Organizations evaluating whether Gravity Software could be a better fit for their accounting requirements can also schedule a demo to discuss their current processes and priorities.
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Updated on September 2, 2026