Growth & Customers

Sage Intacct vs NetSuite: Why financial services firms choose Sage Intacct

Learn about the fundamental differences of Sage Intacct and Oracle NetSuite to make an informed decision that aligns with your firm's growth objectives.

For growing financial services firms, choosing the right financial management solution is a critical decision that impacts every aspect of operations.

While both Sage Intacct and Oracle NetSuite offer cloud-based platforms, understanding their fundamental differences is crucial for making an informed choice that aligns with your firm’s growth objectives.

Today’s financial services landscape demands more than legacy systems can deliver

The role of the modern financial services CFO has evolved dramatically.

Beyond traditional accounting responsibilities, today’s finance leaders face mounting pressure to drive strategic growth while navigating increasingly complex regulatory requirements.

Your team needs to consolidate data across multiple entities, provide stakeholders with instant access to performance metrics, and scale operations globally––all while maintaining strict compliance and controlling costs

Both Sage Intacct and NetSuite promise to address these challenges, but their approaches reflect fundamentally different philosophies about financial management.

While NetSuite offers a broad ERP solution designed to serve multiple industries, Sage Intacct has built its platform specifically for the nuanced needs of those in accounting and financial management.

This specialized focus becomes evident when comparing their capabilities across key areas.

1. Multi-entity management: The foundation of financial services operations

Managing multiple entities efficiently can mean the difference between growth and stagnation in financial services.

The Sage Intacct approach to multi-entity management reflects deep industry expertise, offering continuous consolidation that transforms what was once a month-end burden into a real-time strategic advantage.

Rather than waiting for period-end processing, as required with NetSuite, your team can access consolidated views instantly, whenever they’re needed

This difference becomes particularly apparent in how each platform handles inter-entity transactions.

Sage Intacct includes automated inter-entity transaction processing dramatically simplifies reconciliation between entities.

For firms managing multiple investment vehicles or operating across various jurisdictions, this automation can save dozens of hours each month while reducing the risk of errors.

The impact extends beyond just saving time.

The Sage Intacct dimensional reporting architecture allows you to analyze performance across any business driver––whether that’s by investment type, geographic region, or any other metric relevant to your firm.

NetSuite’s more rigid reporting hierarchies often require custom development to achieve similar flexibility.

2. Financial controls and compliance: Beyond basic requirements

In today’s regulatory environment, maintaining robust financial controls goes far beyond a box-checking exercise.

Financial services firms must aim to build trust with stakeholders while managing risk effectively.

This is another area where the platforms’ different approaches become clear.

Sage Intacct is recognized as the AICPA’s preferred financial management solution reflects its comprehensive approach to compliance and control.

Every change is automatically documented in detailed audit trails, while configurable approval workflows ensure your policies are consistently enforced.

This built-in compliance infrastructure has helped firms like Halstatt reduce audit preparation time from weeks to days while strengthening their control environment.

NetSuite, while offering basic compliance features, often requires additional modules or customization to match Sage Intacct native capabilities.

This difference becomes particularly important when dealing with industry-specific requirements like ASC 606 or IFRS compliance.

3. Real-time analytics: Turning data into decisions

The ability to spot trends and make data-driven decisions in real-time has become a competitive necessity in financial services.

 Both platforms offer analytics capabilities, but their approaches to delivering insights differ significantly.

Analytics in Sage Intacct are built specifically for financial services workflows, with real-time dashboards that update continuously as transactions occur.

The platform’s AI-powered alerts can identify potential issues before they become problems, while drill-down capabilities let your team move from high-level insights to transaction details in seconds.

This real-time visibility is particularly valuable for investment analysis and portfolio management.

4. System integration: Building your ideal technology ecosystem

Modern financial services firms rely on a variety of specialized systems to excel in their markets.

The ability to integrate these systems effectively can dramatically impact operational efficiency.

Sage Intacct uses open API architecture, reflects an understanding that financial services firms need flexibility in building their technology stack.

With over 200 pre-built connections and real-time data synchronization capabilities, the platform makes it easy to create a unified view of your business without sacrificing the specialized capabilities your firm needs.

5. Implementation: Setting your team up for success

The implementation approach can be just as important as the technology itself in determining your project’s success.

In Sage Intacct, finance-led implementation methodology consistently delivers faster time to value compared to NetSuite’s more IT-intensive approach.

This difference stems from fundamental design philosophies.

Sage Intacct was built to be configured and managed by finance professionals, while NetSuite often requires significant technical expertise.

The result is typically a smoother transition and faster adoption with Sage Intacct, as evidenced by firms like MidCap Credit & Capital achieving ROI within seven months of implementation.

Real results that speak volumes

The true test of any financial management solution lies in the results it delivers.

Financial services firms using Sage Intacct consistently report transformative improvements in their operations:

  • Halstatt, a family office, reduced consolidation time from over 100 hours to minutes for board book preparation
  • CoVenture improved financial management efficiency by 10x across 30 entities, reducing close time from 60 hours to 6
  • Haversine Funding eliminated 5-8 hours of manual work each week

Final thoughts

When choosing between Sage Intacct and NetSuite, consider how each platform aligns with your firm’s specific needs and growth objectives.

While both offer cloud-based financial management capabilities, only Sage Intacct brings you a purpose-built approach for financial services, transparent pricing model, and finance-led implementation methodology often make it the superior choice for firms seeking to transform their financial operations.

Ready to learn more?

Download our ROI infographic to explore the benefits leading firms are gaining from modernizing their financial operations.