Sage Pastel increases cross-border training
efforts
[Johannesburg, 8 July 2005] - Sage Pastel continues to support its strong growth
in 50 countries with a concerted education drive focussed on its range of
accounting and business management solutions. The goal of the drive is to
improve the practical accounting skills in the regions it operates in outside of
South Africa and press home the need for SMEs to adopt recognised accounting
principles in their daily operations.
"Over the past three years, we have trained over 4000 students, 450 resellers
and 150 accountants," says Jeff Lewis, director of Sage Pastel . "In addition,
we have launched Pastel Authorised Training Centres (ATCs) in 37 countries; with
two schools and one university in Africa committing themselves to running
courses using Pastel software exclusively."
"By far the largest component of our training commitment is into Africa. As more
international organisations focus on the continent, more African SMEs are
realising they need to be able to demonstrate their commitment to accepted
accounting practices if they wish to become part of the global economy. Adopting
certified accounting practices and electronic financial applications sends a
clear signal that these companies are now open for business."
In addition to improving the skills of customers, partners and accountants in
the regions, the training is aimed at ensuring SMEs know how to select the
correct electronic accounting solutions that will best serve their business
needs. Most SMEs select the Pastel range of accounting applications because of
the ease of use, reliability, stability and international brand recognition that
is part of the Pastel name – as well as the training on offer that takes them
far beyond simple accounting.
Sage Pastel has six dedicated training specialists who travel across the
continent, and the world, spending between one and four weeks in every location
to ensure their courses bear fruit. The training starts with the basics needed
to run a set of books and advances to product-specific courses for Pastel
Xpress, Pastel Accounting and Pastel Evolution.
"These are not merely courses in which attendees receive a certificate of
attendance simply for turning up," says Lewis. "Every attendee has to pass an
exam at the end of the course, attaining a minimum of 80%. By keeping the
standards high, we ensure our users understand the financial principles they
have to apply in their businesses, and how Pastel software can help them run
their businesses more efficiently."
The popular image of Africa is that it is a hotbed of corruption and that
transacting in the region is a high-risk enterprise. Simply adopting standard
accounting practices and maintaining an efficient set of books will quickly
dispel this image and encourage more investment in the region, which will lead
to the economic growth the continent desperately needs.
Sage Pastel is the leading supplier of accounting and business management
applications and products are currently sold in more than 50 countries. The
software is available in 6 different languages including Dutch, English, Danish,
German, Icelandic and Portuguese.
For more information please visit the Sage Pastel website on www.sagepastel.com
|