Year-End Close Is the Best Time to Plan Your Sage 100 Upgrade
Not to run it — to plan it. Year-end close forces a hard look at your version, your data, and your calendar, which is everything an upgrade plan needs — before the January scramble starts.
You do not run a Sage 100 upgrade during year-end close. But if you wait until January to even think about it, you may already be late — because for a large share of Sage 100 businesses, the support clock runs out while the books are still open.
The Deadline Hiding Inside Your Close
Sage supports the current version of Sage 100 plus the two prior releases. Version 2022 retired in April 2025. Version 2023 retires the day Sage 100 2026 is released — and 2026 is a 64-bit-only release, arriving after Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025. Our supported versions page lays out the full table. If you are on 2023, "we should upgrade sometime" quietly becomes a hard date during your busiest month.
Why December Tells You What January Cannot
Your close just audited your system for free. The custom reports, EDI feeds, payment and sales-tax tools your team leaned on to close the year are exactly the inventory an upgrade plan needs. In January, nobody remembers which ones were load-bearing.
The data problems are on your desk right now. Negative inventory, subledgers that do not tie out — the close surfaces all of it. Those findings decide whether your upgrade is simple or staged, as our version upgrade checklist post explains — and they are far cheaper to face before a conversion than during one.
Everyone who waits, waits together. Our 64-bit upgrade post details the readiness work 2026 adds. Skip it in December and you join the January queue of businesses who found out from a failed payroll update instead.
What Scrambling Costs
Planning during close costs a few hours of attention. Discovering in January that your version is unsupported costs the same hours — plus urgency pricing, plus a team already buried in 1099s, W-2s, and auditor questions, plus a go-live squeezed into whatever window is left instead of the quiet one you would have chosen.
Use the Close. We Will Do the Rest.
Close the year on the system you have — then start with our free Sage 100 Health Check: version and deadline status, the add-ons and data the close just exposed, and a scoped recommendation for your system. Because every Digit Masters consultant is a licensed U.S. CPA, the plan is built around your reporting calendar, and our support plans keep you from facing this deadline again. A few hours in December buys you a calm spring. Reach out before the close buries the evidence.
Related Services
This topic connects directly to our core service areas: Sage 100 Consulting, Sage 100 Upgrade, ERP Support, and our free Sage 100 Health Check. If you're working through a similar challenge, contact us for a free consultation.
