Initially called Sage Life, the product formerly known as Sage Live received its biggest preview to date at this week's Sage Summit conference in New Orleans. Aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, the cloud-based package, expected to be introduced next month, was described in closed sessions to members of the Sage reseller channel. Sage also revealed pricing for three different editions.

A public stock offering by Xero in the United States will be at least a year after the company's initial plans. In a presentation before shareholders at the company's recent annual meeting, CEO Rod Drury said an offering by the New Zealand-based cloud accounting software company will not be completed before the release of its results for fiscal 2016.

Approaching milestones such as buying a house or having a child, are never an easy decision. However, a new study found the majority of American adults—51 percent—are delaying at least one important life decision in the last year due to financial reasons, according to a study conducted by the American Institute of CPAs.

Although the Sage Group has a wide portfolio of software packages that executives say needs pruning, the company will not simply give end-of-life dates for these. In recent comments, Steven Kelly, CEO of the parent of Sage North America, said the company will not force users to migrate to its preferred applications.