The launch of Sage Intacct 2026 R1 marks more than a routine product update; it reflects a broader shift in how modern finance functions operate. As organisations face increasing pressure for faster insight and tighter control, the month-end close is emerging as a defining measure of financial leadership. This release challenges long-standing assumptions about timelines, effort and visibility and raises the standard for what high-performing finance teams should expect from their systems, says Mohammed Mosam, Head of Product Growth at Brilliant Link, a premier Sage business partner.
Mosam says the integration of Sage Intacct Copilot across month-end processes addresses key headaches financial teams face every month. “Traditional processes typically see finance teams working long hours – sometimes into the night – to close off at month-end. This is because they traditionally work reactively and don’t see discrepancies until the 11th hour,” he says.
“The traditional month-end is often a ‘black box’ until it's over. While finance teams know the processes they need to follow at month-end, the reality is that things happen: people may have to interrupt their work to deal with urgent issues, and when they get back to month-end work, they may have forgotten something crucial. By introducing AI to help manage the process, you can reduce risk and proactively address discrepancies or issues at an early stage. The Sage Intacct Copilot month-end close feature is something local businesses need and is an indication that Sage is actually listening to customers to help them save time and be more proactive.”
Sage Intacct Copilot is an AI-powered, generative assistant designed to automate financial workflows, reduce closing times by up to 70% and enhance data analysis via a natural language interface.
The new Sage Copilot for Intacct changes the narrative by providing real-time visibility and automation across accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP), general ledger (GL) and cash.
Mosam notes that key features include real-time tracking, with Copilot acting as a project manager to show what has been done, what’s missing and what’s next. It also delivers automated reconciliation, surfacing sub-ledger discrepancies early to avoid the ‘last-minute scramble’, and variance detection, early flagging of unexpected variances to allow budget owners to act before the close is delayed. Sage Intacct Copilot AI-powered Search Help provides immediate technical answers without having to leave the workflow.
Mosam says: “Sage Intacct Copilot eliminates the need for long hours to close off month-end by proactively helping you manage the process. This addresses a major headache experienced by most finance departments, and we see a real need for this solution in the local market. It reduces the hours and days finance teams must spend on month-end processes. At any given time, they know what processes have been completed and what must be done, and it also highlights outliers and discrepancies.”
Sage Intacct Copilot adds to the growing range of Sage AI features, such as AP Automation, GL Outlier Detector and Intelligent Time.
Streamlining accounting
Over and above Sage Intacct Copilot, Sage Intacct includes a number of modules already proving transformative for finance departments, Mosam says.
“Sage Intacct transforms planning for the new financial year with native budgeting and forecasting in the Sage Intacct Planning module,” he says. “As companies enter new financial cycles, reliance on fragile, disconnected spreadsheets is a major risk.
"The Budgeting Wizard allows users to import entities and actuals to start planning in minutes. It also supports ‘what-if’ scenarios to model growth or market volatility separately from the main budget, and rolling forecasts to move beyond static data to dynamic, board-ready insights.”
For global organisations, manual consolidations are a time sink and tedious process, and Sage Intacct enables automated multi-entity and consolidations, with Brilliant Link focusing on automating currency fluctuations and inter-company eliminations. This delivers a single source of truth and reduces manual hours to just minutes for multi-entity reporting.
Sage Intacct Interactive Visual Explorer is another transformative module, which allows finance to turn raw numbers into a narrative for investors and management. Mosam says: “It takes the standard dashboard much further, offering features like drag-and-drop analysis using pre-built models and filters to visualise data, and colour-coded visuals to analyse data patterns and tell the story behind the numbers. This allows accountants to present clear, visually appealing data to various internal and external stakeholders, which is sometimes a challenge for accountants and finance leaders.”
Partners in transformation
Brilliant Link provides the expertise to implement these new tools effectively, Mosam notes. “We ensure that the transition to AI-powered accounting is seamless, secure and strategically aligned with the customer's growth goals. As a trusted technology advisor, it's not just about helping clients resolve issues and understand options – it's about understanding technology trends, market changes and what our clients need, and helping them address finance bottlenecks and pain points in their businesses. We help them eliminate long hours and cumbersome financial processes by automating and improving them, with our expert teams delivering end-to-end implementation and managed services,” he says.
“We understand our customer environments and have an expert understanding of the software to ensure we provide the appropriate solutions to our clients.”
To arrange a consultation or demonstration, contact Brilliant Link at (011) 792 9521 or send an e-mail to support@brilliantgroup.co.za.
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