Ron Verni Appointed to Sage Group Plc Board of Directors

Business Wire, July 23, 2002

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2002

The Sage Group plc (Group), the U.K. parent company of Best Software, today named Best Software President and CEO Ronald F. Verni to its board of directors, effective immediately.

Verni, based in Atlanta, oversees all of Group's U.S. operations, including Best Software's CRM, Mid-market, Nonprofit/Government, Small Business and Specialty Products divisions. The five divisions currently account for more than 50 percent of Group's global revenue and over 1.6 million customers(a), of which more than 700,000 are active on support or related services.

"We take pride in the depth and quality of our management team, and have been strengthening it throughout the Group as we seek to provide more and better support to our 2.9 million customers," said Group's Chairman Michael Jackson. "Ron's appointment to our board of directors is in recognition of his continuing contributions to growing our business and confirms the importance of the U.S. market in achieving that goal."

"I'm honored to join Group's board in working together to further strengthen our market leadership," said Verni. "This opportunity offers Best Software a direct voice in strategic decisions in the year ahead."

Verni has served as Best Software president and CEO since October 2000, during which time he has successfully implemented a variety of strategic acquisitions focused on expanding Best Software's industry-specific offerings. Such recent initiatives include the September 2001 acquisitions of Micro Information Products (MIP), now Best's Nonprofit and Government Division, and the June 2002 acquisition of JSI Fundraising Systems. He has also created a strong central management team to better leverage cross-selling opportunities to Best Software's substantial installed base of more than 1.6 million U.S. customers, including improved branding, sales incentives and customer analysis programs.

Verni joins existing board members Michael Jackson, Group's chairman; Paul Walker, CEO; Paul Stobart, COO; Paul Harrison, finance director; managing directors Guy Berruyer and Graham Wylie; and non-executive directors Lindsay Bury, John Constable, Kevin Howe and Tim Ingram.

Verni, a 20-year industry veteran, previously served as president and CEO of Peachtree Software, Best Software's Small Business Division, for five years, where he drove strong revenue and operating income growth and was instrumental in the integration of Peachtree into the Group family following its acquisition in 1999.

Prior to Peachtree, Verni was a VP of marketing with Automatic Data Processing in the Electronic Services Division. Before that, he was president and CEO of NEBS Software, Inc., a general manager and corporate officer of New England Business Service, Inc., and the founder and CEO of Astec, Inc. He is a past board member of the Software and Information Industry Association, has been recognized by Accounting Today as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting" and is on the board of advisors of the Robinson College of Business.

About Best Software

Best Software offers leading business management products and services that give over 1.6 million small and mid-sized customers in North America the insight for success throughout the life of their business. Its parent company (London: SGE.L) supports nearly three million customers worldwide and has revenue of nearly $700 million. For more than 25 years, Best has delivered easy-to-use, scalable and customizable applications through its portfolio of leading brands, including Abra, MAS 90, FAS, MIP Nonprofit Series, SalesLogix, Peachtree and ACT!, among many others. For further information about Best Software, please call 866-308-BEST or visit Best's website at www.bestsoftware.com/moreinfo.

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(a) excluding CRM Division