Microsoft's New Accounting App

Office Small Business Accounting 2006 takes square aim at Intuit's highly popular QuickBooks by offering unparalleled integration with Office applications.

Richard Morochove, special to PC World

Microsoft today officially unveils the shipping version of an accounting application that squarely targets the QuickBooks crowd. Office Small Business Accounting 2006, which has been in public beta for almost a year, is available as a $179 stand-alone application, but you don't realize its full potential unless you also own a version of Microsoft Office 2003 that includes Business Contact Manager for Outlook.

That said, Office SBA is Microsoft's best effort to date to meet the accounting needs of small businesses, using easy-to-understand flowcharts that guide non-accountants in its use. We looked at the shipping code and found a capable app aimed at Microsoft Office users who also want to maintain the company books.

SBA's strength rests with the software's ties into the customer relationship management features found in Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager. Both SBA and the updated Outlook are included in the Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006. But if you don't already have a version of Office with BCM for Outlook, you'll need to buy or upgrade to the entire suite to get it--Microsoft isn't offering BCM for Outlook as a stand-alone upgrade to Office versions that don't include it. Office Small Business Management Edition 2006 costs $669 ($569 after a $100 mail-in rebate) for those new to Office, or $499 ($399 after mail-in rebate) to anyone upgrading from Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, Works 6.0 through 8.0, or Works Suite 2000 through 2006. (Speaking of mail-in rebates, you can get one for $30 for the stand-alone version of SBA, which lowers the price to $149.)

SBA lets sales reps use Business Contact Manager to create sales quotes and start the order process, automatically passing the order information to SBA. The application uses Word for customizing accounting forms, such as invoices, and Excel for transferring financial data into spreadsheet form. SBA picks up where these workaday business apps leave off: It tracks sales and customer accounts receivable, disbursements, and vendor accounts payable, along with banking and financial reporting.

Basic paycheck preparation is included with SBA, but to keep up with tax changes it's more convenient to subscribe to a special version of ADP's online payroll service (starting at $169 per year). About 75 other third party add-ons should be available at launch.

Microsoft is targeting SBA at small businesses with up to 25 employees; the software accommodates up to 5 accounting users, the same market now served by Intuit's QuickBooks and Best Software's Peachtree Accounting. However, SBA is a logical step up if you now keep the books using an Excel spreadsheet or a manual "shoebox system."

Yardena Arar contributed to this story.