Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 Review

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(More customer reviews)With Office Small Business Accounting, Microsoft is making another attempt to enter a market that has not responded well to its previous entries. Strong points are integration with a SQL Server database, the Office tool set, one banking group (Wachovia), and one payroll service (ADP). Weak points are limited support for inventory, assets, structured accounts, and employee benefits and records.
Ease of use, these days a Microsoft hallmark, is better than QuickBooks (Intuit) and Peachtree (Sage). However, importing from QuickBooks or Peachtree is likely to fail because of design quirks and rigidity in the Microsoft product. If you try to import using accounts that Microsoft is somehow unable to recognize, they will be silently dropped. Our subaccount structures were not imported.
Inventory methods are limited to FIFO, which happens to be what we use. There are 12 built-in accounts; most characteristics cannot be changed. In many businesses they would be useful only as subaccounts, but they cannot be made into subaccounts. Only one level of subaccounts is provided, and subaccounts are not supported at all for cash or bank deposits. Built-in accounts treat credit-card purchases as cash payments at time of purchase. You will not be able to use direct deposit for payroll unless you sign up with ADP for an expensive "full service" option.
The product runs only on Windows XP, not on any of the older systems. Integrated support features that generate forms, export data or use contacts require Microsoft Office to be installed on the same computer. Contacts are fully supported only for Office 2003. Only the appearance of forms can be changed; the content is fixed at whatever Microsoft thought it should be. Microsoft didn't think service invoices should include dates of service, and so they won't. Try that on your clients. Unlike QuickBooks, Microsoft didn't think you should delete transactions you entered by mistake, so you won't be able to. However, you can zero them out and move them to a dead-letter account, which you will need to invent.
To install and activate the product requires a Microsoft Passport account. To set up a Passport account requires disclosing an e-mail address and using it for verification. Although Microsoft is promoting a year of free assistance as an inducement, its Web site for product support is asking $35 per e-mail contact after the first two. The Help menu offers a service to "Find an Accountant" that launches a Web page trying to sell Microsoft products to accountants. On the forum pages you find arrogance toward customers such as the likes of, "Well if QuickBooks will do that, why don't you just stay with them?"
The offer of a year of free support is available to U.S. customers who register before the end of September, 2006, by calling 866-827-1619 (toll-free). Before registering for support you must install and register the product and upgrade to its latest version. Use Help / Check for Ugrades. As of spring, 2006, one upgrade kit has been released. Support is by telephone at the same number, from Microsoft staff in the U.S. This is bound to be expensive for Microsoft to provide; it signals a strong commitment to the product.
By Microsoft standards the documentation is above average, but for the rest of the world it is pretty hopeless unless you are very skilled at both accounting and software. As of spring, 2006, one book on the product was available, an introductory-level book from Microsoft Press just slightly longer than the User's Guide that comes with the product. The User's Guide and the product have several time-wasting inconsistencies, for example, the spelling and capitalization of account types. Mix them up, and you cannot import a chart of accounts. There is no usable information in the User's Guide or the on-line documentation on how to set up accounts for most payrolls. Apparently you do it by experiment, or you pay ADP for the "full service" option as mentioned above.
A warning to potential users who need more than one computer to access accounting records. While Microsoft Small Business Accounting can support multiple users, because it relies on a SQL Server database, product documentation does not explain system requirements clearly. In your My Computer / Folder Options / View properties, on all the computers with access to an accounts records database, you must turn off the option "Use simple file sharing" at the bottom of the properties list, which is turned on by default.
We believe that several so-called "reviews" here are from Microsoft and its vendor network, because the reports are far different from our experience. We do continue to hope Microsoft will give QuickBooks and Peachtree long overdue kicks in the touchas. We managed to work our way around pitfalls of the product and will use it for a year to see if Microsoft will solve its problems while maintaining its strong points. If not, then we will go back to QuickBooks.


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Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006 is a comprehensive financial management program designed for companies with up to 25 employees. It allows small business owners and office managers to manage their business financials using software that is easy to set up and has the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Office 2003. With Small Business Accounting 2006, companies with employees already familiar with Microsoft Office products can save hours of training and set-up time. This easy-to-use, comprehensive accounting software can help small businesses reduce costs by helping them make more informed decisions and work more efficiently.Small Business Accounting 2006 has everything you need to manage your company's financials -- accounting, inventory management, sales order and purchase order processing, job tracking, banking, and even payroll. Designed to be quickly installed in-house (an easy startup wizard helps users get set up, connected, and working in less than an hour), Small Business Accounting 2006 is as quick and convenient as it gets while still offering the robust accounting features that today's businesses demand.If you have existing financial information, an import wizard allows you to transfer your existing financial data from QuickBooks or Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Excel 2002. With this software, you can manage your accounts efficiently by creating customized quotes, invoices, and purchase orders; manage inventory; track payroll and time sheets; forecast cash flow; and much more. Online banking tools can also help you manage multiple bank accounts and stay on top of customer billing and payments.When it's time to pay your employees, you can process your payroll online seamlessly and efficiently with Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP). Microsoft has partnered with ADP, the leading provider of payroll solutions to small businesses for more than 50 years, to provide a wide range of integrated payroll services to meet your business needs. For an additional fee, ADP gives you the tools to manage employee data, calculate payroll, print checks, run payroll reports, and file your payroll taxes. ADP also offers payroll services that handle all the facets of the payroll process. When you're in business, you know how valuable your time is. ADP will take care of your payroll so you can spend your time building your business.Every business owner knows how important it is to stay ahead of the curve in today's economy. With more than 60 easily customizable lists and reports, you can forecast and track cash flow, inventory, and sales. The cash flow management tool allows you to plan for multiple scenarios, view numbers for a designated time period, and change data to conduct your own "what if" scenarios.No matter how much previous accounting experience you have, Small Business Accounting 2006 is easy to use. Whether you want to track transactions with vendors and customers, record banking activity, coordinate payroll, or create and track quotes, purchase orders, and statements, you don't need a technical consultant to help you. The Small Business Accounting 2006 startup wizard helps you to set up the program to suit your company's needs.Best of all, Small Business Accounting 2006 shares information with other leading Microsoft Office programs, such as Microsoft Office Word 2003, Excel 2003, Access 2003, and Outlook 2003. This not only saves you in training costs, but it also greatly reduces the time your company takes transferring and updating data. In fact, employees with Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update can perform account maintenance functions -- such as creating quotes, orders and invoices -- without ever leaving Outlook. Outlook updates information in Small Business Accounting 2006 in real time, making data re-entry unnecessary while saving time and reducing errors. These documents can then be customized in Word to sharpen their professional appearance. Using Outlook with Business Contact Manager Update also provides employees with complete and up-to-date account information on any client, enabling better, more informed customer service. This same mechanism allows the company owner or manager to get a one-stop overview of customer account information.In short, Small Business Accounting 2006 is a solution that fits the unique needs of every small business. Regardless of whether your business is growing rapidly, or whether is just needs a simpler and more efficient process, this integrated software package provides all of the tools you will need to finish your tasks quickly, keep on top of the big picture, and have more time to spend on what matters most to you.
Note: Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006 can be purchased as a stand-alone product, or as an integrated component of Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006.

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