Announcing the release of Microsoft^® Office Accounting Professional 2008

At Microsoft we're committed to unlocking the potential of small businesses through innovative software and services. That's why we've worked extensively with accounting professionals as well as small businesses to ensure that what we deliver meets your needs and those of your clients.

We are excited about the launch of Microsoft® Office Accounting 2008, the third version of Microsoft’s small business financial management product. This release will put full-featured financial management software into the hands of millions of Microsoft Office users. As a result, there are many new opportunities to grow your practice and serve your clients better.

Office Accounting 2008 is available today in four versions online from Microsoft and will be available at retail in early 2008:

• Office Accounting Express 2008 - FREE download.
• Office Accounting Professional 2008 - $199.99.
• Office Accounting Express Spanish – FREE download.
• Office Accounting Professional 2008 Spanish - $199.99

Office Accounting Express 2008 offers small businesses a FREE, full-featured financial management package. This application is tailored to new and existing home-based businesses and sole proprietors, companies that currently use pen and paper and/or Excel to do their financial management. Office Accounting Express 2008 makes it easy to get started, since it works with and looks like other Microsoft Office programs.

In addition to robust financial management features, Office Accounting Express 2008 offers small businesses the opportunity to sell merchandise on eBay®, send invoices and receive payments electronically through PayPal®, bank online, process payroll, run credit reports, share their books with their accountant remotely, and more.

New features in Office Accounting Express 2008 include:

• Office Accounting Resource Center.(demos, step-by-step guides, forums, etc.)
• Universal import of transactions.
• Bulk e-mail of documents.

Businesses with more complex accounting needs will want to upgrade to Office Accounting Professional 2008. This application offers all the capabilities of Office Accounting Express 2008 plus additional features including inventory, purchase orders, customizable reports, fixed asset management, and multi-currency support. Accounting Professional 2008 adds more sophisticated functionality in addition to what’s offered new in Express, like:

• Budgeting tools
• Convert sales orders into purchase orders
• Scheduled documents

All versions of Office Accounting 2008 offer enhanced features that make managing your clients' books more easily, quickly, and accurately than before such as:

• Accountant Navigator. Manage multiple clients from a single dashboard
• Accountant Transfer Wizard. Edit and transmit client files for seamless updates
• Payroll Center-run payroll for an unlimited number of clients from a single account
• Journal Entry Worksheet. Enter multiple accounts, customers, and vendors in one journal entry form
• Online File Sharing. Online sharing of books with your clients using Office Live
• New! Accountant Business Template Export. Create templates for building clients’ charts of accounts
• New! Show/hide voided documents. Instantly see voided entries so you can spot unusual transactions

In addition, your clients’ implementations of Office Accounting can lead to numerous consulting and integration opportunities. Office Accounting can be integrated exceptionally well with other Microsoft solutions, like Small Business Server, Word, Access, and Excel. The program itself offers many customization opportunities. Accounting professionals and Microsoft Small Business Specialist partners can work together to their mutual benefit.

For more information about these Microsoft Partner Programs, please visit www.microsoft.com/mpan .