Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses

A free edition of Office Accounting 2007, Microsoft’s basic accounting package for small companies, targets the many small and home-based businesses that today use spreadsheets or paper to track finances. Office Accounting Express 2007, which will ship with several editions of the forthcoming Office 2007, could offer those businesses an attractive alternative to Intuit and Peachtree accounting products, none of which are available in free editions, and help get them on the Microsoft product track. However, Office Accounting Express’s features are limited, and some customers could quickly outgrow it.

Basic Accounting, Support for Online Services

Office Accounting Express 2007 is a stripped-down edition of Office Accounting Professional 2007, the follow-up release to Small Business Accounting (SBA) 2006, which the company released in Sept. 2005. The Express product offers double-entry accounting with a simple, customizable interface, wizards for accessing common financial management functions, and integration with Office. While the Professional Edition targets established companies with up to 25 employees, the free Express Edition could appeal to smaller businesses, including start-ups and those operating without accounting software.