Labs

Although Microsoft Money has been around for some time, the company is a newcomer to business accounts. To make sure Office Accounting gets off to a good start, the Express version is being given away free.

As you'd expect, this edition is relatively basic. It provides a chart of accounts, which you need to run a double-entry bookkeeping system, but doesn't have any of the extras of the Professional version: a wider

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range of reports, cashflow forecasting, and multi-user access over a network.

The program's home screen (referred to as a 'resource centre') looks remarkably like Sage's. In common with all the other business accounting programs on test, Microsoft has adopted the flowchart method for entering most financial data. The flowcharts are gratifyingly simple, with as few steps as possible. Entering other transactions, such as the payment of bank charges or the accumulation of interest, is easily achieved using the Nominal activity button on the Banking tab.

From the website, you might get the impression that the Express version can't do reports. In fact, it can create reports on ten core topics (profit and loss, cash flow, VAT and so on). The one thing it does lack is the ability to forecast future cash flow, a feature that users will sorely miss. To get this, and a wider range of reports, you have to buy the Professional version, at £149. Even with its extra features, this hefty price isn't justified.