News

New Small Business Edition of Office Slated for Fall

A new edition of the Microsoft Office 2003 suite will try to attract small business users with an accounting program tailored to their needs. Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition is slated for public availability in "early fall," Microsoft said this week.

The key feature of the Small Business Management Edition is called Small Business Accounting.

"Small Business Accounting will include core accounting, inventory management, quotes, sales orders, invoices, purchase order processing, employee management, job tracking, banking and financial reporting," Dave O'Hara, vice president of business development with Microsoft Business Solutions, said in a Q&A posted on the Microsoft Web site.

In addition to Small Business Accounting, the suite will include an updated version of Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager. According to O'Hara, integration of the accounting program with the business contact manager will give small businesses a more complete view of their business, help manage finances and offer customer relationship management functionality.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.