News: Software for Small Business

Microsoft to Take on QuickBooks

by Keith R. Wheeler

11/10/2004

For many years Intuit’s QuickBooks has had the vast majority of the small business accounting software market share. Several years ago, Microsoft made an attempt to purchase Intuit rather than compete with them in the personal financial software market. It appears now that Microsoft is making a serious push to cut into Intuit’s small business accounting lead. The next version of Microsoft Office looks to have a new offering called Small Business Accounting. It’s a full-featured double-entry accounting system with integration into other parts of the Office suite. By combining the features of Small Business Accounting with the already established features of Outlook with Business Contact Manager and Excel, Microsoft is attempting to put all of the tools a small business owner/manager needs into one solution. Don’t expect Intuit to just sit still while Microsoft makes their move. The new Microsoft products won’t probably be available until late 2005. Intuit has built a great deal of customer loyalty so Microsoft will need to make a really compelling case to switch (along with an excellent conversion process). What Microsoft can look forward to is the tens of thousands of small businesses which open their doors each year.