Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business [Old Version]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Easy-to-use tools for invoicing, cash flow management, tax planning, inventory tracking, online payroll management, and income and expense categorization.
• Payroll for Microsoft Money by PayCycle calculates and prints paychecks, fills out tax forms, and alerts you to upcoming tax deadlines.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0009KLGPO
• Item model number: S67-00016
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 21, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #6 in Software > Personal Finance > Investment Tools
  • #44 in Software > Business & Office > Business Accounting > Accounting
  • #47 in Software > Personal Finance > Money Management

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Designed for small business owners, Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business has all of the planning and investing tools of Money 2006 Premium, plus tools that help you effortlessly manage your business finances. Create invoices, track spending and manage your cash flow with easy, intuitive tools. And, enjoy valuable financial services that come free with Money 2006 Small Business.

Tools for small business owners

Stay on top of your business List your products, services, inventory, and pricing in the Products & Services List and then effortlessly add them to invoices. It’s easy to price your services, track taxable items, reimbursable expenses and costs, and add discounts to line items. The Products & Services List integrates with reports, so you can see the value to your bottom line. Create and track invoices Design professional looking custom invoices for sending by mail or e-mail. Keep track of your accounts receivable and payables and maintain a current picture of your company’s finances. Take the hassle out of payroll Payroll for Money by PayCycle lets you easily process payroll online — from paychecks to W-2s. Just enter hours to instantly calculate taxes and voluntary deductions. Print paychecks and pay stubs right from your printer. Save time with automatically completed 940s, 941s, and W-2s that are ready to submit. Stay on top of tax deadlines with e-mail reminders and To Do lists. Manage inventory and customer information Convenient, easy-to-use tools help you manage your inventory and make sure your customer information stays current. Fast financial reports Get the information you need quickly. Money 2006 Small Business can automatically generate a wide variety of reports on all aspects of your business. Easily create custom reports to show exactly what you need to know.

Invoices, payroll, and more: friendly, graphical tools help take the stress out of running your business.

Powerful tax tools

Simplify taxes Money tracks taxable expenses automatically, links categories to your Schedule C form, and finds hidden deductions. Get expert tax advice Money 2006 Small Business makes preparing and filing taxes easy with expert tips from tax professionals. Tools like Tax Estimator and Deduction Finder help identify savings and make exporting data to tax preparation software simple. Reduce your high-interest debt Money 2006 Small Business provides access to credit scores, percentile rankings and helps assess credit risk levels. Analyze credit cards to compare rates, fees, mileage and more! Meet long-term personal goals Work toward buying a house, budgeting for college or saving for a vacation by first reducing debt. The Money 2006 Small Business Debt Reduction Planner helps you create a realistic plan taking into account your income, current debt and when the debt needs to be paid off.

Streamline your taxes and maximize savings with easy-to-use tools

Tools for personal finances, too

Automatically categorize income and expenses Money automatically categorizes both business and personal transactions so you can track business expenses and be ready at tax time. Manage accounts receivable The Money Bill Calendar allows you to pay multiple bills from multiple checking accounts all at once, making payment even easier. Schedule payments in advance and quickly view upcoming bills. It’s a great way to organize your cash flow and take advantage of early payment incentives. Set up your budget your way Create new budget categories, or choose from existing categories. Money 2006 Small Business helps you create a project budget and then stick to it. Automatic spending "thermometers" warn you when you are getting close to budget limits. Get the big picture of your business finances instantly Choose from a variety of standard business reports, such as an up-to-date balance sheet and easy-to-read charts and graphs, to see how your business is doing at any time. Stay in touch when on the go Log on to MSN Money and access your Money 2006 Small Business accounts from wherever your business takes you. Connect your online accounts to thousands of banks, brokerages and credit card companies. Money Small Business 2006 automatically updates account balances, categorizes transactions, and shows income and expense information.

Track your finances from any Internet-enabled computer with MSN Money

Product Description

Microsoft Money Small Business 2006 has all the tools you need to stay on top of your small business and personal finances, all in one place. Track cash flow, manage invoicing and keep an eye on tax planning and expenses. With Money you can easily see your complete financial picture, keeping you on top of your bottom line.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Business Features Not Well Thought Out, August 26, 2005

By 

S. Livingstone - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I purchased Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business to handle my business' invoices, customer list, and banking. I am very pleased with the banking aspects of the software. However, the business features are terrible. The customer database does not have a field for company name. Therefore, I have to squeeze my customers' company names into an address field. The address fields aren't very long, so this has caused major, major probelms. Also, if a customer wants to have the merchandise shipped to a different person at another address, you are only able to change the ship-to address. The name field cannot be changed. Because of this, I've had to cross out names and handwrite a new name in. Another huge problem is the fact that the invoices cannot be adjusted to reflect shipping charges towards the bottom of the invoice under the subtotal. Your shipping charges need to be entered as a line item. We're an online retailer, so this is a significant setback because all of our orders are shipped and we need to break down the subtotal and the shipping total. The invoice designer featured in Money 2006 Small Business is an absolute joke. You're limited to strict templates that all look like something out of the 1980's. Because of the banking features this software has, it's been worth it for me to use it. The $35.00 program I upgraded from (Invoices and Estimates Pro) was far better. Before I forget... I also tried to call Microsoft to discuss the problems I was having with the software. Unless you're willing to be placed on hold for 45-minutes, it's not going to happen.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should not have been released with this many bugs, December 12, 2005

By 

Travis Carney (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I've been using Microsoft Money since Money 99. Every year, I buy the new small business edition. It's certainly not the most intuitive Microsoft application, but once you are familiar with the ins and outs, it's quite useful and a great way to keep your finances in line.

The 2006 edition, however, is a different story. I've had nothing but trouble with it since installing it. It does not properly match my downloaded transactions to entries in the register, and when I try to update them manually, I am unable to - I either get a blank page with two radio buttons, or I get the correct page, but the 'done' button does not work. To fix this, I have to run a repair on my .mny file every day. After that, it will work properly once or twice before breaking again.

I'm giving this application two stars rather than one because it does have a few improvements over the previous version, and I do like the updated look and feel. If Microsoft released a patch to fix the bugs, I would be quite happy with it. Unfortunately though, I don't recall a patch being released for a version of Money before, and it's not likely that they will release one for this version. I hope they prove me wrong (at which time, I'll add a few more stars to my review:)

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars S. Livingstone is wrong on many accounts, December 31, 2005

By 

L. Bordeaux (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

While I haven't upgraded to Microsoft Money 2006 Small Business I do use the 2005 version (I usually go two years between upgrades on financial software) I have to comment that on all issues that S. Livingstone brings up are in MM 2005 SB and I cannot imagine Microsoft Money programmers doing away with them.

Specifically the following are in there - in the 2005 at least:

"The customer database does not have a field for company name."
There is a company name field and it is 64 characters long.

"The address fields aren't very long" is partually true. But you can get 32 characters in address 1 and address 2 lines in addition to City, State and Zip.

"if a customer wants to have the merchandise shipped to a different person at another address, you are only able to change the ship-to address" is true. You can change the billing and shipping address fields only on a one time basis per invoice. But remember this is a SMALL BUSINESS package that is a mere $17 more than Microsoft Premium (on Amazon.com as of 12-31-05) which does not include any invoicing or small business features. I would say that for $17 it is pretty good software!

"Another huge problem is the fact that the invoices cannot be adjusted to reflect shipping charges towards the bottom of the invoice under the subtotal. Your shipping charges need to be entered as a line item. We're an online retailer, so this is a significant setback because all of our orders are shipped and we need to break down the subtotal and the shipping total."

If you are an online retailer get the proper tool - MM 2006 SB is not the system you need. I run a small service business and it is working great for me. Sure there are a few things I wished were better but again for the price it's great.

"The invoice designer featured in Money 2006 Small Business is an absolute joke. You're limited to strict templates that all look like something out of the 1980's."

Yes, the invoice designer is not steller but at least you can add a logo and make other changes. Go to the Microsoft Money website and there are some good examples of some pretty cool invoices. It's not Crystal Reports (tm) but at least you can make changes!

Overall, I find Microsoft Money 2005 a very good application, for it's cost. Is it as capable as $1000 plus accounting software or even $300 accounting software? No, but for $20 it is very useful for the average SMALL business.