Microsoft announced the release of a public beta for Microsoft Office Accounting 2007, formerly called Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting. According to a release from the company, the latest version of the product adds online marketplace integration and invoicing to help small companies conduct their businesses online. The product will still be aimed at small businesses, even if that's no longer apparent from the software's title. Among the specific new features are integration with eBay and online payment via Paypal. Specifically for accountants, where SBA failed to generate the massive response it had initially hoped for, a new "Accountant Navigator" has been designed to help accountants manage multiple clients and a dashboard-driven payroll center should allow payment processing to be run for multiple clients from a single place.

Among other features are:

• The Accountant Transfer Wizard, which allows a business to share and update files directly to an accountant; and,
• A Journal Entry worksheet, designed to let accountants quickly enter multiple transactions and closing entries.