What's New for CPAs in Office 2010
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Microsoft Office 2010 was scheduled to be released in June. This article highlights features that the new Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook include that are important from a CPA's perspective. * Many of the functions and design elements introduced in Office 2007 remain in the new-generation product. Those who are already using Office 2007 and are familiar with the Ribbon should require less than two hours to adjust to 2010. Those who are still using Office 2003 or an earlier version will require more training. * Most of the changes appear subtle but focus on minimizing the number of tasks required to complete routine or common tasks through consolidated, more user-friendly menus. * Microsoft is introducing an online version of Office 2010 called Web Apps that allows users to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote from an Internet browser, similar to the way Google Docs works. * Pricing information was not available at press time. The software will run in Windows 7, Vista or XP. ********** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Microsoft has updated one of the most important tools in the accountant s tool kit, Microsoft Office. This article describes the features in the new versions of Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook that are likely to be most important to CPAs when Office 2010 is released in June. Each module of Office 2010 has received updates to features and improved ease of use. Although many of the changes from Office 2007 are subtle, the theme is one of easier access to many common functions--with buttons consolidated into single menus and the number of steps necessary to accomplish certain tasks greatly reduced, improving productivity. If you don't want to wait for the retail release to try out the new features, a fully functioning beta version of the software is available free from Microsoft at microsoft.com/office/2010. This article is based on the technical preview version of Office 2010, which Microsoft provided before the public beta version was released. Although the final retail version is expected to be substantially similar to the technical preview version, keep in mind that Microsoft might make minor changes to the software before the official release date. TOP CHANGES IN EXCEL 2010 Microsoft Office's Excel is an accountant's best friend. One of the interesting new features is visible in the Excel screenshot below. Files that come from outside your network that are potentially unsafe are automatically shown in a protected view. This forces users to at least think twice about opening a file from an outside source. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Inside Excel, the menus and core features have minor modifications. One subtle but significant feature are Sparklines. Sparklines are best thought of as one-cell graphs. Sparklines permit you to analyze trend data in a single cell (see screenshot below). Sparklines types include: Line, Column and Win/Loss. While only providing three types of graphs could limit this feature's usefulness, it is dear that it can make creating a digital dashboard much simpler. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Slicer functionality. Consider further analyzing data in Excel by using the new Slicer function. This filter allows you to take large amounts of data and easily filter selectively by various attributes in your tabular data. For example, you can have a very friendly user interface that allows selection of data from a large table. Or you can use the Slicer to filter data on multiple attributes at the same time. For example, you could select multiple parameters such as multiple quarters and company names. PivotTable changes. The Slicer functionality has been added to PivotTables in Excel 2010. Also, three menu items--Summarize Values By, Show Values As and Fields, Items & Sets--give users easier access to more of the functions in one place while manipulating PivotTables. …