Microsoft Ships Sarbanes-Oxley Office Accelerator

Microsoft on Monday shipped an Office Accelerator to help companies comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The Office Solution Accelerator for Sarbanes-Oxley relies on Microsoft's SharePoint Services and its XML forms creator, InfoPath 2003. The product is designed primarily for its partners, who will use it to build Office 2003-based systems for documenting and reviewing internal financial controls, a key requirement of sections 302 and 404 of the act.

Microsoft's Accelerators--collections of software tools, templates, and best-practices guides that integrate with Office 2003--are offered up at no charge by Microsoft.

The Accelerator lets multiple employees or teams in several locations collaborate on task management and reporting; includes built-in audit trail features; and lets executives store, access, and manage compliance data, including monitoring the status of any tracked document.

More information about the Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator can be found on Microsoft's Web site.

Also on Monday, Microsoft touted the success of Office 2003, claiming that global retail sales since its October release were double that of predecessor Office XP during the same span. Microsoft was less enthusiastic about sales through its volume licensing programs--the typical way businesses acquire Office--stating simply that sales there were "good."