Excel used to be the poor schmuck’s database, with spreadsheets that just sort of sat there. You could create something more sophisticated with LOOKUP functions, but they were a huge hassle to set up.

Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access both store data used to write a financial report. However, Excel has more built-in options for quickly generating a report from a small amount of financial data.

Data. Your business can't run without it. As a small-business owner, you need to track everything – from your inventory levels to the personal information of employees. Many entrepreneurs start off ...