(October 1, 2002 - London, England) As the media and politicians wade into corporate greed, stock market indicators tumble, and business confidence falls, Palo Alto Software this month released two new business planning products designed to help entrepreneurs start new businesses and to help existing businesses improve their planning process.

"Palo Alto Software has been helping companies plan for more than 18 years now," said Palo Alto Software's Director of Sales and Marketing Sabrina Parsons, "but lately, with the downturn in stocks, crisis of confidence in business, and investment sources drying up, it seems like we all need business planning more than ever."

Both of the two new software products, BUSINESS PLAN PRO 2003 UK Edition and BUSINESS PLAN PRO 2003 PREMIER UK Edition, will be released this month. The PRO 2003 retails for £99.99 (incl. VAT) and is available at most office and computer stores and at www.paloalto.co.uk. PREMIER is priced at £249.99 (incl. VAT), and can be purchased direct from www.paloalto.co.uk.

For entrepreneurs, Business Plan Pro 2003 (PRO) provides a wizard-driven interface from start to finish and the largest single collection of sample plans in the industry, more than 400, all of which can be read into the software and used as starting points for new plans. Row-by-row help guides the user through every financial entry, and linked spreadsheets with established formulas handles the calculations to create a full set of financial statements. The software will save users hundreds of hours through seamless formatting, built-in research data, and a myriad of distribution options.

The new PREMIER adds a new dimension to the planning process, by including powerful collaboration features and enhanced financial capabilities to meet the power, flexibility and teamwork requirements of the expert planner. In addition to all the features of PRO, PREMIER offers a unique email collaboration feature allowing users the ability to create a plan in a team environment, combine multiple plans into one and save a unique plan outline to coordinate strategies across departments and divisions.

The two new versions respond to market research studies indicating two categories of business planners with distinctly different needs. The first group, the small business owner and entrepreneur, needs to secure financing through a bank or private investor. Time and money are the most limited resources of this group. The second group consists of business planning experts, managers, consultants and experienced entrepreneurs, and this group indicates that their main requirement is the ability to efficiently collaborate in the creation of their business and strategic plans.

Both versions contain updated VAT tables to enable business owners to better manage their VAT accounts.

The software contains the following new VAT features:

• NEW VAT Details Table: Shows all VAT calculations.
• Balance Sheet: VAT is added to the Current Assets/Current Liabilities row depending if your VAT Balance is positive or negative.
• Cash Flow: Users enter their Customs and Excise payments/credits in the appropriate rows.

About Palo Alto Software
Palo Alto Software Limited is a privately held limited company trading in the UK with offices in London. Palo Alto Software Limited sells, markets, and distributes localised, country specific, international versions of the award winning software developed by Palo Alto Software, Inc., Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A.. Palo Alto Software, founded by president Tim Berry in 1988, develops, publishes and markets software products for use with personal computers. It is a privately held US corporation. The company's award winning site www.bplans.com continues to be one of the highest traffic sites in the small business arena, offering numerous business planning resources.