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I once read a posting on an Access newsgroup where one guy was claiming that Access was equal or better than VB as a development tool based on the granularity of manipulating intrinsic controls in Access compared to VB. He had a point about the combo box, but not much else.
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Actually, I think Access is really not bad as a couple-of-user back-end (with VB or something else on the front-end). But, while its development tools are seductive at first glance, the bottom line is this: you really need to buy into MS's vision of Access in order to benefit from it. If you can do that in your business, great. If you can't, you're in trouble before long. And unlike VB or VFP where you can usually find a way to push something around and achieve a desired behavior, even if it's a royal pain, in Access there are moments where you are simply... stuck.

Having said that, again, I think it has its place -- as a back end under particular (but common) circumstances. The small invoice system, the contact list that requires more customization that ACT or a similar product can give, etc.