Maybe they want you to move from the dark side into enlighenment!  ;-)

Before learning Access, I highly recommend that you learn basic database
design. Think of it as something like learning English before using Word.
"Database Design for Mere Mortals" by Hernandez is a very good book for this
purpose.

There are lots of good books - some links posted below. I think you'll find
that Access is actually a pretty powerful and useful tool if you need to (say)
keep track of creditors, loans, and risks... a lot better than Excel for some
things.

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP):
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials

            John W. Vinson [MVP]

The others have suggested excellent resources, but I'd like to comment on
reasons for learning Access. Hopefully, the management of your company is
intelligent enough to understand that putting your business rules into a
well designed database is way beyond the skill level of a beginning user. On
the other hand, understanding how a good database works and can aid in the
data collection and reporting of the data that you need to effectively
manage your business is an invaluable skill.

Most developers are programmers who will need your skills and background to
design and build a good database. A really good developer will learn your
business quickly enough to be able to build that database with little
additional input from you (after your outlining the business rules, of
course). Since you are more than likely going to get the help of a
programmer (who may call himself a developer), it would be incumbent on you
to learn some of his job, in order to aid you in getting a superior finished
product.

Even if you are fortunate enough to find a good developer, there will always
be additional reporting that you will need on an almost daily basis. Unless
you have someone on your staff that can do that, it looks like you are the
"designated driver".