You might want to download and use:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor

At:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=F5A6C5E9-4CD9-4E42-A21C-7291E7F0F852&displaylang=en

Also refer to

SQL Server Database Engine Backward Compatibility

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143532.aspx

Another item

ALTER DATABASE Compatibility Level (Transact-SQL)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510680.aspx

And then to show your company that you are budget conscious purchase SQL Server Developer Edition, although it can NOT be used for production, it would make a good sandbox for you to test your databases. It is available from Amazon.com for less that $50 (USD).

Hope this gets you started .