Ivens has integrated accounting tutorials with QuickBooks documentation nearly seamlessly, though her emphasis falls on the software. She'll typically explain why you'd want to implement some aspect of accounting, then walk through the relevant QuickBooks procedure in its most basic form before tackling unusual situations. Most valuable: Ivens's recommendations for adapting QuickBooks to real business practices. In a section on inventory, she outlines a procedure for keeping track of prebuilt inventory items, even though QuickBooks doesn't explicitly support that kind of tracking. She notes the shortcomings of QuickBooks and points out low-tech workarounds where they're appropriate. She explains, for example, that QuickBooks can't manage multiple state tax authorities and that you'll have to calculate the required figures manually. This is the definitive work on QuickBooks for its everyday users. --David Wall

Topics covered: Intuit QuickBooks 2001 for business managers who use the software to support business decisions. This book documents all the software's features, including payables, receivables, payroll, budgeting, tax accounting, and time tracking. The author explains the accounting and management philosophies behind QuickBooks's features, as well.