Brian,
Quickbooks more accountant friendly and blocks some common errors. Quicken
has some sweet features but isn't as "job" specific.
Peachtree suc......'s. Sorry I wasted a lot of money on it before giving up.
Lots of graphics and not as intuitive.

In my experience very few small businessmen know finance. Unless you have an
idea of capitalization, amortization, section 179, all the state and federal
rules and fees you'd be best to see an accountant and hire him for initial
setup advice and chart of accounts for your business (audits are more
expensive than accountants). Reach an agreement to come in once a year for
taxes and be able to call him and succinctly ask specific questions (think
of his time like a lawyer's). Then get a tax program to watch your tax
liability/cash flow during the year - this point is extremely important -
cash flow is king.

Quicken has a sweet feature where you can setup "escrow" accounts like a
pseudo credit card for your annualized expenses and tax liability so that
every time you start the program you know exactly what your cash position
is. QB requires a lot more manipulation. Quicken has great personal
management tools as well including stocks.

And just because he's an "accountant" doesn't mean he knows what's best for
your money - unfortunately. Learn finances. You'll be surprised how many
times you'll catch "errors". CPA is no guarrantee either. Sorry if that
hurts any feelings. You can either make money or save money - either way
improves your net worth. Good luck.

TomNie

"Brian Mahaney" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am looking for a book that would cover accounting/bookkeeping for a very
small manufacturing business. For example, I build custom furniture. I
don't keep any materials in stock. I buy only what I need when I need it.
I have two books: one is fine for a small retail business, the other is
from a class I took back in the late '80's, and it's fine if you are
say...WMH Toolgroup (I don't remember much from that class). I have been
building custom furniture for the last year and have been tracking my
finances with Quickbooks Simple Start. It doesn't seem adequate, and I'm
not sure I'm even using it properly. Specifically, it would be nice to
have info on properly setting up my chart of accounts. I know that
visiting an accountant would be smart at some point (perhaps that point is
now), but I am on a very tight budget and was hoping to delay a little
longer. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Brian Mahney