What would be your recommendations for a computer program to keep your books, that can do quarterly reports and down load to computer programs to do estimated taxes.

I've used QuickBooks before to maintain the accounting records for a small business and found it very easy to use and helpful. I took an accounting class where we had to do everything by hand and WOW was that a pain! I've never used QB to estimate taxes (not sure it even does that), but it is great for running reports, balancing your checkbook, paying employees, etc. I use it now, and when tax time comes I print my financial statements, hand them over to my tax lady, and call it done.

The drawbacks are operator error; if you put the wrong numbers in, your stuff won't balance. Of course, this happens doing things by hand too. The great thing about computer programs though, is that once you put in the numbers, it does the math for you - so you REDUCE human error there.

There are "QuickBooks for Dummies" books, and if you check the website, you might find a seminar/training session in your area. They were offering them a few years ago, I imagine they still are.

There are other programs for small businesses too, such as Microsoft Money, but I've never used it. There are also programs designed for larger businesses, but those get more expensive, as they are more complicated. If you are looking at this for a small business, QB should perform all the functions you need.

I yield to Fr Chuck's greater experience.

Personnaly, I configure my own books on a spreadsheet!