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Sebastopol, CA—Your bookkeeping workflow will be smoother and faster with QuickBooks 2012—but only if you spend more time using the program than figuring out how it works. Quickbooks 2012: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly Media, $34.99 USD) puts you in control: you get step-by-step instructions on how and when to use specific features, along with basic accounting advice to guide you through the learning process.

"Running a small business isn't for the faint of heart," says author Bonnie Biafore. "Keeping track of financial records is a must if you're going to figure out how to make a profit and file your business tax return. QuickBooks is one of the most popular programs for doing that.

"But there are two problems: (1) Accounting doesn't come naturally to most people—like me—and you do need to know something about that to keep books. (2) Despite the name of the company that sells it (Intuit), QuickBooks isn't exactly intuitive. So, I took everything I learned about QuickBooks running my own company and then added everything I learned from dozens of accountants and wrote a mostly easy-to-follow, funny book about the program."

The important stuff you need to know:

• Get started. Set up your accounts, customers, jobs, and invoice items quickly.
• Manage your business. Track spending, income, invoices, inventory, and payroll.
• Spend less time on bookkeeping. Use QuickBooks to create invoices or timesheets in batches.
• Follow the money. Examine everything from billable time and expenses to year-end tasks.
• Find key info quickly. Rely on QuickBooks’ vendor, customer, inventory, and employee centers.
• Exchange data with other programs. Move data between QuickBooks and Microsoft Office.