Information Center.

Here is Where You Can Find Some Useful Information.

Peachtree Users Group and Quickbooks Users Group are a pair of sites with information about Peachtree and Quickbooks accounting software. They have tips and forums. They also provide information about add-in software. They will answer your questions.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service. This is the credit consolidation and management organization recommended by Clark Howard. They are a United Way organization. Important tip: they don't monitor credit card activity. You got to make sure that the balances on the credit card statements match theirs. Make sure credit card companies aren't charging you late fees once CCCS puts you on their plan. Later on CCCS may stop paying a credit card because they believe that it has been paid off while the credit card company still shows a balance due. The credit card company will hit you for interest and penalties and CCCS will just scold you for not notifying them. Still, this is the best deal for getting out of debt without having to declare bankruptcy.

Clark Howard is Atlanta's guru of personal finance. This site has Clark's views on consumer issues as well as many helpful links.

John Farino, CPA developed some great personal online tools. These include a budget calculator to help you plan your family budget, a program to help you decide whether you should lease or purchase an item, do you qualify for a mortgage, and another to calculate what mortgage terms you can get. He also developed the Non-Profit Resource Center (see below). This man is awesome!

Kiplinger has a huge library of online tools for investments, insurance, and lots more.

Open Office This was our pick for last month's Site of the Month. Tired of paying Microsoft's rates for the Office Suite? Download fully functioning word processor, spreadsheet, drawing, and other programs for free! The big news in business software right now is the battle between open-source vs. closed source programs. What will the future of Office Suites hold? At this writing it is unclear.

The IRS This site has the official tax forms and publications that you can download.

The Georgia Department of Revenue This is for state income taxes in Georgia.

Georgia Corporations Here is where you can check with the Secretary of State on the status of corporations registered in the state.

Investor Education This page provides information that you should know before you plunk down your money in the markets. This page is produced by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other Government Sites are listed here.

General comment: These organizations issue the accounting regulations. These sites will have everything on them but what the public really needs to know (i.e. the accounting regulations themselves.) This is because CPA's are expected to BUY the books that have these and pass the cost on you, the consumer. Did someone call this ridiculous?

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants This organization is to the CPA what the ABA is to the lawyer or the AMA is to the doctor. The most useful pages on this site are it's online publications and their and their tax topics and resources page. They also have comprehensive hyper-links pages for accounting and taxes.

The Georgia Society of CPA's. This has a jobs bank that Atlanta businesses might find handy.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board This is the body that issues the basic accounting standards. It's site has info on new standards that it is issuing.

The International Accounting Standards Board At least this organization unbends enough to put summaries of it's standards on it's site.

The Government Accounting Standards Board This body sets additional standards for federal, state, and local governments.

The Non-profit Resource Center First rate production of John Farino, CPA. His web link is on the site. What a creative use of the internet! Useful info for the public; demonstration of his expertise; and hence exposure to him.

Rutgers University Accounting Web Site This site has established a reputation as a premier source of accounting information on the internet.

These are sources of interest to professionals in the accounting and tax profession.

Practitioners Publishing Company This company publishes practical manuals for every conceivable accounting subject. This is the most widely used reference source for CPA's. Their problem is that they are so interested in adding new titles to their catalog, that the focus of each book becomes narrower and narrower. Worse, the material significantly overlaps. Most accounting firms buy at least one title from their catalog. Jack's personal favorites are:

• Guide to Compilation and Review Engagements
• Guide to Preparing Financial Statements
• Guide to GAAP
• Guide to GAAS
• Guide to Quality Control
• Guide to Audits of Nonprofit Organizations
• Guide to Nontraditional Engagements

Their Engagement Manager software is also worth a look. They publish tax books, too. Jack believes that Kleinrick, RIA, or CCH does a better job on taxes. Their tax planning books are worth a look, however.

Gear Up This is Jack's favorite provider of continuing education. Their prices compare favorably with the CPA Society's. They are strong on taxes and on SSARS engagements. But why don't they offer a GAAP update?

The Gutenberg Project This is the biggest library on the net. You can download public domain literature and read it off-line. The price is -- (drumroll) -- free! It has a lengthy catalog. Jack's favorites are Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (yes, he's read the whole thing!) and Macaulay's History of England.

Bartleby's Bartleby's Library has more contemporary books. Of special interest are the reference books. Here is the US Government's World Fact Handbook for 2001, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, How-to's for writing, etiquette, and parliamentary procedure.

Access Atlanta Is the establishment media's web site. It's beat is what is happenning in Atlanta.

I use Pogo.com to play online games.