Free eBooks and eDocuments
Some of the books that I've written in the past aren't easy to get... Accordingly, I'm posting them here as ebooks and edocuments (i.e., pdf files) so you can download them for free.
These books, I must say, are for your noncommercial use. You can't resell them, recycle them, repackage them and then sell them, etc.
And a note to any webmasters reading this: If you want to give away copies of any of these documents directly off of your web site, read the paragraph at the bottom of this page for details.)
Here are free From A to Z references... (Each book is roughly 2 mb)
Tip: You can also purchase paper versions of these same books from an online bookstore such as Amazon. What's more, Amazon and other booksellers also sell A to Z references on several other technology topics, including Windows XP, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft FrontPage.
- Excel 2002 from A to Z, Redmond Technology Press 2001
- PowerPoint 2002 from A to Z, Redmond Technology Press 2001
- Outlook 2002 From A to Z, Redmond Technology Press 2001
- Word 2002 From A to Z, Redmond Technology Press 2001
MBA's Guide to Microsoft Excel... (Each chapter is roughly 2 mb)
Tip: To see what's in the MBA's Guide to Excel, first download and peruse the short introduction. Also, note that you need the starter workbooks zip file (see bottom of life) if you want to work with the models described in chapters 10 through 15.
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: A Quick Primer on Using Excel
- Chapter 3: A Quick Primer on Charting
- Chapter 4: Statistical Analysis using Excel
- Chapter 5: Financial Calculations using Excel
- Chapter 6: Excel-based Business Modeling
- Chapter 7: Sharing Excel Workbooks
- Chapter 8: PivotTables and PivotCharts
- Chapter 9: Small Business Financial Manager
- Chapter 10: Building a Business Planning Workbook
- Chapter 11: Building a Profit Volume and Break-even Analysis Workbook
- Chapter 12: Forecasting Sales and Cost of Sales
- Chapter 13: Building a Capital Budgeting Workbook
- Chapter 14: Building Amortization Schedules
- Chapter 15: Building Asset Depreciation Schedules
- Starter Workbooks zip file
Free Articles You Can Post At Your Web Site
I've written a series of accounting- and finance-related articles that you can post at your web site (as long as you honor the use rules). Here's a link that points to the most up to date list:
Free tax articles, free personal finance articles, and free accounting articles
Free Excel Templates
Tip: To download a template, right-click the hyperlink and choose the Save Target As command.
- 15-year fixed rate mortgage amortization schedule
- 15-year adjustable rate mortgage amortization schedule
- 30-year fixed rate mortgage amortization schedule
- 30-year fixed rate mortgage amortization schedule
- 5-year adjustable rate loan amortization schedule
- 5-year fixed rate loan amortization schedule
- 10-year business planning template (does P&L, cash flow and balance sheet reports)
- 10-year cash flow forecasting template (does NPV & IRR calculations)
- Future value of an investment using adjustable interest rates
- Future value of investment using fixed interest rate
- Multifamily property real estate investment analysis template
- Profit-Volume-Cost analysis template (also does breakeven analysis)
- Sales and cost of goods sold forecasting template
- Credit card manager template (calculates payoff of balances and more)
- College savings calculator template
- Life insurance needs estimator template
- Home affordability calculator template
- Future value of a savings plan template
- Retirement planning calculator template
Fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgage amortization templates:
Loan amortization templates:
Business planning and investment analysis templates:
Note: If you need to show a business plan to outsiders like a bank or venture capitalists, you may want to consider purchasing the updated business planning workbook. The big difference between the free business planning workbook available here and the business planning workbook available for purchase at the Write Your Own Business Plan web site, by the way, is that updated business planning work uses a statement of cash flows format that accords with current generally accepted accounting principles. The free business planning workbook uses the older format for the statement of cash flows. The updated business planning workbook also includes a friendlier set of step-by-step instructions for using the business planning workbook.
Personal financial planning and analysis templates:
Note: I will allow nonprofit organizations such as user groups, colleges and schools to store many of these ebooks, edocuments and templates on their web servers so they can give them away to their members, students, neighbors and so on. Go ahead and email me if you want to do this so we're clear on the details. But this is all pretty simple... My only two requirements are (1) that you give the materials away for free and (2) that you provide a hyperlink credit "blurb" back to my home page in the following format:
Seattle CPA and QuickBooks help guru Stephen L. Nelson has written more than a 150 books about computers, business software and accounting. He's allowed us to give away for free the following ebooks and edocuments...[insert agreed-upon list here]
Accounting and Taxation Web Sites:
I'm not sure where to put this list, but I've also published and/or edited (sometimes with the help of St. Petersburg Florida business attorney Carl Baranowski) a series of free informational web sites and inexpensive do-it-yourself documents about accounting and taxation topics. Here is a list of these sites (some of which I'm still working on):
Fast Easy Incorporation Kits: Do-it-yourself business incorporation kits for most states
Limited Liability Company Kits: Do-it-yourself LLC formation for all fifty states.
S Corporation Explained: Do-it-yourself S corporation setup kits for all fifty states