Here's a step-by-step on how to use an ASP. NetLedger customer Michael Block,
a BlockTax Accounting C.P.A., started using the accounting service last May.

SIGN UP
Block finds the NetLedger web site and orders a $9.95 per month online accounting service. Seventeen of Block's clients also sign up, each paying their own monthly fee.

MOVE RECORDS ONLINE
Block logs onto the Net-Ledger site, points his cursor to an Intuit QuickBooks file on his computer, and the NetLedger site automatically uploads the bookkeeping data. Block receives an e-mail alert when it's done.

CYBER BOOKKEEPING
Block signs on to the site with a password. He works on his accounts or those of his clients. (Clients can limit his access.) He and a client look at the same Web page and talk about it over the phone. Calculating tools assure accuracy. The data is extensively replicated and continuously backed up.

DOING TAX RETURNS
NetLedger does not allow for online filing of tax returns. Block prints out adjusted bookkeeping data and manually enters it into a tax-preparation program from another company. NetLedger hopes to change this by next year.