1. A method of handling business forms by reading contents set forth on processing-subjected business forms by an image reading device, recognizing the contents set forth on the business forms from images as read, and performing processing in accordance with the contents set forth on the business forms, comprising the steps of: reading by an image reading device business forms of plural species which differ from one another in respect to a field of the image to be cut; deciding discriminatively whether or not the read image is relevant to a business form of a first species by referencing form species identifying definition information stored previously in a file; and cutting an image from a field corresponding to a format inherent to said business form of the first species when said read image is relevant to said business form of the first species, to thereby recognize the contents of statement from said cut image, whereas when said read image is irrelevant to said business form of the first species, deciding discriminatively whether or not the read image is relevant to a business form of a second species by referencing the form species identifying definition information stored previously in the file; and cutting image from a field corresponding to a format inherent to said business form of the second species when said read image is relevant to said business form of the second species, to thereby recognize the contents of statement from said cut image.