Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager
Pickleball Facility Bookkeeping: Deferred Revenue, Court-Hour KPIs, and Build-Out Depreciation
How owners of indoor and outdoor pickleball clubs should structure the chart of accounts, defer annual membership revenue under ASC 606, reconcile booking-platform payouts, and depreciate court build-outs so utilization rate, revenue per court-hour, and member retention fall out of the ledger automatically.
Prepaid Expenses Explained: Stop Letting Annual Insurance, Rent, and Software Bills Distort Your Monthly Profit
How small businesses should book prepaid insurance, rent, software, and retainers — the initial entry, monthly amortization schedule, IRS 12-month rule, and a written de minimis policy that keeps monthly profit comparable and unlocks year-end tax deductions.
Tree Service Bookkeeping: Cost-Per-Hour, Workers' Comp Class 0106, Section 179, and Seasonal Cash Flow
How tree care companies should structure their books — separating workers' comp class 0106 payroll, allocating bucket truck and chipper hours per job, reserving for e-mod surges, and pricing crews off a true burdened cost-per-hour rate.
Tribal Gaming and Casino Accounting Under NIGC MICS: Win, Drop, Hold, and the Internal Controls That Keep a Sovereign Casino Auditable
How tribal casinos account for win, drop, and hold under NIGC Minimum Internal Control Standards — covering Class II and Class III chart-of-accounts design, cage and vault key control, Title 31 Form 8362 CTR filing, IGRA per-capita withholding under IRC Section 3402(r), and the annual Agreed-Upon Procedures engagement that ties surveillance to the ledger.
Winery and Vineyard Accounting: Bonded Wineries, Vintage WIP, TTB Excise Tax, CBMA Credits, Section 263A, and DTC Revenue
How bonded wineries cost a vintage from crush to bottling, claim CBMA excise credits, apply Section 263A to vineyards, and recognize tasting room, wine club, and wholesale revenue under ASC 606.
Personal Guarantees: How They Override Your LLC—and How to Negotiate Them
59% of small businesses with debt sign a personal guarantee, and it overrides your LLC's limited liability. This guide explains unlimited vs. limited guarantees, bad-boy carve-outs, burn-off provisions, SBA's 20% rule, and how to negotiate or get released.
Cash Balance Pension Plans: A Six-Figure Tax Deduction for High-Income Business Owners
A cash balance plan lets a 55-year-old business owner deduct roughly $230,000 a year in retirement contributions — far above the 401(k) ceiling — because a defined benefit pension caps the retirement benefit, not the annual deposit, so limits scale with age rather than income.
Auto Repair Shop Bookkeeping: Flat-Rate Hours, Parts Matrix, Comebacks, Warranty AR, and EPA Fees
Independent auto repair shops earn from labor, parts, sublet work, and environmental fees — each with different margins and bookkeeping rules. This guide builds a chart of accounts that separates flat-rate labor from clock hours, applies a tiered parts markup matrix targeting 55–58% gross profit, tracks comeback expense and warranty receivables aging, codes sublet work cleanly, and records EPA hazmat and shop supply fees as their own revenue and cost lines.
Bowling Center & FEC Bookkeeping: Stored-Value Cards, Deferred Revenue, and ASC 606 Breakage
How bowling centers and family entertainment centers should book stored-value game cards, league buy-ins, party deposits, and ASC 606 breakage — with a working chart of accounts, escheat-law pitfalls, and the operating KPIs lenders and buyers expect.
Daycare and Childcare Center Bookkeeping Under CACFP: Reimbursement Rates, Parent Co-Pays, State Vouchers, and Recordkeeping That Survives an Audit
How daycare operators should structure their books to handle CACFP reimbursements, state subsidy vouchers, and parent co-payments — covering chart of accounts, daily meal count discipline, classroom-level labor allocation, and the recordkeeping that holds up under state audits.
ESOP Repurchase Obligation Accounting: The Hidden Balance Sheet Liability That Sinks Mature ESOPs
A practical guide to ESOP repurchase obligation accounting for closely held companies — how ASC 480-10-S99 classifies redeemable shares as temporary equity, how to fund the obligation with sinking funds, COLI, recycling, and redemption, and the bookkeeping habits that keep plan-year valuations defensible.
Bookkeeping for Farmers' Market Vendors and CSA Subscriptions: Booth Cash, Deferred Revenue, EBT Tokens, and Schedule F
A practical bookkeeping playbook for direct-to-consumer farms — chart of accounts, CSA deferred revenue across a 20-week season, SNAP/EBT and Double Up Food Bucks token reconciliation, per-market cash workflows, and Schedule F line 25 Section 175 conservation expense treatment.