#bookkeeping
Bookkeeping
Modern bookkeeping techniques using plain-text and automated workflows
Bookkeeping for Local and Long-Distance Moving Companies: Carriers, Brokers, Fuel Surcharges, and Driver Settlements
Build a chart of accounts that separates carrier revenue from broker pass-throughs, handles fuel surcharges and packing inventory correctly, and reconciles driver settlements against bills of lading — the bookkeeping discipline that protects margin in local and long-distance moving operations.
Optometry Practice Bookkeeping: Medical vs. Vision Billing, Inventory, and Practice-Value KPIs
Independent optometry practices earn from five distinct profit centers — routine vision plans, medical insurance, frames, lenses, and contact lenses — each with different margins and billing pathways. This guide shows how to build a chart of accounts that separates VSP/EyeMed routine revenue from medical billing, capitalize frame inventory, treat contact lens supplies as deferred revenue under ASC 606, and surface the KPIs (revenue per exam, optical capture rate, normalized EBITDA) that lenders and acquirers ask about.
Pet Boarding, Daycare, and Grooming Bookkeeping: Run-Night Revenue, Add-On Allocation, and Gingr/PetExec Reconciliation
Pet boarding, daycare, and grooming operators run three businesses under one roof — services earned over time, retail earned at sale, and pass-throughs that are never revenue. This guide builds a chart of accounts that separates service lines, recognizes boarding revenue per run-night through a deferred-revenue liability, allocates add-ons to the service that produced them, and reconciles Gingr or PetExec daily summaries to the bank deposit by isolating processor fees, tips payable, deposits, and refunds.
Real Estate Broker Trust Account Reconciliation: The Three-Way Match That Protects a License
A brokerage that commingles a single earnest money deposit can lose its license, even with no theft involved. Here is the three-way reconciliation between bank, general ledger, and client sub-ledgers that brokers use to comply with state escrow rules, document deposit handling, and stay audit-ready.
Recording Studio Bookkeeping: Session Pricing, Royalty Splits, and Section 179 on Pro Tools Rigs
How commercial recording studios should book session vs. project revenue under ASC 606, classify engineers and producers across W-2, 1099-NEC, and 1099-MISC Box 2, treat client retainers as liabilities, separate producer points from mechanical royalties, and decide between Section 179 and MACRS on studio gear.
Section 277 and 501(c)(7): Member vs. Nonmember Income for Social Clubs
Section 501(c)(7) social clubs must keep nonmember income under 35% of gross receipts and nonmember facility use under 15%, while Section 277 quarantines member-side losses for nonexempt membership organizations. This guide walks through how the two rules interact, how to allocate UBTI expenses on Form 990-T, and how to structure a chart of accounts so the member/nonmember split survives an IRS examination.
Section 467 Rental Agreements: Stepped, Prepaid, and Deferred Rent Under the Tax Code's Anti-Abuse Rule
Section 467 forces accrual accounting and imputed interest on commercial leases over $250,000 with stepped, prepaid, or deferred rent — overriding cash-basis treatment, recharacterizing part of every rent payment as a deemed loan between landlord and tenant, and creating Schedule M-1 book-tax differences from ASC 842 straight-line rent.
Self-Storage Facility Bookkeeping: A Practical Guide for Operators
How self-storage operators should structure a chart of accounts by unit type, reconcile SiteLink or storEDGE with the general ledger, treat move-in discounts as contra-revenue, handle auction proceeds, and report physical occupancy, economic occupancy, and NOI per square foot.
Solar Installation Contractor Accounting: Customer Deposits, RECs, PPAs, and Passing Through the Section 48 ITC Without Triggering Recapture
A solar installer's bookkeeping playbook — customer deposits under ASC 606, REC inventory, PPA classification under ASC 842, the 50% basis reduction on the Section 48 ITC, Section 6418 transferability mechanics, and the five-year recapture clock that survives a sale of the business.
Travel Agency Revenue Recognition: ASC 606 Principal vs. Agent, ARC Settlement, and 1099-NEC Guide
Two travel agencies can book the same $10,000 trip and report revenue ten times apart under ASC 606. A practical walkthrough of the principal-versus-agent control test, departure-date timing, ARC settlement flows, host agency commission splits, and 1099-NEC reporting thresholds.
Brewery Bookkeeping: Cost Per Barrel, TTB Excise Tax, and the Shrinkage That Makes COGS Lie
How to build a craft brewery's books so cost of goods sold tells the truth—a production chart of accounts, a true cost-per-barrel formula using net barrels, TTB excise tax rates ($3.50/barrel on the first 60,000), and the 3–8% shrinkage that inflates margin if ignored.
Bookkeeping for Interior Designers: Retainers, Markup, and the Hidden Math That Keeps Your P&L Honest
Interior design firms run four revenue streams through one chart of accounts and end up paying tax on phantom profits. Treat retainers as a liability, run products through revenue and COGS together, book vendor cost as COGS (never list price), and reconcile every PO before close.