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Mike Thrift

Marketing Manager

3822 postsView all authors
Screen Printing Shop Bookkeeping: Ink and Blank Inventory, Per-Color Pricing, and Rework Reserves for Misprints
·mike

Screen Printing Shop Bookkeeping: Ink and Blank Inventory, Per-Color Pricing, and Rework Reserves for Misprints

How a screen-printing shop tracks blank garments and ink as job-level inventory, prices each additional color as a production change rather than extra ink, and sets a rework reserve from actual misprint history — plus a weekly close routine that ties deposits, job costs, and margins together.

bookkeeping
small-business
inventory
SIMPLE IRA vs. SIMPLE 401(k) in 2026: Contribution Limits, Deadlines, and the 2-Year Rollover Rule Every Small Employer Needs to Know
·mike

SIMPLE IRA vs. SIMPLE 401(k) in 2026: Contribution Limits, Deadlines, and the 2-Year Rollover Rule Every Small Employer Needs to Know

Both SIMPLE plans share a $17,000 employee deferral limit for 2026, but they split on Form 5500 filing, participant loans, and the SIMPLE IRA's 25% early-distribution tax during its two-year rollover restriction. A practical comparison for employers with 100 or fewer employees, with the payroll deadlines, catch-up limits by age band, and the reconciliation workflow to run either plan cleanly.

ira
retirement-savings
small-business
Supplier Cash Discounts: How Retailers Should Record Early-Payment Savings Without Distorting Inventory
·mike

Supplier Cash Discounts: How Retailers Should Record Early-Payment Savings Without Distorting Inventory

Cash discounts like 2/10, net 30 can be recorded two ways — reduce purchases, or credit a separate discount account — and the IRS expects one method applied consistently. How each choice changes COGS, closing inventory, and year-end reconciliation for a retailer, plus an invoice workflow that keeps discounts from silently distorting margins.

inventory
cost-of-goods-sold
accounts-payable
Three-Way Matching for Small Businesses: The Purchase Order, Receipt, and Invoice Control That Stops Duplicate Payments
·mike

Three-Way Matching for Small Businesses: The Purchase Order, Receipt, and Invoice Control That Stops Duplicate Payments

A three-way match compares the purchase order, receiving record, and supplier invoice before any payment is released, catching duplicate bills, unapproved price increases, and short shipments. This guide shows small businesses how to implement the control with clear ownership, line-level matching, written tolerances, and a practical exception workflow — plus when a two-way match is the better fit.

accounts-payable
small-business
fraud-prevention
TN Visas for Small Businesses: How the USMCA Route Works for Canadian and Mexican Professionals
·mike

TN Visas for Small Businesses: How the USMCA Route Works for Canadian and Mexican Professionals

TN status lets qualifying Canadian and Mexican citizens fill U.S. professional roles with no annual cap and admission periods of up to three years. Here is the four-part eligibility test, what the employer support letter must contain, and the payroll and recordkeeping controls that hold up through renewals and audits.

small-business
business
bookkeeping
Working Condition Fringe Benefits: How to Make Job Tools, Software, and Education Tax-Free in 2026
·mike

Working Condition Fringe Benefits: How to Make Job Tools, Software, and Education Tax-Free in 2026

Under IRC Section 132(d), employers can exclude job tools, software, and job-related education from employee wages as working condition fringe benefits when the cost would have been deductible if the employee paid it. This guide covers the deduction test, the substantiation rules for cash reimbursements, how Section 127's $5,250 educational assistance limit differs, and a bookkeeping workflow that keeps qualifying benefits out of taxable payroll.

employee-benefits
tax
payroll
AI Finance Automation Controls: A Practical Framework for Safe, Reviewable Bookkeeping
·mike

AI Finance Automation Controls: A Practical Framework for Safe, Reviewable Bookkeeping

How to govern AI bookkeeping with a four-level permission ladder — read-only analysis, draft recommendations, low-risk auto-posting, and human-approved external actions — plus an approval matrix, evidence-chain requirements, output testing against real failure modes, and a 30-day implementation plan.

ai
automation
bookkeeping
Australia's Dynamic PAYG Instalments: How to Prepare for More Responsive Tax Payments in 2027
·mike

Australia's Dynamic PAYG Instalments: How to Prepare for More Responsive Tax Payments in 2027

Australia's 2026–27 Federal Budget expands the ATO's Dynamic PAYG instalments pilot, targeting broader accounting-software adoption from July 2027 alongside an announced — but not yet legislated — monthly payment option. This guide separates confirmed changes from proposals, explains why bookkeeping quality decides whether software-calculated instalments help, and lays out the monthly close, tax-reserve forecast, and variation evidence trail small businesses can build now.

tax
small-business
cash-flow
Beef Jerky Bookkeeping: Turn Dehydration Loss Into Real COGS—and Build a HACCP Trail That Scales
·mike

Beef Jerky Bookkeeping: Turn Dehydration Loss Into Real COGS—and Build a HACCP Trail That Scales

A 100-pound batch of raw beef can yield just 42 pounds of sellable jerky. How small meat-snack makers turn measured dehydration loss into accurate per-ounce COGS, build a chart of accounts around batch production, and link ledger entries to the HACCP validation records FSIS requires.

bookkeeping
small-business
inventory
Build a Business Disaster Inventory Before You Need It: Photos, Fixed-Asset Registers, and the IRS Workbook That Speed Insurance Claims and Tax Relief
·mike

Build a Business Disaster Inventory Before You Need It: Photos, Fixed-Asset Registers, and the IRS Workbook That Speed Insurance Claims and Tax Relief

How to build a business disaster inventory that proves existence, identity, value, and timing of what you own — fixed-asset registers, dated inventory reports, photo walkthroughs, and offsite records — plus a first-72-hours checklist and how IRS Publication 584-B and Form 4684 handle casualty losses and insurance reimbursements.

small-business
insurance
risk-management
Cloud Cost Allocation for Small SaaS Teams: A Practical Showback Guide
·mike

Cloud Cost Allocation for Small SaaS Teams: A Practical Showback Guide

A 30-day showback playbook for small SaaS teams — define reporting dimensions, enforce a short tagging dictionary, split shared costs with defensible formulas, and reconcile cloud spend to the books before AI workloads (now managed by 98% of FinOps survey respondents) obscure gross margins.

saas
cloud-services
cost-management
Connecticut Paid Leave Is 0.5% in 2026: How Employers Can Catch Over-Withholding and Reconcile CTPL
·mike

Connecticut Paid Leave Is 0.5% in 2026: How Employers Can Catch Over-Withholding and Reconcile CTPL

The Connecticut Paid Leave contribution rate is 0.5% of subject wages for 2026, capped at the $184,500 Social Security wage base — a maximum of $922.50 per employee per employer. This employer guide covers the quarterly filing calendar, a six-step payroll reconciliation, and how to correct doubled 1% deductions, overpayments, and duplicate remittances.

payroll
connecticut
withholding
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