Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
A practical guide to Form 1040-ES—who must file, how to calculate quarterly estimated payments, 2026 due dates, the safe harbor rule, and how to avoid IRS underpayment penalties as a freelancer or small business owner.
EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) covers ACH, wire transfers, direct deposit, and debit card payments. Learn how each type works, what it costs ($0.20–$50 per transaction), and when to use ACH vs. wire transfers for payroll, vendor invoices, and customer collections.
Around 60% of small business owners feel they don't fully understand accounting. This guide covers 12 of the most common bookkeeping mistakes—mixing personal and business funds, skipping reconciliation, misclassifying workers—and shows exactly how to fix each one before it becomes costly.
A practical cost-benefit analysis of hiring a bookkeeper for small businesses — with real pricing data ($200–$500/month), opportunity cost math, and 5 concrete signs it's time to stop doing your own books.
Revenue is one of the least useful indicators of business health. This guide walks through 10 diagnostic questions—covering gross margin, current ratio, DSCR, AR turnover, and more—that reveal whether your business is actually on solid financial footing.
Clean books and real-time financial visibility separate small businesses that survive recessions from those that don't — learn how to use bookkeeping as an early-warning system, build cash reserves, cut costs strategically, and access credit before you need it.
Poor bookkeeping is the root cause of most small business tax debt -- the IRS assessed $84 billion in civil penalties in a single year. This guide explains how messy records lead to inflated tax bills, how to reconstruct your books, and which IRS resolution options (installment agreements, FTA, OIC) are available once you know what you actually owe.
A practical breakdown of what bookkeepers and CPAs do, what each costs ($30–$60/hr vs. $200–$500/hr), and when to hire one, the other, or both—so you stop overpaying for the wrong professional at the wrong time.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently restored 100% bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025. Here's how small businesses can claim the full first-year deduction on equipment, vehicles, and qualified improvements—and when skipping it makes more sense.
A practical breakdown of 7 small business loan types—SBA 7(a), 504, term loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, invoice factoring, and MCAs—with current rate ranges, qualification thresholds, and a 5-step framework for matching the right loan to your specific need.
A practical guide to choosing an online business checking account — covering fees, transaction limits, cash deposit access, APY, software integrations, and what documents you need to open one.
A practical comparison of the best bookkeeping software for small businesses—QuickBooks, Wave, FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, and Sage—organized by use case, with pricing, key features, and honest trade-offs to help you choose the right tool.
