#accounting
Master accounting fundamentals and best practices for plain-text bookkeeping
Australia's Tranche 2 AML/CTF reforms made accountants, bookkeepers, and tax agents AUSTRAC reporting entities on July 1, 2026, with enrollment due by July 29. Here are the nine designated services that trigger the obligation, what the enrollment form requires, and the penalties for missing it — up to $36.4 million per contravention for a corporation.
Mileage bundles costs at 70 cents per mile but year-one actual unlocks Section 179 for heavy SUVs — pick the method before you place the vehicle in service and keep the daily log that makes either deduction survive.
Roughly 42 U.S. states have passed or are advancing laws replacing the CPA 150-hour education rule with 120 hours plus experience — Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Utah, and Iowa lead in 2026. Here's how the accountant shortage, new licensure pathways, and fractured license mobility affect who small businesses can hire.
ASC 606 permits revenue recognition on bill-and-hold arrangements only when four criteria are all met — a substantive reason for the delay, goods segregated for the customer, readiness for immediate transfer, and no seller right to redirect them. This guide walks through each test, a worked allocation example splitting goods revenue from a separate storage obligation, legitimate use cases, and the seller-initiated-delay red flag that draws SEC scrutiny.
Average shrink is 1.4–1.6% of sales — booked as extra COGS only after a count. Stratify cycle counts by ABC, reconcile 3PL before booking, and show the reserve honestly every month.
Underpayment interest is daily and quarterly — hit the 100%/110% or 90% harbor and pay the right amount by April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, or use Schedule AI for seasonal income before Form 2210 bills you.
An unpaid invoice isn't automatically a deduction for cash-basis businesses and worthlessness must be proven in the year claimed — document business character, collection efforts, and the specific charge-off before December 31.
FASB's ASU 2025-07 adds an ASC 815 scope exception for non-exchange-traded contracts whose payoff depends on a party's own operations — ESG-linked interest rate step-downs, M&A earnouts, regulatory and product milestones, change-of-control triggers — and routes warrants received from customers through Topic 606 instead of derivative accounting. Effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, with early adoption permitted.
FASB's ASU 2025-08 extends the CECL gross-up approach to purchased seasoned loans, eliminating the Day 1 provision expense on healthy acquired loan portfolios. Effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, with early adoption permitted — here's who qualifies, how the mechanics work, and how to prepare before your next acquisition.
FASB's ASU 2025-09, issued November 2025, makes five targeted fixes to hedge accounting: a 'similar risk' standard for grouped cash flow hedges, a 'choose-your-rate' framework for variable-rate debt, broader nonfinancial asset hedge eligibility, simpler net written option rules, and dual hedge mismatch relief. Public companies must comply for periods beginning after December 15, 2026; private companies get until after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted.
FASB's ASU 2025-10, issued December 4, 2025, creates the first standalone U.S. GAAP guidance for government grants received by business entities. It requires recognition only when compliance and receipt are both probable, offers deferred-income or cost-accumulation presentation for asset-related grants, mandates annual disclosures, and takes effect for private companies in annual periods beginning after December 15, 2029.
Pre-need funeral contracts can span 40 years between payment and service, so GAAP defers the revenue as a liability until delivery — while cemetery plot sales are recognized immediately as real-estate-like transactions. A guide to state trusting percentages, perpetual care funds, and the bookkeeping separations that keep deathcare businesses compliant.
