#bookkeeping
Modern bookkeeping techniques using plain-text and automated workflows
A work-in-progress (WIP) schedule ties revenue to actual completion using the cost-to-cost percentage-of-completion method, exposing overbilling and underbilling before hidden losses reach year-end financials. Includes worked examples, a four-project sample schedule, and the signals bonding companies underwrite.
The DOL's May 2026 final rule creates a Form LM-2 Long Form for unions with $40 million or more in annual receipts, raises LM-2/LM-3/LM-4 filing thresholds to $350,000 and $25,000, and adds a $5,000 foreign-transaction disclosure schedule — effective for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2026. Here's what changes for union bookkeeping.
Float centers combine spa-level rent, pool-level utility bills, and prepaid package liabilities — a mix generic bookkeeping hides. How to structure a chart of accounts around utilities and Epsom salt costs, treat 5-packs and memberships as deferred revenue, and model break-even on tank hours sold versus tank hours available.
Gutter cleaners charge $0.75–$2.50 per linear foot, but healthy 35–50% residential margins depend on height-tier pricing, route-level job costing, and an off-season cash reserve. A practical bookkeeping guide covering second-story multipliers, revenue per route-hour, insurance costs, and Section 179 equipment deductions.
Independent educational consultants collect $4,000–$12,000 multi-year package fees long before the work happens. This guide explains why non-refundable contracts don't justify booking fees as income at signing, how to allocate revenue across service phases (e.g., 15/30/40/15), and how a two-account deferred revenue setup keeps your books honest.
A three-way reconciliation proves the bank statement, trust ledger, and every individual client ledger agree to the penny. It is the monthly process that keeps a pooled IOLTA account compliant with ABA Model Rule 1.15 and out of bar discipline.
A pool route can look fully booked and still lose money on a third of its stops. Splitting chemical costs into their own COGS line, tracking loaded labor and per-mile drive costs, and building a seasonal cash reserve are what turn "busy" into a verifiably profitable pool service business.
As of July 29, 2026, Intuit disabled Expert services by default and suppressed upsell prompts for every accountant-attached QuickBooks Online file, giving firms role-based controls and read-only Expert Hub visibility. Here is what changed, why accountant backlash forced the reversal, and what business owners should check in their own files.
On July 18, 2026, regulators closed Small Business Bank of Lenexa, Kansas — the fourth U.S. bank failure of 2026 — with $73M in assets and $69M in deposits assumed by Farmers State Bank of Oakley. Here's how the $250,000-per-depositor, per-ownership-category FDIC limit really applies to business accounts, and how to extend coverage with multiple banks or insured cash sweeps.
A tow truck over 14,000 lbs GVWR can often be fully expensed under Section 179 the year it's placed in service — but only if the depreciation schedule starts that year. How towing companies should separate tow, impound, and lien-sale revenue, reconcile lot logs monthly, and price compliance costs into every job.
TrumpIRA.gov, a Treasury-run IRA marketplace launching January 1, 2027, will list providers capped at a 0.15% expense ratio with no account minimums and connect eligible savers to a Federal Saver's Match of up to $1,000 a year — a 50% match on the first $2,000 contributed. Here is how it fits alongside a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k), and why accurate books determine the contribution you can actually make.
Six million U.S. businesses are expected to change hands by 2035, yet over 58% of owners have no succession plan. The National Worker Cooperative Development and Support Act, reintroduced in December 2025, would create an SBA pilot guaranteeing $60 million in loans over ten years for worker cooperative conversions — solving the 20%-owner personal guarantee problem that blocks most co-op financing. Here's how the pilot, Section 1042 capital gains deferral, and clean bookkeeping fit into an employee-ownership exit.
