#bookkeeping
Bookkeeping
Modern bookkeeping techniques using plain-text and automated workflows
ESOP Repurchase Obligation Accounting: The Hidden Balance Sheet Liability That Sinks Mature ESOPs
A practical guide to ESOP repurchase obligation accounting for closely held companies — how ASC 480-10-S99 classifies redeemable shares as temporary equity, how to fund the obligation with sinking funds, COLI, recycling, and redemption, and the bookkeeping habits that keep plan-year valuations defensible.
Bookkeeping for Farmers' Market Vendors and CSA Subscriptions: Booth Cash, Deferred Revenue, EBT Tokens, and Schedule F
A practical bookkeeping playbook for direct-to-consumer farms — chart of accounts, CSA deferred revenue across a 20-week season, SNAP/EBT and Double Up Food Bucks token reconciliation, per-market cash workflows, and Schedule F line 25 Section 175 conservation expense treatment.
Jewelry Store Bookkeeping: SKU-Level Costing, Memo Goods, Layaway, and Form 8300
A working playbook for independent jewelers covering per-piece SKU costing, lower-of-cost-or-market write-downs on metal price drops, memo and consignment inventory, ASC 606 repair and custom revenue, layaway deposit liabilities, and Form 8300 cash reporting without triggering structuring allegations.
Marina and Boat Slip Bookkeeping: ASC 606, Form 720, and MACRS Class Lives
A working chart of accounts and revenue-recognition playbook for marinas — straight-line seasonal slip revenue under ASC 606, point-in-time transient dockage, fuel-dock excise tax on Form 720, deposits held as liabilities, and 15-year MACRS treatment for floating docks.
Markup vs. Margin: The Pricing Mistake That Quietly Costs Small Businesses 7 Points of Profit on Every Sale
Markup and margin share a numerator but not a denominator, and the gap can quietly cost a contractor $99,000 a year. A plain-language guide to the conversion math, a target-margin lookup table, and why retailers, contractors, and restaurants keep underpricing jobs.
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.