#compliance
Compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
FinCEN Delayed the Investment Adviser AML Rule to 2028. The Clock Is Still Running.
FinCEN moved the investment adviser AML rule's effective date from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028, covering roughly 20,000 SEC-registered advisers and exempt reporting advisers. Here's what the rule requires — SARs at $5,000, CTRs above $10,000, travel-rule recordkeeping at $3,000 — and a 24-month plan to build the program before the deadline.
USDA Just Let Your Farm's LLC Stack Payment Limits — but Only If Your Books Prove It by September 15
USDA's June 2026 final rule lets farm LLCs and S corporations claim one ARC/PLC payment limit per actively engaged owner — up to $164,000 per person for 2026 — but only if entity structure, per-member contributions, and farm/non-farm income splits are documented with FSA by September 15, 2026. Here's the bookkeeping that proves it.
Before an AI Assistant Touches Your Books: A Small-Business Control Plan
Set least-privilege access, human approval gates on money movement, and an audit trail that links each action to its evidence before an AI assistant creates financial drafts, changes records, or touches a payment workflow.
EU Platform Work Directive Deadline: What US Businesses Hiring European Freelancers Must Do Before December 2, 2026
The EU Platform Work Directive (2024/2831) must become national law in all member states by December 2, 2026, creating a rebuttable presumption that platform workers are employees. US businesses hiring EU-based freelancers through digital platforms face reclassification risk, algorithmic transparency duties, and new data-processing bans — this guide covers the six pillars, a 10-month compliance playbook, and the bookkeeping changes to make now.
Gift Card Breakage and Unclaimed Property: A Retailer's Practical Guide
An unredeemed gift card stays a customer liability until the facts support otherwise. This guide shows retailers how to book gift cards as deferred revenue, reconcile balances monthly, recognize breakage as a defensible estimate, and preserve the card-level data that state unclaimed-property (escheatment) filings require.
Government Contractor Bookkeeping: A Practical Cost-Reimbursement Readiness Guide
A step-by-step readiness guide for cost-reimbursement contractors—how to build a traceable chart of accounts, run labor charging as a daily control, calculate indirect rates, and produce an invoice package reproducible from your books, with a 60-day plan.
Minnesota Veterinary Technician Licensing: A Clinic Budget and Records Checklist
Minnesota's licensed veterinary technician transition took effect July 1, 2026, with USD 282 in initial Board fees per applicant. A practical checklist for clinics to budget the costs, set reimbursement rules, control a staff roster, and clean up client-facing job titles.
Purchasing Card Controls for Small Teams: Keep Spending Fast and Accountable
A practical control framework for small-team purchasing cards—role-based limits, same-day receipt capture, weekly reconciliation, and independent review—so fast spending stays documented and auditable.
Saudi Arabia E-Invoicing: A Practical FATOORA Compliance Guide for SMEs
A practical guide for Saudi SMEs under ZATCA's FATOORA e-invoicing mandate—how B2B clearance and B2C reporting differ, why master data is a compliance control, and how to reconcile your accounting ledger with what your e-invoicing system submits.
The Modern Worker Empowerment Act Explained: Would H.R. 1319 Bring Back the Common-Law Test for Independent Contractors?
H.R. 1319, the Modern Worker Empowerment Act, would replace the DOL's six-factor economic reality test with a single common-law standard for worker classification under both the FLSA and NLRA, centered on two prongs — control over the work and entrepreneurial opportunity — while explicitly excluding safety rules and project deadlines as evidence of control. Here's how it compares to the ABC test, what it wouldn't change, and the contractor bookkeeping checklist to run while the bill is pending.
Wall Street Can't Buy That House Anymore: What the ROAD to Housing Act's Ban on Large Investors Means for Small Landlords and Property Managers
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (Public Law 119-101, enacted July 11, 2026) bans institutional investors controlling 350+ single-family homes from buying more, with exceptions for build-to-rent, renovate-to-rent rehabs costing at least 15% of purchase price, and rent-to-own programs. Here is how the thresholds, exceptions, and a two-year grace window affect small landlords and property managers — and the ownership-count and job-cost records to set up now.
AI-Generated Content and Copyright in 2026: What Small Businesses Can Actually Own, Use, and Risk
After a $1.5 billion settlement and a Supreme Court decision reaffirming human authorship, 2026 rulings split AI training from AI output: training can be fair use, but storing pirated copies is not, and publishing outputs that reproduce protected work still risks infringement. This guide shows what small businesses can own, what they risk, and how to keep AI-assisted work defensible and auditable.