#compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
DOJ's 2025 RealPage settlement and new 2026 laws in New York, Maryland, and California mean small businesses using algorithmic pricing tools — from Amazon repricers to short-term rental software — now face real antitrust and disclosure compliance risk, not just large landlords.
California's SB 68 (the ADDE Act) requires restaurant chains with 20+ locations and at least one California site to disclose the nine major food allergens on every menu format starting July 1, 2026, with civil liability rather than regulatory fines as the primary enforcement risk.
Congress repealed the CFPB's $5 overdraft fee cap via the Congressional Review Act in May 2025, before it ever took effect — large banks now charge $10 to $36 per overdraft and collected over $12 billion in overdraft and NSF revenue in a year. Here's what the repeal means for small business bank accounts, which states are stepping in, and five concrete ways to stop paying the fee.
Connecticut's July 1, 2026 laws require all-in advertised pricing, give independent repair shops manufacturer-level access to parts and documentation, and drop the CTDPA's coverage threshold to 35,000 residents with no-threshold triggers for sensitive data and data sales.
Connecticut's paid sick leave law now covers employers with 11 or more employees as of January 1, 2026, dropping to zero threshold by 2027, while 17 states plus D.C. mandate some form of paid sick leave with accrual typically at one hour per 30 hours worked.
Starting July 8, 2026, the CPSC requires importers to eFile certificate-of-compliance data directly into CBP's ACE system for every regulated shipment, with violations risking penalties up to $120,500 per infraction.
Debt collection agencies must hold client recoveries in a segregated trust account, recognize contingency fees only after collection, and run monthly three-way reconciliations of bank balance, book balance, and client ledger totals to avoid commingling violations and FDCPA compliance gaps.
U.S. duty drawback refunds up to 99% of import duties when goods are re-exported or destroyed, and claims can reach back five years. Here's which tariffs qualify (Section 301, the 2026 Section 122 surcharge), which don't (Section 232), and the import records CBP requires to approve a claim.
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) marks up foreign-card payments 3-7% above the interbank rate — sometimes 12-18% — and splits the revenue among DCC providers, acquirers, and merchants. Here is who profits, the Visa/Mastercard disclosure rules merchants must follow, and how to book DCC rebates and settlement variances separately from sales revenue.
About 40% of franchisors disclose no Item 19 earnings data in their FDD, and any verbal revenue claim outside that section is not legally enforceable — here's how to read what's disclosed and what to do when it isn't.
Unreconciled books — not fraud — are the most common way campaigns and PACs draw FEC scrutiny. A treasurer's guide to the $200 itemization threshold, 2025–2026 contribution limits ($3,500 per election to candidates), the 2026 filing calendar, what triggers an audit, and the double-entry bookkeeping practices that prevent RFAIs.
Synapse Financial Technologies' April 2024 bankruptcy trapped over $265 million belonging to more than 100,000 fintech customers, despite their funds sitting at FDIC-insured banks, because the middleware ledger tracking who owned what inside pooled "FBO" accounts fell apart — exposing a gap between deposit insurance and banking-as-a-service infrastructure that remains largely unclosed as of mid-2026.
