Check Float, Explained: Why Your Money Counts Twice While a Check Is in Transit
Float is the gap between writing a check and the money moving — mail, processing, and clearing delays that make your bank balance overstate your cash.
#reconciliation
Reconciliation
Bank reconciliation techniques for accurate financial records
Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist: The Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly Tasks That Keep Your Books Clean
Reconcile monthly, chase invoices weekly, pay IRS estimates quarterly — the daily-to-quarterly checklist that keeps small-business books clean.
Payment Gateways, Explained: What the Gateway, the Processor, and the Merchant Account Each Do
The gateway encrypts card data, the processor routes bank messages, and the merchant account holds funds until payout — what each fee buys.
Balance Sheet Reconciliation, Explained: How to Reconcile Every General Ledger Account Each Month
Every balance sheet balance is a claim — reconciliation proves it against an independent schedule. The five-step monthly routine, per account.
Fedwire vs. CHIPS vs. SWIFT, Explained: How Wire Transfers Actually Move
Fedwire settles each wire in full, CHIPS nets trillions against prefunded balances, and SWIFT only carries messages — how your money actually moves.
Take Rate, Explained: How Marketplaces Turn GMV Into Revenue
Take rate is platform revenue divided by GMV — and the effective rate runs far above the advertised commission once fees, fulfillment, and ads count.
The 4-5-4 Retail Calendar, Explained: Why Retailers Count Months in Whole Weeks
The 4-5-4 calendar divides each quarter into 4-, 5-, and 4-week months so every period holds whole weekends — plus a 53rd week every five to six years.
What Auditors Actually Test: Management Assertions, Walkthroughs, and Sampling
Auditors test five claims — existence, completeness, valuation, rights, disclosure — through confirmations, observation, and sampling. What each checks.
Stale-Dated and Postdated Checks: the Six-Month Rule, Why Your Bank Can Still Pay, and What to Do Next
A check goes stale six months after its date, but your bank may still pay it in good faith — act before the bank chooses for you.
Correcting Entries vs. Adjusting Entries: Which One Fixes an Error, Which One Closes the Period
Adjusting entries record what timing left out; correcting entries fix prior errors. Reverse only accruals — reversing a correction resurrects the error.
Purchase Orders, Explained: What a PO Must Include, Blanket Orders, Matching, and Numbering
A purchase order becomes binding when the supplier accepts it — by signature or shipment. What to include, blanket POs, and 2- vs 3-way matching.
Subsidiary Ledgers and Control Accounts, Explained: How AR and AP Subledgers Keep Detail Out of the General Ledger — Posting, Reconciliation, and What an Out-of-Balance Subledger Means
The AR control balance must equal every customer balance added up — when it doesn't, a posting went to the wrong place. How the tie-out works.