#small-business
Small Business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Steam Revenue Share Bookkeeping: What Indie Game Developers Actually Get Paid
Steam's platform fee is calculated on net revenue after refunds, VAT, and currency conversion rather than gross sales, and non-U.S. developers face separate 0-30% tax withholding reported on Form 1042-S — this guide lays out the five-account chart of accounts to track both correctly.
Surviving a State Sales Tax Audit: A Small Business Guide
State sales tax auditors use statistical sampling that extrapolates a small error rate across years of transactions, so running a self-audit on use tax accruals, exemption certificates, and nexus exposure before a notice arrives produces a materially better outcome than waiting.
Tanning Salon Bookkeeping: Tracking the 10% Federal Excise Tax and Form 720
Indoor tanning services carry a 10% federal excise tax reported quarterly on IRS Form 720 Part II, and salons that don't isolate it in a dedicated liability account and itemize bundled packages are the ones examiners flag.
TikTok Shop Seller Bookkeeping: Reconciling Gross Sales, Fees, and Your 1099-K
TikTok Shop's 1099-K reports unadjusted gross sales, not net payout — referral fees, payment processing charges, and affiliate commissions typically consume 30-45% of that total before it reaches a seller's bank account, and untracked fees can inflate taxable income.
Trade Credit Insurance for Small Business: Costs, Coverage, and Whether You Need It
Trade credit insurance reimburses 75-95% of unpaid invoices when a customer defaults for a covered reason, typically costing 0.25-0.5% of insured sales, but disputed invoices and missed claim windows (30 days for insolvency, 3-6 months for other defaults) are excluded.
Trading Card Grading Submission Service Bookkeeping: Bailment, Float, and Backlog Risk
A trading card grading submission service should book customer cards as a bailment (not inventory), hold submission fees as unearned revenue until PSA returns the batch, carry bailee's coverage sized to total declared value on hand, and size cash reserves to the float created by 40-to-160-day grading turnarounds.
U-Pick Farm and Agritourism Bookkeeping: Splitting Farm Income From Fun-Farm Income
U-pick farms and agritourism ventures must split income between Schedule F farm production and Schedule C entertainment revenue, apply three different sales-tax rules within a single transaction, and budget for a business that earns most of its annual revenue in a 6-8 week window.
Urgent Care Clinic Bookkeeping: A Guide to Payer Mix, A/R, and Ancillary Revenue
Urgent care clinics typically target 28-35 days in accounts receivable, an 8-15% denial rate, and a 95%+ clean claim rate, while losing 15-25% of ancillary revenue to uncaptured charges — tracking these by payer category is what catches billing problems before they become a cash crunch.
Used Vinyl Record Store Bookkeeping: Consignment, Margins, and the Grading Costs That Eat Your Profit
Used record stores acquire inventory through cash purchase, store-credit trade, and consignment, each with different cost basis and liability treatment, and blending them into one bucket hides which acquisition channel is actually profitable.
Value-Based Pricing vs. the Billable Hour: An AI-Era Guide for Service Businesses
AI is compressing service-delivery time by 3-4x, making hourly billing punish the professionals who get faster; 64% of accounting and bookkeeping firms have already shifted to fixed-fee or value-based pricing to capture that speed as margin instead of losing it as revenue.
Bookkeeping for Vehicle Wrap and Window Tint Shops: Job Costing, Bay Utilization, and Deposits
Installation labor runs close to 60% of a full vehicle wrap's cost, yet most wrap and tint shops book it in monthly lump sums that hide per-job losses. This guide covers splitting tint, wrap, and PPF revenue lines, tracking redo hours and revenue per bay-hour, booking deposits as liabilities, and measuring film yield against a 10-15% waste allowance.
Virtual Assistant Agency Bookkeeping: Contractor Classification, Retainers, and Getting Paid for Every Hour
VA agencies face IRS misclassification risk on contractor VAs, must recognize standing-ready vs activity-based retainers under ASC 606, and typically lose revenue to unbilled client hours without real-time time tracking.