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Small Business

Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners

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10 min read

Split-Dollar Life Insurance, Explained: How Business Owners and Key Employees Share the Cost of a Policy

Split-dollar life insurance is an agreement — not a policy type — for an employer and a key employee to divide the premiums, cash value, and death benefit of one permanent policy. This guide compares the two structures (collateral assignment vs. endorsement), explains how the IRS taxes each under the economic benefit and loan regimes, why premiums are never deductible, and how to book the arrangement correctly from day one.

Mike Thrift

insuranceemployee-benefitsexecutive-compensation
9 min read

Talent and Modeling Agency Bookkeeping: Why "What We Kept" Is Not the Same as "What We Earned"

Talent and modeling agencies must record the full booking amount as gross revenue — not just the 10–20% commission they keep — hold client funds in a separate trust account (a legal requirement under California's Talent Agencies Act), and reconcile commission splits against contracts monthly. Five bookkeeping rules that prevent IRS 1099 mismatches, commingling violations, and talent payout disputes.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businesscreative-industries
8 min read

Aerial Arts and Circus Studio Bookkeeping: Deferred Revenue, Rig Depreciation, and the $1M/$3M Insurance Floor

Aerial and circus studios typically must carry $1M-per-occurrence/$3M-aggregate liability coverage — far above a standard fitness studio — and that floor reshapes their books. How to record punch cards as deferred revenue, depreciate silks and rigging on safety schedules, classify instructors, and reserve for insurance deductibles.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businessaccrual-accounting
8 min read

AI-Powered Fraud Detection for Small Businesses: Real-Time Auditing Without a Big-Four Budget

Business email compromise cost U.S. companies over $3 billion in 2025, averaging $137,000 per incident — and 45% of small businesses hit by BEC close within six months. AI-driven continuous auditing now starts around $20–$70/month; here's how anomaly detection, vendor account validation, and free controls like payment-change callbacks cut the risk without an enterprise fraud stack.

Mike Thrift

fraud-detectionfraud-preventionsmall-business
8 min read

Asset Coverage Ratio: The Solvency Number Lenders Check Before You Ever See a Term Sheet

The asset coverage ratio measures whether tangible assets could repay total debt in a liquidation — [(total assets − intangibles) − (current liabilities − short-term debt)] ÷ total debt. Below 1.0 is a red flag, 2.0 is a common healthy benchmark, and lenders often write a minimum ACR into loan covenants that can trigger technical default.

Mike Thrift

financial-ratiosbusiness-loanssmall-business
8 min read

Booth Rental vs. Commission: A Barbershop Bookkeeping Guide

Booth rental makes a barber a self-employed tenant filing Schedule C with quarterly estimates and 15.3% self-employment tax; commission makes them a W-2 employee. Weekly booth rent averages $220–$225, commission splits center on 60/40, and the 2026 1099-NEC threshold rises to $2,000 — here's how the bookkeeping differs and where misclassification penalties start.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingself-employmentsmall-business
8 min read

No More Pennies: A Small-Business Guide to 2026's State Cash-Rounding Laws

The U.S. minted its last penny on November 12, 2025, and 19 states have enacted cash-rounding laws in 2026 with no federal standard yet in force. Most states let retailers round cash totals to the nearest nickel at their discretion, Arizona mandates Canadian-style rounding, and Indiana treats rounding gains and losses as income adjustments. Here is how the rules differ, why sales tax is always calculated on the pre-rounding price, and how to book rounding variances so they stay auditable.

Mike Thrift

small-businesscompliancelegal
9 min read

Commercial Fleet Insurance for Small Businesses: 2026 Costs, What Drives Your Premium, and Six Ways to Lower It

Small-business fleets of light-duty vehicles typically pay $150–$450 per vehicle per month in 2026 — cargo vans around $189, box trucks $300–$900+ — and new ventures pay 30–50% more than established ones. This guide explains the five factors underwriters actually price (driver MVRs, garaging location, mileage, limits, claims history) and six concrete ways to cut the premium, including telematics discounts of 10–30%, annual-pay savings of 5–10%, and per-vehicle cost tracking.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancesmall-business
8 min read

Driving School Bookkeeping: Dual-Control Depreciation, Licensing Renewals, and Per-Lesson Revenue

A driving school's books hinge on three quirks most owners miss - a dual-control training car is two separate depreciable assets, instructor licensing adds $2,000+ in recurring annual compliance costs, and revenue must be tracked by lesson type to see profit per instructor-hour. Here's how to structure the chart of accounts, handle vehicle disposal correctly, and run a simple monthly close.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businesschart-of-accounts
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