#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
How to build a craft brewery's books so cost of goods sold tells the truth—a production chart of accounts, a true cost-per-barrel formula using net barrels, TTB excise tax rates ($3.50/barrel on the first 60,000), and the 3–8% shrinkage that inflates margin if ignored.
A worked guide to the cash conversion cycle and the three working-capital levers — DIO, DSO, and DPO — with industry benchmarks, the Amazon and Dell negative-CCC playbook, and the bookkeeping foundation small businesses need to shorten the gap.
A practical walkthrough of the cash conversion cycle (DIO + DSO − DPO) for small businesses — how to calculate each component, what counts as a healthy CCC by industry, and the order to pull the three levers that free trapped working capital without breaking supplier or customer relationships.
Common-size analysis restates every line of a financial statement as a percentage of revenue or total assets; trend analysis indexes the same lines across years. Together they expose cost creep, margin erosion, and balance sheet drift that raw dollars hide, and they make a $2M business meaningfully comparable to a $50M peer.
ASC 710-10 requires employers to accrue a balance-sheet liability for PTO, vacation, and sick leave that vests or carries over. This guide covers the four-part test, sabbatical and unlimited PTO rules, the reserve calculation, and the journal entries.
In consignment, the consignor owns the goods and records the full sale; the consignee books only its commission.
How craft distilleries should account for bonded inventory, capitalize aging costs, and reconcile TTB Form 5110.40 to the general ledger — including the $2.70 CBMA reduced rate, controlled-group traps, and why federal excise tax belongs in COGS, not operating expense.
A small business guide to resolving IRS audit disputes without litigation — the 30-day letter, Form 12203 Small Case Request, formal written protest, Fast Track Settlement, audit reconsideration, and the 90-day statutory notice of deficiency.
A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin, not a 50% margin — markup divides profit by cost, margin divides it by selling price. This guide gives the conversion formulas, a reference table, and shows how the mix-up quietly costs small businesses thousands.
Mobile notaries and loan signing agents can exclude statutory notarial fees from self-employment tax under IRC Section 1402(c)(1), but only if their books cleanly split per-act notarial revenue from taxable signing, travel, and print fees. A chart-of-accounts and Schedule C/SE walk-through that can save a moderately busy LSA $800 to $2,000 a year.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made 100% bonus depreciation under Section 168(k) permanent for qualified property placed in service after January 19, 2025. This guide explains how small businesses coordinate Section 179, qualified improvement property, and the new Section 168(n) manufacturing deduction — and the acquisition-date rules that decide eligibility.
Section 199A is now permanent under OBBBA. Pass-through owners get a 20% deduction, wider SSTB phase-in ranges ($75K single / $150K joint above the 2026 threshold), a new $400 minimum for material participants, and the same W-2 wage and UBIA tests at the top of the band.
