#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
A bookkeeping guide for scratch bakeries covering standard recipe cards, ingredient yield, day-old shrink, retail vs. wholesale margin separation, ASC 606 deposit accounting for custom cakes, cottage food law revenue caps, and sales tax on prepared food.
A working playbook for mobile mechanic bookkeeping — tiered labor rates, a parts markup matrix targeting 58% gross margin, actual-expense vs 72.5-cent standard mileage, Section 179 on scan tools and upfitted cargo vans, comeback warranty reserves, and quarterly Schedule C obligations.
A practical guide to commercial print and sign shop bookkeeping — calculating a loaded press hour rate, applying ASC 606 over-time recognition for customer-specific goods, tracking paper and ink spoilage with reserves, stacking Section 179 with 100 percent bonus depreciation on press equipment, and watching KPIs like press uptime and makeready waste that catch margin leaks before they reach the P&L.
How independent used car dealers should book floorplan notes payable, capitalize reconditioning costs under IRC 263A, estimate F&I chargeback reserves under ASC 606, track BHPH notes receivable, and stay compliant with the FTC Buyers Guide rule and IRS Form 8300.
How coworking operators separate hot desk, dedicated desk, and private office revenue under ASC 606, hold refundable deposits as liabilities, allocate common-area square footage to compute NOI per foot, capitalize build-out as Qualified Improvement Property with 100% bonus depreciation in 2026, and report the occupancy, RevPOD, churn, and MRR concentration metrics that lenders and acquirers actually price on.
A bookkeeping framework for coin-op and wash-dry-fold laundromats — channel-separated revenue, utilities tracked as COGS, per-machine profitability, Section 179 timing on equipment refreshes, and cash controls that surface both theft and failing machines.
A working guide for indoor gourmet mushroom growers — Schedule F treatment, the Section 263A pre-productive-period exception, a mushroom-specific chart of accounts, flush-by-flush yield tracking, channel-by-channel margins, Section 179 depreciation on fruiting chambers, and ASC 606 deferred revenue for CSAs and workshops.
A practical guide to bookkeeping for wedding and event venues, covering ASC 606 deferred revenue on booking deposits, the principal-versus-agent test for pass-through catering and bar, refundable damage deposit liabilities, per-Saturday fixed-cost allocation, and cancellation reserves.
How express car washes should recognize unlimited membership revenue ratably under ASC 606, allocate variable cost per car across water, electricity, and chemicals (~$1.50/car target), and depreciate tunnel equipment under 15-year MACRS with cost segregation and bonus depreciation.
How to set up books for a Part 107 commercial drone business — separate revenue lines by service type, capitalize airframes and payloads as distinct assets, track per-flight battery cycles as cost of service, and apply the 2025 permanent 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA.
For tax year 2026, the 1099-NEC reporting threshold rises from $600 to $2,000 and the IRS replaces FIRE with the IRIS portal. A practical workflow for W-9 collection, TIN matching, backup withholding, e-filing, and avoiding per-form penalties that stack under §6721 and §6722.
The IRS retention clock varies by record type — three years for routine returns, four for employment tax, six when income is understated by more than 25%, seven for bad-debt and worthless-securities losses, and indefinite for unfiled or fraudulent returns. A defensible schedule built on the statute of limitations, Rev. Proc. 97-22 electronic-records rules, and DOL and OSHA overlays.
