Sum-of-the-Years'-Digits Depreciation, Explained: The Accelerated Fraction Method
Sum-of-the-years'-digits front-loads depreciation with a falling fraction — remaining life over n(n+1)/2 — landing exactly on salvage value.
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Small Business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Wage Bracket vs. Percentage Method: The Two Ways Your Federal Withholding Gets Computed
Federal withholding uses wage bracket tables for manual payroll under ~$100,000, and the percentage formula for software and higher earners.
What Counts as Gross Income? Section 61's All-Inclusive Rule, Explained
Section 61 taxes all income from whatever source derived — wages, barter, canceled debt, found money — unless a named exclusion takes it out.
Authorized vs. Issued vs. Outstanding Shares: What Each Count Means for Your Valuation, Your EPS, and Your Vote
Outstanding shares equal issued shares minus treasury stock — the only count that sets market cap, EPS, dividends, and votes.
Credit Memo vs. Debit Memo: When to Shrink an Invoice, When to Grow It, and How Each Moves Accounts Receivable
A credit memo shrinks what a customer owes and a debit memo grows it — both adjust accounts receivable without rewriting the invoice.
Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Explained: The Discount Rate That Zeros Out NPV, the Hurdle-Rate Rule, and the Traps
IRR is the discount rate that zeroes a project's NPV — accept only above your cost of capital, and cross-check high readings with MIRR.
Joint Costs and the Split-Off Point, Explained: How Makers Allocate Shared Production Costs
Joint costs split at the split-off point by physical units, sales value, or NRV — but sell-or-process-further decisions must use incremental dollars only.
LIFO Reserve and LIFO Liquidation, Explained: The Footnote That Restates LIFO Inventory to FIFO
The LIFO reserve is FIFO inventory minus LIFO inventory; liquidating old layers books phantom profit that Section 472 still taxes in full.
Real Estate Dealer vs. Investor: Why the Same Gain Is Ordinary Income for a Flipper and Capital Gain for a Landlord
Dealer flips face IRS ordinary income plus self-employment tax; investor sales get capital-gains rates, installment sales, and 1031 exchanges.
Software Escrow Agreements, Explained: How Source-Code Escrow Protects You When a Critical Vendor Fails
Software escrow holds your vendor's source code with a neutral agent, releasable on insolvency or support failure — verify it builds, or it protects nothing.
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.
How the Three Financial Statements Connect: Net Income Into Retained Earnings, Balance-Sheet Changes Into Cash, and Closing Cash Back to the Balance Sheet
Net income flows into retained earnings and opens operating cash flow; ending cash must tie to the balance sheet to the dollar.