Selling Abroad? The FCPA Rules Every Small Exporter Should Know
The U.S. FCPA covers small exporters too: a foreign agent's bribe can be yours, grease payments rarely qualify, and clean books are your best defense.
#vendor-management
Vendor Management
Strategies for selecting, managing, and optimizing vendor and supplier relationships for small businesses
Illinois Freelance Worker Protection Act: What Hiring Businesses Must Put in Writing
Illinois FWPA: freelance deals of $500+ (aggregated over 120 days) need a written contract and payment within 30 days — or owe double damages plus fees.
How to Vet Your Outsourced Bookkeeper's IT Security: 10 Questions
Under the FTC Safeguards Rule, bookkeepers must keep a written security plan with MFA and encryption. Ask these 10 questions before granting access.
Run IRS TIN Matching Before 1099 Season: Catch Name/TIN Mismatches While They're Still Free to Fix
IRS TIN Matching is free and catches name/TIN mismatches before you file 1099s — each bad return can cost up to $340 plus 24% backup withholding.
Authorized Push Payment Fraud: The Invoice Scam Your Bank Won't Reverse
Because you authorized the wire, US banks rarely refund APP fraud — $8.3B lost in 2024. Out-of-band vendor verification and dual approval stop it.
Illinois AI Hiring Compliance: Notice, Bias Testing, and Vendor Records Under HB 3773
Illinois HB 3773 took effect January 1, 2026 and covers employers with one employee — give AI notice, drop zip-code proxies, run four-fifths bias tests.
Source-Code Escrow for Small SaaS Vendors: Terms, 2026 Fees, and the Bookkeeping
US SaaS vendors face enterprise escrow demands. Self-service plans start near $139/month and traditional agents around $2,200 — negotiate release triggers and book setup, annual, and verification fees.
PEO Brokers Offer Free Help: How They Get Paid and What to Ask
Most PEO brokers are paid by the PEO you pick, not by you — a commission that can vary by provider. Here are the compensation, network, and CPEO questions to ask before signing, and when going direct is faster.
Payment-Approval Limits for a Two-Person Finance Team: A Practical Disbursement Matrix
A ready-to-copy payment-approval matrix for two-person finance teams — who creates, approves, releases, and reconciles each disbursement type, the dollar limits and escalation triggers to set, and the compensating controls that cover what two people cannot segregate.
Slotting Fees, Explained: What Grocery Shelf Space Really Costs a CPG Brand
Slotting fees run roughly $250–$1,000 per item per store in conventional grocery and $20,000–$100,000 per frozen SKU at large chains, and free fills, pay-to-stay charges and trade spend often double the real entry cost — here is how to model breakeven, negotiate the fee down, and book it correctly as a deduction against revenue rather than COGS.
Co-Op Advertising: How to Claim Vendor Ad Dollars and Book Them Under ASC 705
Manufacturers budget roughly $75 billion a year in co-op advertising funds and about half goes unclaimed. How accruals, pre-approval and proof-of-performance claims work, why claims get denied, and why ASC 705 presumes a vendor allowance reduces COGS rather than advertising expense.
Vendor Statement Reconciliation: The 15-Minute Monthly Control That Catches Duplicate Payments
A step-by-step monthly routine for comparing a vendor's statement against your payables ledger — about 15 minutes per key vendor — to catch duplicate payments, unapplied credits, and invoices your books never recorded, plus the five discrepancies that recur and how to resolve each.