#cost-of-goods-sold
Cost of Goods Sold
Learn how to calculate and track cost of goods sold for inventory valuation
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Bookkeeping: Why Every Truck Is Its Own Profit Center
Carpet cleaning chemistry should run 5–7% of revenue, a $25,000 truckmount costs about $10 per operating hour in wear, and drive time between jobs is the biggest hidden margin leak. How to book chemistry, trucks, and routes as three separate cost centers.
Fed Survey: 80% of Small Businesses Are Passing Tariff Costs to Customers — and Nearly Half Aren't Done Raising Prices
The Federal Reserve's 2025 Small Business Credit Survey finds 80% of tariff-paying small firms raised prices, 60% absorbed costs into margins, and 44-47% plan further increases — a "trickle up" pattern that means input costs haven't finished rising. Here's how to read the data and prepare your pricing and books.
June 2026 Inflation Report: Why a Cooler CPI Doesn't Mean Lower Supplier Costs
June 2026 CPI fell 0.4% — the largest monthly drop since April 2020 — cutting annual inflation to 3.5%, but core prices were flat and producer inflation still runs 5.5%. What the CPI/PPI gap means for small-business supplier costs, tariff pass-through, and fall contract negotiations.
Operating Margin, Explained: Formula, Industry Benchmarks, and How to Improve It
Operating margin — operating income divided by revenue — shows whether a business's core operation makes money before interest and taxes. Here's the formula with a worked example, 2026 benchmarks by industry (SaaS 15–35%, services 15–25%, manufacturing 8–15%, retail under 5%), how it differs from gross and net margin, and the bookkeeping errors that distort it.
The SAFE Banking Act Is Back in 2026: What Cannabis Operators Should Do While Congress Stalls
The SAFE Banking Act was reintroduced in June 2026 with bipartisan Senate and House sponsors, after passing the House seven times since 2019 and dying in the Senate each time. Roughly 70% of U.S. cannabis businesses still operate in cash, paying $2,000–$7,500 in monthly banking fees when they can find a bank at all. Here's what the bill would change, why it keeps failing, and how operators can protect themselves now with cannabis-friendly banks, reduced cash exposure, and audit-ready books under Section 280E.
Colorado's Psilocybin Healing Centers Just Watched Cannabis Get a Tax Break They Didn't
Cannabis got Section 280E relief when medical marijuana moved to Schedule III in April 2026, but Colorado's 34 licensed psilocybin healing centers are still fully subject to it. Here is how 280E limits deductions to COGS, why facilitator session labor is the contested cost category, and how to structure a chart of accounts, deferred revenue, and cash controls for a Schedule I business.
Craft Distillery Bookkeeping: Why the IRS Doesn't Care About Your Barrels, But the TTB Absolutely Does
Craft distilleries owe federal excise tax only when spirits are withdrawn from bond — often years after the grain was paid for. A practical guide to capitalizing barrel-aging costs into inventory, recording angel's share evaporation at quarterly gauging, and timing the $2.70-per-proof-gallon TTB liability correctly.
The Egg Price-Fixing Settlement: What Small Food Businesses Should Learn From It
In June 2026, the DOJ and 17 states settled with Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's for $3.3 million over alleged manipulation of the Urner Barry egg price index from 2022 to 2025 — a period when the three producers earned an estimated $1.22 billion. Here's what bakeries, diners, and grocers should do now, from pulling 2022–2025 purchase records to checking contracts for index-linked pricing clauses.
Fishing Charter Bookkeeping: Why Fuel and Bait Are COGS and Your USCG License Deserves Its Own Line Item
A well-run fishing charter nets roughly a 25% margin even when booked solid. This guide shows how to structure a charter's books — classify fuel, bait, and ice as cost of goods sold for per-trip margins, track the $1,300–$1,600 USCG six-pack license and its five-year renewal cycle, and accrue maintenance reserves per engine hour to survive the off-season.
Fuel Hedging for Small Manufacturers: Forward Contracts, Price Caps, and Cash-Flow Hedge Accounting Under ASC 815
With diesel at $5.02 a gallon in June 2026, small manufacturers can hedge fuel costs without a futures account — supplier fixed-price and price-cap contracts do the job, and ASC 815 cash-flow hedge accounting keeps the gains and losses in OCI until the fuel is actually consumed. Here's how the instruments, the common mistakes, and the documentation requirements work.
Odoo vs. QuickBooks Enterprise for Manufacturers: BOM Costing and Multi-Warehouse Inventory Compared
QuickBooks Enterprise's Assembly Builds can't handle sub-assemblies, work orders, routing, or real-time WIP — Odoo's manufacturing orders can. A practical comparison of BOM costing, multi-warehouse inventory, 2026 pricing ($2,700+/yr Platinum vs. ~$25–32/user/mo), and the five signs a small manufacturer has actually outgrown QuickBooks.
Pottery Studio Bookkeeping: How to Cost Kiln Firings, Glaze, and Clay for True COGS
A ceramics studio's true cost per piece includes two kiln firings, labor, 12–15% clay shrinkage, and a 5–15% failure allowance — not just $1 of clay. Here's the six-line COGS breakdown, per-firing kiln allocation, and the deferred-revenue treatment for classes and memberships.