#cash-flow
Track and optimize cash flow for better financial health and stability
Florida, Texas, and Louisiana bar the company that assesses mold from remediating the same property for 12 months, so dual owners run two licensed entities — separate EINs and bank accounts, written shared-cost agreements, and monthly intercompany settlements are what prove the wall is real.
A working bookkeeping system for freelance and bridal makeup artists — separate business accounts, retainers recorded as liabilities until the wedding day, kit split into consumables versus equipment, mileage logged at the 2026 IRS rates of 72.5 and 76 cents per mile, and a peak-season reserve sized to cover the roughly six quiet months outside the May–October wedding window.
California SB 61 caps retention on private construction contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026 at 5% per progress payment and 5% of the contract price in total, down from the 10% industry norm — here is who it covers, the residential and bonding exceptions, and how to rebuild your retainage receivable schedule so the freed-up cash actually reaches your account.
A Foreign Trade Zone defers duties until goods enter U.S. commerce, consolidates a week of shipments into a single Merchandise Processing Fee (capped at $651.50 for FY 2026 rather than charged per entry), and — with FTZ Board authorization — lets you elect the lower finished-good rate when component tariffs are inverted. Small importers reach all three as users of a 3PL magnet site, without activating a zone of their own.
Regulation CC makes the first $275 of a check deposit available the next business day and most ordinary checks by the second, but six documented exceptions — including deposits above $6,725 — let a bank hold the balance until the seventh business day. Here are the schedules, the written-notice rights, and how to plan payroll around them.
No federal law sets private-sector pay frequency, so each state sets its own floor — New York requires weekly pay for manual workers, North Carolina permits monthly, and Florida sets no private-sector minimum. This guide covers the four state buckets, lag-time caps such as California Labor Code section 204, per-employee penalties, and how to change a payroll schedule without delaying wages.
FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category — so an $800,000 business account leaves $550,000 uninsured. Reciprocal deposit networks like IntraFi's ICS and CDARS split a large balance into under-limit chunks across thousands of member banks while you keep one relationship and one statement. Here are the mechanics, the costs, ICS vs. CDARS, the overlap trap that quietly leaves money uninsured, and the bookkeeping that proves your coverage.
Vendor payment terms are negotiable working capital — top-performing companies take 46+ days to pay while bottom performers pay in 27. This guide covers what to ask for (extended net terms, milestone deposits, installment schedules), how to time and frame the ask as a win-win, the early-pay discount math (skipping 2/10 net 30 implies a 35%+ annualized cost), and how to track negotiated terms, AP aging, and DPO in your books.
Structuring — breaking cash into sub-$10,000 deposits to avoid a Currency Transaction Report — is a felony under 31 U.S.C. 5324 carrying up to 5 years in prison, and the government never has to prove the money was dirty. Here is how CTRs and Form 8300 actually work, which innocent deposit habits look like evasion, and the cash records that prove your intent.
How independent hardware stores handle bookkeeping most retailers never face — recording co-op patronage dividends from Form 1099-PATR (taxable in full even when paid partly in paper), managing 20,000–35,000 SKUs with ABC analysis and GMROI, running contractor charge accounts, and forecasting the spring-to-winter cash cycle with a rolling 13-week model.
Section 232 duties on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities double from 25% to 50% on January 1, 2027, and upholstered furniture rises to 30%. This guide walks retailers through per-SKU landed-cost math, classification review, supplier renegotiation, tiered price architecture, and the UNICAP rule that capitalizes duty into inventory so a pre-buy hits cash before it hits the deduction.
A pay-if-paid clause makes the owner's payment a condition precedent and shifts the full risk of owner nonpayment onto the subcontractor, while a pay-when-paid clause only sets timing and still obligates the general contractor. Courts enforce pay-if-paid only when the condition-precedent language is express, and at least eight states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin) void it outright. This guide covers how to tell the clauses apart, what to negotiate before signing, the Miller Act's 90-day notice and one-year suit deadlines, and how to book contingent receivables so your aging report and cash forecast tell the truth.
