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#internal-controls

Internal Controls

Systems and procedures that safeguard assets, ensure accurate records, and prevent fraud

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10 min read

Intuit's AI Payroll and Sales Tax Agents: What Done-for-You Bookkeeping Actually Changes

Intuit's QuickBooks payroll agent collects and validates hours, flags anomalies and runs payroll, while its sales tax features track rates and nexus across jurisdictions — but the tax liability stays with the business owner. A practical breakdown of what the agents do, what they cannot do, and five controls (approve every run, reconcile monthly, own your registrations, keep the audit trail readable, feed clean data) that capture the time savings without inheriting the errors.

Mike Thrift

aiautomationpayroll
11 min read

Pour Cost, Keg Yields, and Shrinkage: Bar Bookkeeping That Catches What Walks Out the Door

Pour cost is beverage COGS divided by beverage revenue — target 15-20% on spirits, 20-25% on draft, and 25-35% on wine by the glass. This guide covers how to compute usage and variance weekly, why a half-barrel keg yields about 112 pints instead of the theoretical 124, and how to split revenue, COGS, comps, and keg deposits so the leak is visible in the ledger.

Mike Thrift

restaurantinventorycost-of-goods-sold
13 min read

Financial Infidelity When You Run a Business Together: A Transparency System for Co-Owner Couples

Bankrate's January 2026 survey found 43% of U.S. adults consider financial secrecy at least as bad as physical cheating, and 40% of adults in live-in relationships admit to a money secret. For couples who co-own a business, a hidden card or debt also distorts pricing, payroll and joint tax liability — here are the bookkeeping controls, monthly review cadence and entity rules that make transparency structural rather than voluntary.

Mike Thrift

family-businesssmall-businessbookkeeping
12 min read

Fake AI Tools Are Now a Top Malware Disguise: A Download-Safety Guide for Small Businesses

Malware disguised as popular AI tools hit small and mid-sized businesses more than 33,300 times in the first four months of 2026, nearly five times the 2025 count. Learn the five disguises most likely to reach your team, what one bad download costs, a shareable download-safety checklist, and a 15-minute software-approval routine that stops most fake installers.

Mike Thrift

securitysmall-businessai
10 min read

Fleet Fuel Cards for Small Business: The Purchase Controls That Stop Personal Fill-Ups Before They Start

Fuel theft and misallocation drain an estimated 5–15% of fleet fuel spend. This guide explains how fleet fuel cards from WEX, Fuelman, Ramp and others stop personal fill-ups with five controls — unique driver PINs, fuel-only product locks, dollar and time-of-day limits, mandatory odometer entry, and exception alerts — plus what the cards cost in fees versus rebates, when a cash-back business card is the better choice, and how card statements substantiate vehicle deductions under the standard mileage or actual-expense method.

Mike Thrift

small-businessexpense-managementfraud-prevention
12 min read

When Your Payroll Provider Fails to Deposit Your Taxes: Why the IRS Still Comes After You

If a payroll company withdraws your tax money and never deposits it, the employer still owes the full tax plus penalties. A payroll service provider or reporting agent assumes no liability, a Section 3504 agent shares it, and only an IRS-certified CPEO is solely liable for its work-site employees. This guide covers the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty that reaches owners personally, seven warning signs of a failing provider, and the monthly EFTPS verification habit that catches a missed deposit at a 2% penalty instead of 10%.

Mike Thrift

payrolltax-compliancewithholding
12 min read

Feed Mill Bookkeeping: How to Account for Custom Grinding, Blending, and Ingredient Inventory

A feed mill's books must separate customer-owned grain from mill-owned inventory, record custom-grind fees as service revenue rather than inflated purchases and sales, cost each batch from ingredient lots through COGS, and make shrink and moisture variances visible — this guide walks through the ownership test, four revenue streams, lot-level inventory records, and a 10-step month-end close.

Mike Thrift

agriculturebookkeepinginventory
12 min read

Demurrage and Detention Invoice Controls: A 30-Day Checklist for Importers Before Paying Port Charges

Nine major ocean carriers collected roughly $15.4 billion in detention and demurrage charges between April 2020 and March 2025. This checklist explains what the FMC's 46 CFR Part 541 billing rule requires on every invoice, the five controls to run before approving a port charge, and a 30-day workflow for disputing questionable fees and recording accepted versus disputed amounts in your books.

Mike Thrift

accounts-payableinternal-controlscompliance
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