#legal
Legal considerations for business finance and accounting compliance
FTC staff guidance issued in 2024 bars franchisors from using operations manual updates to impose fees not disclosed in the FDD, and by 2026 is reshaping how renewals and transfers get documented — here's how franchisees should audit fees against Item 6.
Mobile IV and wellness injection bars must structure ownership as a physician-owned PC plus an MSO to satisfy corporate-practice-of-medicine rules, pay medical directors a flat monthly fee rather than a percentage of revenue, and classify nurses as W-2 employees in ABC-test states — each decision maps directly to a different chart-of-accounts structure.
New York's General Business Law § 396-ii took effect March 21, 2026, requiring statewide retailers and restaurants to accept cash and barring cash surcharges, with civil penalties up to $1,000 for a first violation and $1,500 for each one after.
Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island's consumer privacy laws took effect January 1, 2026, and two have no revenue threshold — here's how small businesses determine if they're covered and how to track the revenue percentages these laws require.
Effective April 1, 2026, California's SB 22 raises the mandatory gift card cash-out threshold from $10 to $15 — the highest in the U.S. — and extends it to electronic and app-based cards. With nearly 200 lawsuits filed under the statute since 2008, here's the compliance checklist and the gift card liability bookkeeping retailers need before plaintiffs' investigators come testing.
The FTC has filed 13 "AI-washing" enforcement cases since September 2024, including a May 2026 action against marketing firms that sold small businesses a fake "AI-powered" listening tool for $930,000 in penalties — here's a vetting checklist before you buy any AI-branded product.
A three-way reconciliation proves the bank statement, trust ledger, and every individual client ledger agree to the penny. It is the monthly process that keeps a pooled IOLTA account compliant with ABA Model Rule 1.15 and out of bar discipline.
As of 2026, roughly 20 states plus Washington D.C. require salary-range disclosure in job postings, and the laws apply based on where a remote job could be performed — not where the employer is based. Employee-count thresholds range from 1 to 50+, and penalties run from $250 per violation in Illinois to $25,000 in Massachusetts. Here is what small businesses must disclose, how to handle "Remote — US" listings, and a six-step compliance checklist.
Australia's Tranche 2 AML/CTF reforms made accountants, bookkeepers, and tax agents AUSTRAC reporting entities on July 1, 2026, with enrollment due by July 29. Here are the nine designated services that trigger the obligation, what the enrollment form requires, and the penalties for missing it — up to $36.4 million per contravention for a corporation.
Colorado repealed SB 24-205 and replaced it with SB 26-189, which regulates automated decision-making technology (ADMT) in hiring starting January 1, 2027. Employers over 40 employees must give pre-use notice, provide a 30-day adverse-action explanation with human review, and retain records for three years — enforced only by the Attorney General, with penalties up to $20,000 per violation.
A North Dakota truck stop sued to lower debit card swipe fees — and in August 2025 a federal court vacated Regulation II's 21-cent interchange cap entirely. Here's how the Corner Post case reached the Eighth Circuit, the three ways it could end, and how small businesses can prepare for fees moving in either direction.
Virginia's pay transparency law took effect July 1, 2026, and Maine's LD 54 follows on July 29, bringing active U.S. pay transparency jurisdictions to 20. Because the rules attach to where a remote candidate could work — not where your company is headquartered — a remote posting without a good-faith salary range can violate laws in states where you have no office. Here's what changed, why remote postings trigger multi-state obligations, and a practical compliance checklist.
