Activity-Based Costing for Small Manufacturers and Job Shops: Find Your True Cost Per Job
Activity-based costing traces overhead to setups, inspections, and orders, so each job carries its true cost and quotes stop subsidizing complex work.
#manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing cost accounting, production, and operations
New York's Brand Owner's License: Launch Your Craft Beverage Brand Without Building a Distillery
New York's $375 Brand Owner's License lets indie alcohol brands hire in-state co-packers without surrendering brand ownership — plus the books to run it.
The SBA's 2026 SBIC Overhaul: A New Funding Lane Beyond Banks and Venture Capital
The SBA's SBIC rule effective February 2, 2026 opens a $53B program to manufacturers and suppliers — debt from $250K to $10M at 9–16%, equity from $100K to $5M.
The Cost of Goods Manufactured Schedule: How Small Manufacturers Turn Raw Materials, Direct Labor, and Overhead Into a Real COGS Number
A COGM schedule turns raw materials, direct labor, and overhead into a real COGS — plus the WIP counts and Section 263A UNICAP limits that decide margin.
Hot Sauce Maker Bookkeeping: Why Your Home Kitchen Is Off-Limits and What a 5 oz. Bottle Really Costs
Hot sauce is an FDA acidified food, so most states bar it from home kitchens. Budget $500-$1,000 for process review and training before your first bottle.
Powder Coating Shop Bookkeeping: Job Costing by Square Foot, Rack, and Cure
Powder runs $0.25 per square foot at 50% transfer efficiency — quote from that floor, allocate oven energy per cure, and reserve 2–5% of revenue for redos.
Only 8 States Tax Manufacturing Equipment: How to Claim Your Machinery Exemption
Thirty-eight states exempt manufacturing machinery from sales tax, but the break works through exemption certificates you hand vendors, not automatic refunds. Alabama, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and the Dakotas tax equipment in full or at reduced rates, while repair parts, utilities, and missing paperwork trip up makers everywhere.
Product Liability Insurance for Makers, Manufacturers, and Resellers
The average small business liability claim now costs $97,200, while $1M/$2M product liability coverage averages about $1,192 a year. What the policy pays, who in the distribution chain can be sued, and five mistakes that leave sellers exposed.
Form 7218 and the Section 45Z Clean Fuel Credit: What Producers Must Track
Section 45Z pays $0.20–$1.00 per gallon (pre-inflation) on fuel produced after 2025, but only if your Form 637 registration predates production, the feedstock is North American, and you use that year's emissions table.
The FLSA "Hot Goods" Rule: How Unpaid Wages Can Freeze Your Shipments
Section 15(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act bars shipping goods produced in violation of minimum wage, overtime, or child labor rules — and the hold reaches buyers, distributors, and lenders, not just the employer. Here is how a hot goods hold unfolds, why the good-faith purchaser defense requires a written assurance obtained before the purchase, and the payroll recordkeeping that keeps inventory shippable.
Tortilleria Bookkeeping: Masa Yields, Press Depreciation, and the Wholesale-vs-Retail Split
A tortilleria's masa cost per dozen moves about 5 cents when yield shifts 10 percent — the entire profit on a wholesale dozen. How to cost masa by measured yield, split retail and wholesale revenue and COGS, book presses and ovens under Section 179 or 7-year MACRS, and track the five KPIs that expose a losing route before the bank does.
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.