#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Square raised its free-plan online card rate from 2.9% + 30¢ to 3.3% + 30¢ on January 13, 2026, and paid plans moved to 2.9% + 30¢. Compute the annual cost of the increase, find the new Square Plus break-even near $12,250 per month in online volume, and see when interchange-plus pricing beats a flat rate.
Since July 1, 2026, Washington homeowners can collect up to $25,000 of an unpaid contractor judgment from the state's Homeowner Recovery Program, after which L&I can pursue the contractor for reimbursement with interest on payment plans of up to 36 months. This guide explains the eligibility rules, the post-2024 bond levels of $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty, and how a residential contractor should log disputes, accrue probable losses under ASC 450, fund a separate cash reserve, and amortize a state repayment plan in a plain-text ledger.
Under the Nacha Operating Rules, an ACH reversal corrects only a sender's qualifying error—a duplicate, wrong amount, wrong account, or qualifying wrong date—and must reach the receiving bank within five banking days of settlement. This guide explains how reversals differ from returns and R10/R11 unauthorized-debit claims, and how to record each event so payments stay reconcilable.
Amazon's Prime Business Card and Amazon Business Card, issued by U.S. Bank on Mastercard, launched May 13, 2026 with 5% or 3% back on Amazon purchases up to a combined $150,000 annual cap. This guide shows small businesses how to reconcile the card migration, book reward credits as cost reductions, and track 0% APR installment purchases as liabilities.
ASC 250 sorts every accounting change into one of three treatments — a change in principle applies retrospectively, a change in estimate applies prospectively, and an error correction depends on materiality, from a Big R restatement to a little r revision. This guide shows small businesses how to classify each event, weigh quantitative and qualitative materiality, and document the decision in an auditable close workflow.
Embedded lending marketplaces like Lili's Lendio integration put loan applications inside your banking dashboard, but the lender—not the platform—sets your terms. A practical framework for freelancers to compare net proceeds, total repayment, factor rates, and payment burden, stress-test a slow month, and record the debt properly before accepting an offer.
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.
Form 4868 gives a sole proprietor an automatic six-month extension to file Form 1040 and Schedule C — moving the 2025 return deadline from April 15 to October 15, 2026 — but the tax itself was still due in April. How to estimate total liability including self-employment tax, request the extension electronically or through a designated payment, and limit the 5%-per-month failure-to-file penalty.
Form 8822-B updates the IRS record of a business's mailing address, physical location, or responsible party — and the IRS requires responsible-party changes to be reported within 60 days. Learn who counts as the responsible party, how to complete lines 5–9, where to mail the form, and which records to keep.
A cost-accounting framework for greenhouse growers that allocates overhead by square-foot-weeks, splits heating and labor by crop, and tracks shrinkage by cause — so pricing rests on cost per marketable plant, not cost per plant started. Includes a worked example where $240,000 of shared costs over 320,000 square-foot-weeks yields a $0.75 occupancy rate.
A holiday light installation business can collect most of its annual cash in six weeks and still run dry by August. This guide builds the bookkeeping system that prevents it — a 12-month cash forecast with three scenarios, job-level costing, customer deposits held as liabilities until earned, an asset register for reusable lights, mileage and labor records, and a daily-weekly-monthly close routine that survives the rush.
The IASB's third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard, issued February 2025, takes effect for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027. It rewrites revenue recognition on a simplified IFRS 15 model, moves business combinations to the acquisition method, consolidates financial instruments, adds a dedicated fair value section, and adopts a single control model—while deferring IFRS 16 leases and expected credit losses. This guide covers scope, the key section changes, and a five-step 2026 implementation plan.
