Insights
The Bookkeeping Clean-Up That Took Two Weeks of Work, and Two Months to Finish
We estimated a recent clean-up project at under two weeks. That estimate matched the actual work. Two months later, we're still waiting on the last of the bank and credit card statements we need to close it out. Many people assume delays like this are our fault, but...
I Sat Through a Software Demo, So You Don’t Have To
A few weeks ago, I took a call from a software company. Their pitch was that they'd built accounting software specifically for an industry I know really well, and they wanted to show me why it was better than the big platforms everyone already uses. I'm always curious...
Easy Ways to Capture Expenses (So You Don’t Send Us a Box of Papers)
I get a lot of boxes of receipts and cell phone pictures. Business owners show up trying to get organized for tax season, and what they hand me is a literal shoebox full of crumpled receipts, scattered invoices, old bank statements, a credit card bill still in its...
What Happens to Your Business When a Key Employee Leaves?
Your operations manager gave two weeks' notice yesterday. She's been with you for six years, so she knows everything: customer relationships, vendor passwords, project workflows, and accounting access. She's the person who gets things done. Once she's gone, here's...
Is Your CPA Filing Taxes Based on Guesswork?
A client called me last week, confused. "My CPA just filed my 2025 personal tax return," she said. "But our business books aren't even done yet. We're still reconciling transactions and building out our financial statements. How did they file my personal return...
Creating Books from Scratch: It’s Much Easier Than It Seems
“I’ve never had books before. Everything’s just been… a mess. I figured it would be impossible to start now.” I hear this all the time. Business owners think that because they’ve been operating without books for months or even years, the cleanup will be catastrophic....
It’s Mid-Year: Why Now Is the Time to Start Tax Strategy
So many business owners are doing nothing about taxes in July. Tax season is over. They filed their returns in April (or got an extension), paid their bill, and moved on. Now they're focused on running the business through the end of the year. But if you're waiting...
Onboarding New Employees with Benefits: Make It Easy (For Them and You)
It’s the new employee's first day of work. Amid the tours, introductions, and getting-to-know-you conversations, you hand them a 40-page benefits packet and say, "Review this and let me know if you have questions." Two weeks later, they still haven't filled out the...
The Hidden Danger of Cheap Offshore “CFO Services”
I got a sales call last week that made me realize how many business owners are at serious risk without knowing it. A company was pitching me on outsourcing bookkeeping and "CFO services" overseas, not to handle our own work, but to subcontract our clients' work...