How to Record Business Loan Payments Without Wrecking Your Books
Loan payments aren't one expense. Here's how to split principal and interest, set up loan accounts, and keep your balance sheet matching the bank.
Read →Bookkeeping, demystified.
Plain-English guides on bookkeeping, taxes, 1099s, and cash flow for U.S. small-business owners — from the team behind TwoDayBooks.
Get your books doneBounced Checks and NSF Fees: How to Handle Them in Your Books
A practical walkthrough for posting bounced checks, NSF fees, and tracking what the customer still owes you without breaking your reconciliation.
Read →Accrual vs. Cash Basis: Which Method Fits Your Small Business
Choosing how to record income and expenses changes everything downstream. Here's how to decide between cash and accrual for your small business books.
Read →How to Handle Refunds, Returns, and Chargebacks in Your Books
When customers ask for their money back, your books need to follow—here's how to record refunds, returns, and chargebacks without distorting your revenue.
Read →Recording Income From Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal Without the Headache
A practical system to keep personal and business transfers separate when clients pay through payment apps.
Read →Customer Deposits and Prepayments: Don't Count Them as Income Yet
A practical guide to booking customer deposits as liabilities, not revenue, so your income and taxes stay accurate all year.
Read →Depreciation and Section 179: Handling Big Equipment Purchases
A practical guide to recording equipment purchases, Section 179, bonus depreciation, and keeping your fixed-asset books clean.
Read →How to Reconcile Credit Cards and Payment Processors
Reconciling credit cards and payment processors like Stripe, Square, and PayPal — handling fees, refunds, chargebacks, and timing gaps.
Read →Chasing Late Invoices: A Follow-Up System That Gets You Paid
A simple aging-receivables workflow for small-business owners tired of chasing payments and wondering when to write off bad debt.
Read →How to Catch Up on Bookkeeping When You're Months Behind
A practical step-by-step approach to untangling neglected books and getting current without losing your mind.
Read →Year-End Bookkeeping Checklist: Close Your Books Cleanly
A practical checklist for reconciling accounts, fixing misclassified transactions, and preparing clean books before handing them to your tax preparer.
Read →When to Hire a Bookkeeper: Signs You Have Outgrown DIY Books
A practical checklist for U.S. small-business owners on spotting the moment DIY bookkeeping starts costing more than it saves, and what to look for next.
Read →How to Read Your Profit and Loss Statement Without an Accounting Degree
A plain-English walkthrough of every line on a P&L so you can understand what your books are telling you about your business.
Read →Owner's Draw vs. Salary: How to Pay Yourself From Your Business
A practical guide to paying yourself correctly based on your entity type and how to categorize it in your books.
Read →Receipts Without the Shoebox: A Simple Capture System for Busy Owners
A practical, low-effort system for capturing and organizing small-business receipts so tax season stops eating your weekends.
Read →Choosing Your Business Entity: What Matters for Taxes and Books
A practical comparison of sole proprietorships, LLCs, S-corps, and partnerships focusing on what actually changes for your taxes and bookkeeping.
Read →Chart of Accounts: How to Set Up Bookkeeping Categories That Work
A practical guide to organizing your small-business chart of accounts so your books stay clean and your reports actually make sense.
Read →Home Office and Vehicle Deductions: What You Can Actually Claim
A practical breakdown of home office and vehicle deductions for U.S. small-business owners, including how to calculate and document each one.
Read →Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why Your Business Can Make Money and Still Go Broke
Profit and cash flow aren't the same. Learn why a profitable business can run out of cash and how to prevent it.
Read →Sales Tax for Small Businesses: A Practical Guide to Nexus and Filing
Understand sales tax nexus, when you owe it across state lines, and how to keep collection and filing organized.
Read →Estimated Quarterly Taxes: What to Pay, When, and Why It Matters
A practical guide to quarterly estimated taxes for U.S. small businesses — who pays, when payments are due, how to calculate amounts, and how to avoid penalties.
Read →1099 vs. W-2: What Small-Business Owners Should Sort Out Before Year-End
A plain-English guide to the difference between 1099 contractors and W-2 employees, why misclassifying matters, and the records to keep all year so January isn't a scramble.
Read →Mixing Business and Personal Money: The Habit That Quietly Wrecks Your Books
Why running business and personal spending through the same account creates bad books, tax risk, and legal exposure — and the simple separation that fixes it.
Read →Bank Reconciliation 101: The Habit That Keeps Your Small-Business Books Tax-Ready
What bank reconciliation actually is, why it matters at tax time, and a simple monthly routine that keeps your books accurate and audit-ready.
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