Small Business & Nonprofit Finance Blog

By Jasmine Thompson, Stellar Consulting Inc. Let me tell you about a client I worked with a few years ago. She came to me three years into running her business. Sharp, successful, organized. The kind of business owner who kept excellent records, filed on time, and felt confident she had her finances under control. My job was her bookkeeping — keeping her records clean, her books current, and her financial picture accurate throughout the year. At her annual tax meeting, her CP

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc. Over 20+ years of working with small business owners, I've collected a list of the beliefs that cost people the most money, not because anyone was careless, but because no one ever told them otherwise. Let me fix that. Every one of the myths below is something I've heard from real clients, smart, capable people who were working with incomplete information. None of these beliefs are your fault. Most of them came from well-meaning a

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc The first thing I do when a new client gives me access to their QuickBooks is run a report I call the "chaos check." In 20+ years I've done this hundreds of times. What I'm about to share is what I almost always find and what it means for your business. I want to be clear before we go further: none of this is a reflection of your intelligence or your dedication to your business. The clients I work with are smart, hardworking people

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc Running a nonprofit or community-based organization today requires a level of financial sophistication that most organizations weren't built for and that funders increasingly expect. The mission is what drives you. The compliance is what keeps you funded. And somewhere in between, the financial management of the organization often becomes the thing that keeps executive directors and finance staff up at night. I've spent over 20 yea

One of the biggest shifts I've seen in small business finances over the last decade isn't a new strategy or a smarter spreadsheet — it's technology. The best tech tools don't just make bookkeeping easier for small business owners. They save you hours every week, reduce errors, help you collect faster, and give you a real-time view of your business finances without requiring a finance degree to understand. But here's the problem: there are hundreds of tools out there, and not

Running a small business in today's environment is not for the faint of heart. Between rising costs, inconsistent cash flow, the pressure of tax compliance, and the constant juggle of doing everything yourself — the financial side of business ownership can feel like it's working against you, even when things are technically going well. If you've been feeling the weight of it lately, I want you to know: what you're experiencing is real, it's common, and there's a path through

Let's talk about something most small business owners don't find out until it's too late. You're busy. You're building. And bookkeeping? It keeps getting pushed to the back burner because the business keeps moving. A few missed months here, some unreconciled bank accounts there — it doesn't feel urgent. Until it is. Because the real (true) cost of bookkeeping mistakes isn't just a pile of messy receipts. It's missed opportunities, overpaid taxes, bad financial decisions made