Small Business & Nonprofit Finance Blog

This is Part 4 of 4 in the Tax Season Survival Series, a guide to getting your small business finances ready for tax season without the scramble. The March Phone Call A few years ago, one of my CPA friends called me in the middle of March with a favor to ask. A mutual client had just dropped off his QuickBooks file, and she needed me to look at it before she could even start his return. "Jasmine," she said, "there are 800 unreviewed transactions. The balance sheet doesn't rec

This is Part 3 of 4 in the Tax Season Survival Series, a guide to getting your small business finances ready for tax season without the scramble. The Call That Changed How I Explain Taxes to Every Client The call came on a Tuesday morning in May. "Jasmine, I got a letter from the IRS. It says I owe $52,000 plus a $4,200 penalty. Is this real?" It was real. My client had his best year in business. A full $180,000 in net income. He had worked harder than ever, landed new client

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc. Every November I get a version of the same call. It usually starts with some variation of: "Jasmine, I need to get my books ready for taxes. How bad is it?" Sometimes the answer is manageable. Sometimes it isn't. Last November, a client called me convinced things were "pretty much fine." She ran a small service business, had a steady revenue stream, and figured a little cleanup was all she needed. When I got into her books, the pi

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc. A client came to me after she had to let her first employee go after four months. She'd made the hire at what felt like the right moment, revenue was up, she was overwhelmed, and she needed help. But three months in, the cash wasn't there. She did everything right except check three numbers first. Hiring your first employee is one of the most significant financial decisions a small business owner makes, and one of the most emotion

By Jasmine Thompson, Stellar Consulting Inc. In the same month, I had two very different conversations about how owner's actually pay themselves. One client hadn't paid herself in three months. Another had been paying himself every week, more than the business could really sustain. Both situations were problems. Neither owner had meant for it to happen. Owner pay is one of the most personal, and most financially significant, decisions a small business owner makes. And it's on

By Jasmine Thompson, Stellar Consulting Inc A few years ago a client called me on a Thursday afternoon. "Jasmine, I don't understand, we had our best month ever in September, but I'm looking at my bank account right now and I don't know how I'm making payroll on Friday." Here's what was actually happening. The Thursday Phone Call My client owned a catering and entertainment business here in Los Angeles. September had been incredible, multiple large events, a packed schedule,

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

Let's be honest about something. Most small business owners don't struggle with bookkeeping because they're not smart or capable. They struggle because no one ever gave them a simple, practical system to follow — one that works in real life, week after week, not just during tax season panic. That's exactly why I created the Small Business Bookkeeping Bundle. It's not a course. It's not complicated software training. It's a ready-to-use toolkit — checklists, trackers, and plan