Small Business & Nonprofit Finance Blog

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc. A client called me after receiving an email from a program officer she'd had a great relationship with for years. The email was about $4,200 of expenses she'd charged to a federal grant that the grant language didn't cover. She'd been a good steward of that grant in every other way, she just hadn't caught this one detail. Here's what happened, and more importantly, how we made sure it never happened again. The Call I Never Want Yo

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc. One of the first things I ask a new nonprofit client is: "Do you receive any federal funding?" If the answer is yes, the next question is: "Has anyone walked you through 2 CFR 200?" In almost every case, the answer is no, even from organizations that have been receiving federal grants for years. That always stops me in my tracks. Not because I'm surprised anymore, but because I know what that gap can cost an organization, in audit

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. 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 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

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc Nonprofits and community-based organizations face a financial compliance burden that most for-profit businesses never encounter. Federal awards, state contracts, city and county grants, each comes with documentation requirements, reporting standards, and audit exposure that can sink an organization if the financial infrastructure isn't built to handle it. The good news: the right technology makes a lot of this manageable and attain

By Jasmine Thompson | Stellar Consulting Inc There's a version of financial support that most small business owners know about: the bookkeeper. The person (or software) that records what happened — every sale, every expense, every payroll run — and keeps the records clean. And that matters. Clean records are the foundation of everything. But there's another level of financial support that most small business owners don't even know they can access — and it's the one that actua

The most financially confident small business owners I've worked with don't all have the most complex systems. They don't all have the biggest budgets or the fanciest software. What they have in common is this: they check in with their numbers every single month. Not at tax time. Not when something feels off. Not when the bank balance dips and there's a sinking feeling in the stomach. Every. Single. Month. And the check-in doesn't take long.

You don’t need a huge finance department to stay compliant. You need a system that matches how grants work. 1) Start with the grant requirements (before you spend a dollar) Before spending begins, get clear on: the budget categories (and any restrictions) reporting deadlines match requirements (if any) documentation standards whether costs must be tracked by program, location, or funding source If you don’t translate the grant terms into your accounting system early, you’ll e

Grant funding is a powerful way to grow your mission (or your business). But once the award letter comes in, many leaders realize something fast: getting the grant is only step one. The real work is staying compliant—while still keeping day-to-day finances clear enough to make good decisions. If you’ve ever thought: “We’re doing the work… but I’m not sure we’re tracking it correctly.” “I’m scared of an audit—even though we’re not doing anything wrong.” “I need financial repor