Small Business & Nonprofit Finance Blog

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