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. 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. 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. 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 Every tax season, clients ask me some version of the same question: "What's the one thing I can do to stay on top of my books?" My answer has not changed in 20+ years: follow the checklist. Running a business means wearing a lot of hats. You're answering calls, responding to emails, managing your team, keeping clients happy, and trying to grow. Bookkeeping is the thing that keeps sliding to the bottom of the list — not because it's