#plain-text-accounting
Plain-Text Accounting
Discover the power of version-controlled, human-readable financial records
NIST CSWP 50: The First Federal Cybersecurity Guide Written for Businesses of One
NIST's draft CSWP 50, released April 2026, is the first federal cybersecurity guidance written explicitly for non-employer firms — the 28+ million U.S. businesses with zero employees. Here's what changed from the 2009 guidance, how the CSF 2.0 six functions translate to a solo operation, and a 30-minute checklist to act on today.
PCAOB Bars Zwick CPA Over Fabricated Genie Energy Workpapers: What Audit Quality Failures Mean for Small Businesses
The PCAOB revoked Zwick CPA's registration and fined the firm $50,000 after finding its 2022 Genie Energy audit relied on the predecessor auditor's recycled workpapers with swapped names and fabricated documentation. With 61% aggregate deficiency rates at triennially inspected firms, here's how small businesses can vet the audits they rely on — and keep their own books diligence-ready.
The $2,965 Question: Budgeting for USCIS's Latest Premium Processing Fee Hike
Effective March 1, 2026, USCIS raised the premium processing fee for H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and E-3 petitions from $2,805 to $2,965 — a 5.72% CPI-indexed increase that recurs every two years. Full fee table for Forms I-129, I-140, I-539, and I-765, plus how small employers can budget for total sponsorship costs of $6,770–$9,770 per hire.
Ghost Kitchen Bookkeeping: How to Stop Three Virtual Brands From Wrecking One P&L
Delivery platforms take an effective 30–40% of each order once commissions, promotions, and processing fees stack up — and a multi-brand ghost kitchen that books only net deposits can't tell which concept is profitable. This guide covers per-brand revenue categorization, three methods for allocating shared rent, utilities, and labor (square footage, revenue share, labor hours), per-brand food cost tracking, and a six-step monthly close checklist.
IRS Contractor Data Security Failures: What the 2026 TIGTA Report Found — and How to Protect Your Tax Data
A 2026 TIGTA audit found 1,375 unauthorized entries into restricted taxpayer-document areas and critical vulnerabilities left unpatched an average of 223 days at IRS scanning contractors. Here is what the watchdog found, how the IRS responded, and the concrete steps — IP PIN enrollment, early filing, e-filing — that reduce your exposure.
You Bought a Micro-SaaS, Not Software: Purchase Price Allocation and the 15-Year Section 197 Rule
Software acquired as part of buying a business amortizes over 15 years under IRC Section 197 — not the 36 months standalone software gets. How to allocate a micro-SaaS purchase price across the seven IRS asset classes, agree on Form 8594 with your seller, and record it in a plain-text ledger.
Custom Sign Shop Bookkeeping: A Job Costing Guide for Pricing Profitable Signs
How sign shops use job costing to price channel letters, vinyl, and wraps profitably — tracking direct materials, direct labor, labor burden (roughly 15%+ over base pay), and an hourly overhead rate, with a pricing formula and common profit leaks like unbilled design revisions and install overruns.
Tire Retreading Bookkeeping: Why the Casing on Your Shelf Is Worth More Than the Rubber You Just Cured
How tire retreaders should book casing custody, core credits, and warranty adjustments — customer-owned casings stay off your inventory, core credits are an inventory purchase rather than an expense, and prorated warranty claims justify a monthly accrued reserve. Includes example beancount entries and a minimal chart of accounts.
AI Phone Agents for Small Businesses in 2026: Costs, Failure Modes, and a Rollout Plan
Small businesses lose over $126,000 a year to missed calls, and 62% of incoming calls go unanswered. AI phone agents now answer, qualify, and book those calls for $99–$299/month — a 93–95% discount versus a $53,700 in-house receptionist. Here's what they cost in 2026, where they fail, and how to roll one out starting with overflow calls.
Chaos Engineering Consultancy Bookkeeping: Separating Game-Day Revenue From Tooling Resale Margin
How chaos engineering consultancies should split resilience-audit, game-day facilitation, automation build-out, and tooling-resale revenue into separate ledger accounts — including ASC 606 agent-vs-principal treatment for license pass-throughs, deferred revenue on fixed-fee audits, and per-engagement-type margin tracking.
Is FP&A Software Dead? What Datarails' FinanceOS Bet Says About AI and Your Spreadsheets
94% of business spreadsheets contain critical errors, yet finance teams are handing them to AI assistants — a 2025 benchmark found 91% report low impact from AI tools. Datarails' FinanceOS bets the fix is governed data, not better models; here's what AI-ready books require at any company size.
House Cleaning Franchise Bookkeeping: How to Track Royalty Fees, Ad Funds, and Multi-Territory P&Ls
Cleaning franchise royalty (4–8%) and ad fund (1–3%) fees are calculated on gross sales — before discounts and comp cleans — and the total franchise fee load commonly runs 12–15% of revenue. Here's how to book royalties, brand fund contributions, and per-territory P&Ls correctly, with a worked $95,000/month reconciliation example.