Practical guides for running the books
Honest writing on invoicing, cash flow, AR/AP, sales-tax compliance, and the messy realities of keeping a regulated small business audit-ready.
Partial Payments: Recording Installments Against an Invoice
Not every invoice gets paid in one clean payment. Customers pay half now and half later, settle in installments, or send a round number that clears part of a bigger balance. How to record partial payments correctly so an invoice moves from open to partial to paid, your AR aging stays accurate, and your cash-basis P&L reflects money on the day it actually lands.
What Net 30 Means: Payment Terms and How to Choose Them
Net 30, Net 15, due on receipt, 2/10 Net 30 — invoice payment terms are a quiet lever on your cash flow. What each term actually means, how the due date is counted, and how to pick terms that get you paid without scaring off customers.
Invoicing in a Foreign Currency: Exchange Rates, Gains, and Losses on the Books
When you bill a customer abroad in their currency, the amount you record and the amount you actually collect rarely match — the exchange rate moves in between. How to record a foreign-currency invoice, why a gain or loss appears when it's paid, and what to keep straight so your books stay accurate.
Billable and Reimbursable Expenses: How to Pass Costs Through to Clients Correctly
You paid for materials, travel, or software on a client's behalf and now you want to bill it back. Done right, a billable expense flows cleanly from your books onto an invoice without inflating your real costs or your real revenue. How pass-through costs work, when to mark them up, and how to record both sides so your margins stay honest.
From Estimate to Invoice: Quoting Work and Converting It to a Bill
A good estimate wins the job and sets up a clean invoice; a vague one invites a payment dispute. How to write a quote that protects you, what belongs on it, and how to convert an accepted estimate into an invoice without re-keying anything or losing the audit trail.
Charging Late Fees on Invoices: Policy, Math, and Bookkeeping
A late-fee policy only works if customers agree to it before the invoice goes out and your books record it correctly. How to set a defensible late-fee policy, state it on every invoice, and account for the fee when it is charged — and when to waive it.