Author name: yen@bascexpertise.com

A growing company can report a profit while its financial position becomes more fragile. Debt may be rising, customers may be paying more slowly, and the cash needed for payroll may be tied up elsewhere. Your balance sheet helps you see those changes. For an established business, it belongs in the monthly management discussion alongside

A healthy bank balance can be reassuring when you are running an established business. Payroll is approaching, a supplier wants a deposit, and a manager is asking for another hire. The cash is there, so approving the spending feels reasonable. The missing question is how much of that money is already committed. A contractor, medical

One forgotten $40 expense rarely changes a tax return meaningfully. That is exactly why these expenses are so easy to lose. A missed bank fee, software charge, supply purchase, or small business service may feel too minor to chase down on its own. Add dozens of them across a full year, however, and the total

Ask ten business owners what an HSA is versus an HRA, and many will describe them as two versions of the same healthcare account. They are not. An HSA is an individually owned savings account with specific coverage requirements. An HRA is an employer-established reimbursement arrangement governed by a different set of rules. The distinction

Many business owners do most of their tax thinking when the return is already being prepared. By then, some of the most useful planning opportunities are already closed not because they became unavailable in general, but because certain decisions had to be completed while the tax year was still open. The key is knowing which

Of all the legitimate tax strategies business owners hear about, the so-called Augusta Rule may be one of the most misunderstood. The shorthand version—”rent your home to your business and receive the money tax-free”—leaves out the part that matters most: the rental has to be real, the business use has to be legitimate, the rent

A particular kind of tax mistake doesn’t feel like a mistake in the moment. You pay for a legitimate business expense on your personal card because it is convenient—a software renewal, office supplies, a client-related expense, or business mileage that never gets recorded. One transaction may not feel important. Repeated over a year, personally paid

Health insurance is one of the most predictable expenses a business owner has. You know roughly what it costs every month, you pay it without much thought, and it is easy to assume that because you paid the premium, the tax deduction will take care of itself. For more-than-2% S corporation shareholders, that assumption can

Most retirement-planning mistakes do not look like mistakes when they happen. A plan never gets set up because something else feels more urgent. A contribution is skipped because cash flow is tight. A strategy chosen years ago keeps running even though the business, the owner’s income, and the employee count have all changed. That is

There’s a retirement and tax strategy sitting inside plenty of businesses that never gets used, not because it’s complicated, but because nobody thinks to look at it: the spouse who’s already doing real work for the business, unpaid. It shows up in different forms. The spouse who handles the books on weekends. The one who