The ReceiptChase magazine
Reporting on the daily craft, pricing, and compliance of US bookkeeping practices that run on other people's paperwork.
regulation and compliance
Section 274 and Publication 463 set out what a receipt has to show, when a written record is enough, and which expenses never qualify for the $75 exception. Here is the rulebook your chase list runs on.
Open the report: The IRS Receipt Rules Behind Every Missing Document Request
checklist
Vendor ledgers, W-9 gaps, TIN matching, backup withholding, and the ten return electronic filing threshold. A dated checklist that starts in November and ends when the last recipient copy goes out.
Open the report: A January 1099 Checklist for Bookkeepers With 40 Clients
practical guide
A close that finishes on the same business day every month is built from a fixed sequence, a published document cutoff, and a short exception list. Here is that sequence, step by step, for a multi client book.
Open the report: How to Run a Repeatable Month End Close Across 30 Clients
comparison
Three ways small firms charge, compared on cash flow, scope control, client behavior, and what happens when a client's transaction volume doubles in a quarter. Plus how each model handles cleanup work.
Open the report: Hourly, Fixed Monthly, or Per Transaction Bookkeeping Pricing
mistakes to avoid
Duplicate expense accounts, owner draws booked as expenses, and a fifty line profit and loss nobody reads. The structure errors that quietly add hours to every month, and how to unwind them safely.
Open the report: Chart of Accounts Mistakes That Make Every Close Take Longer
case study
A roofing company arrives with fourteen months of unreconciled bank activity, a commingled owner card, and a lender deadline. A composite engagement, scoped, priced, sequenced, and delivered in six weeks.
Open the report: Inside a Fourteen Month Catch Up Job for a Roofing Contractor
numbers and benchmarks
Minutes per transaction, billable hours in a real week, and the realization rate that turns a quoted fee into actual pay. The formulas for sizing a book you can service without working weekends.
Open the report: Capacity Math for a Solo Bookkeeper: Clients, Hours, Realization
trends and outlook
State boards are adding a licensure path built on a bachelor's degree, two years of experience, and the exam. What that means for hiring, practice mobility across state lines, and staffing a small firm.
Open the report: The 150 Hour Rule Is Loosening: What Small Firms Should Plan For
field report
The partnership and S corporation deadline turns late February into a document hunt. A report from the final fourteen days: what goes missing, who answers, and which requests actually get a reply.
Open the report: Two Weeks Before March 15: Inside the Client Document Chase
The two weeks before March 15 show every weakness in how a practice asks clients for paperwork. The guide breaks that fortnight into a request schedule, a nudge cadence and an escalation point you can run in any month.
Two Weeks Before March 15: Inside the Client Document Chase
Then work outward: the eight other pieces in The Ledger Tape each take one part of it further, and every one links back here.