LK Sabin Bookkeeping Solutions

04/13/2026

Quickbooks Online tip of the week:
Separate Business & Personal Finances

As your entity is separate from you, ensure that you keep those finances specifically used for your business in specified business bank and credit card accounts, and don’t use them to pay for personal expenses. Similarly, don’t use your personal accounts to pay for business expenses or receive business income.

Why does it matter? Well, if the IRS notices, you could have the following issues:

- Higher Audit risk due to the fact that you’ve mixed business and personal expenses, which the IRS does not approve of.
- Deductions not allowed. If records are not clear, the IRS may not recognize legitimate business expenses, leading to a higher tax bill.
- Income scrutiny. If all funds are in one account, then the IRS may assume all the income can be taxed, leaving you with a lot of work to do to prove otherwise, which could also cost you more in terms of time and money.
- Penalties. If the IRS discovers you’ve used business income for personal use, this can mean penalties, fines and interest charges.
- Loss of liability protection. This one is a biggie. Combining both business and personal finances can lead to “piercing the corporate veil”. What does that mean? You’re now responsible, personally, for all your business debts. Not good.

Keep your records clean, and tax time will be so much easier.

04/08/2026

Has tax season caused your blood pressure to increase and you find yourself in a last minute hurry to get it all done?

I think this article gives some really helpful pointers on how to stay on top of tax season all year long:

https://www.cnbc.com/select/small-business-taxes/

The main points are as follows but check out the article for more detail:
- Keep personal and business expenses separate (which I’ll be covering in more detail next week)
- Track expenses as they happen and categorize transactions monthly
- Maximize contributions to retirement plans
- Pay taxes quarterly
- Consider forming an S-corp or LLC (if you haven’t already)
- Review inventory and recently purchased equipment
- Scan and save important documents
- Check in with your CPA to ensure you have a tax strategy that works for you

Definitely a handy guide if tax season feels overwhelming.

Tips to avoid a surprise tax bill, penalty or audit.

04/06/2026

Quickbooks Online tip of the week:
Don’t Ignore Uncategorized Transactions

If transactions are not categorized, then your books don’t show a complete picture, and it can make tax time challenging. Keep an eye out for any of the following accounts:

- “Ask my accountant” accounts
- Miscellaneous expense accounts
- Miscellaneous income accounts
- Uncategorized expense accounts
- Uncategorized income accounts
- Uncategorized asset accounts

Make sure these types of accounts are cleared out regularly and brought down to zero; doing this on a monthly basis would be my recommendation.

04/01/2026

I’m currently building my bookkeeping business and looking to work with a couple of small business owners who are behind on their books.

If that’s you, I’d be happy to take a look and point you in the right direction (no pressure).

Just send me a message.

03/30/2026

Quickbooks Online tip of the week:
Limit Who Has Access

Remember how important internal controls are. Limiting online access is another example of segregation of duties. Make sure that only those that need access to the books have it, and ensure that you have someone using the accountant role who understands what needs to be done, and checks with you prior to any money moving through your accounts. I’d recommend reviewing access regularly, to make sure it’s still set up the way you’d expect.

03/25/2026

What is the first thing I’d check if I were your bookkeeper?

Without question, I’d want to know if your books are up to date. What does this mean? Here’s a summary. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s what I’d want to review first:

1. All transactions are recorded. How do I know if they are? I’ll get to that below in point 3.
2. All transactions are properly categorized. Are there a ton of transactions in “Ask my accountant” or various miscellaneous categories? That’s a sign that some clean up is required.
3. Bank and credit cards are reconciled upto the current month. This is one way to ensure that all transactions related to the business are recorded.
4. Loans and debts information are current, and match any loan/debt schedules provided by the lender.
5. If you have payroll, I would check that this has been run and recorded accurately in the books.
6. If you’re using accrual-based accounting, have the monthly adjusting journals been posted for things like depreciation and prepaid expenses?

Fellow bookkeepers and accountants - anything you'd add to the list?

03/23/2026

Quickbooks Online tip of the week:
Know when to ask for help

If you don’t have enough time in the day and you’re not sure how to put information into Quickbooks correctly, or if your reports don’t look right given how you feel the business is performing, don’t panic.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to a bookkeeper to help work out the kinks and provide you with financials that will help you make business decisions based on current performance, not what you think might have happened.

03/18/2026

Are you a small business owner who’s just getting started, and you want to get things started the right way financially and hiring a bookkeeper isn’t yet in your budget? Consider applying to The Launchpad – this is run by a foundation that will provide you with 4 months’ worth of support from a bookkeeper that meets their professional standards. In those 4 months, you don’t pay for the support you receive and, if you’re able to complete all the necessary milestones laid out in the program, you’ll be given a $500 grant.

If you’re interested, check out the website below:

Makahakama Foundation is a Bay Area-based family foundation whose mission is to catalyze change through grantmaking, investing and building the capacity of leaders and organizations that restore and protect nature, support underserved entrepreneurs and strengthen the resiliency of our communities.

03/16/2026

Quickbooks Online tip of the week:
Close your books after month and year end.

“What? What does this mean?” The "close the books" function means that you can’t add something to your books by mistake. Even better if you add a password (that you keep track of, of course!) so that only a few people can make any changes to it. Sometimes, last minute changes can’t be avoided, but you want to avoid accidental updates - it’ll cause you a lot less headaches.

03/11/2026

“Former bookkeeper pleads guilty to embezzlement”

It seems like I see this headline a lot more often than I’d like (i.e. at least once). It can make small business owners understandably leery about hiring a bookkeeper. So, what can you do to lower the risk? Well, if you’re looking to hire a bookkeeper, make sure any potential bookkeeper can answer this question clearly:

“What are your internal control processes?”

When you’re trusting someone else with your business, internal controls are important, particularly if you’re expecting a bookkeeper to manage paying your bills or manage payments coming into your business. Internal controls are there to ensure your finances are accurate and reduce the risk of mistakes being made or fraud being committed.

Examples of what internal controls could look like (although this is not an exhaustive list):
- When bills are created for new vendors, the bookkeeper contacts you to ensure this vendor is a viable, trusted vendor
- The bookkeeper sets up the bill payment, but you have final authorization of paying that bill
- When invoices are created, you are sent a list of what has been created to give final approval before they are sent
- Invoice numbers are sequential with no numbers missing
- Monthly bank and credit card account reconciliation, with business owner review of reconciliation reports

Sometimes, internal controls may feel like they have redundant elements, but that’s exactly the point; those processes are in place to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. When someone explains their internal controls to you, there should be a point where you or someone in your business is able to review the work completed and authorize any money coming into and out of your business. When it comes to your finances, you want someone who is as careful with your money as you are.