Every Cent Counts

Every Cent Counts Every Cent Counts LLC offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to empower your business.

Specializing in expert accounting, meticulous bookkeeping, and CFO advisory & Digital Presence Management.

Quick heads up if you've been thinking about starting a retirement plan for your business this year.One of the most comm...
09/09/2026

Quick heads up if you've been thinking about starting a retirement plan for your business this year.

One of the most common small business options — the SIMPLE IRA — has to be set up by October 1 to count for this year. That's 22 days from today. And it's not about funding it by then. The plan itself has to exist.

Miss that window and the earliest it can take effect is January 1.

There's no notification when the date passes. Nothing arrives in the mail. It just quietly stops being an option for the year, which is why it's worth deciding one way or the other in the next three weeks — even if the decision is "not this year."

Today's post covers that plus how to size next Tuesday's estimated tax payment against a real number instead of just repeating last quarter's.

A SIMPLE IRA has to be established by October 1 to count for this year. That is 22 days out, and it is not the only clock running.

If you're planning to buy equipment before year-end for the tax deduction, here's the detail that catches people out eve...
09/07/2026

If you're planning to buy equipment before year-end for the tax deduction, here's the detail that catches people out every single year.

The deduction depends on when the equipment is "placed in service" — meaning ready and actually usable — not when you ordered it or paid for it.

So if you decide in December, and it ships in January? Or arrives December 28th and gets installed in February? You spent this year's money and get next year's deduction.

That's the whole reason to think about this now rather than in December. Anything that needs delivery, installation, or setup should be decided in September or October. Simple purchases can wait.

One more thing worth knowing: a deduction gives you back a percentage of what you spent, never all of it. Buying something you don't need to save on taxes leaves you poorer — just with extra equipment.

Equipment must be placed in service by December 31, not ordered by December 31. That one word is why year-end planning happens in September.

Here's a ten-minute exercise worth doing this weekend if someone else manages your website.Log into your domain registra...
09/04/2026

Here's a ten-minute exercise worth doing this weekend if someone else manages your website.

Log into your domain registrar. Are you the owner, or is your web company? Then check your Google Business Profile — are you listed as the owner, or just a manager? Then try opening Google Analytics without asking anyone for access.

If any of those answers is "I'm not sure," that's the finding. None of it means anyone's done anything wrong. It does mean that if the relationship ended tomorrow, getting your own website back could be slow and expensive.

Today's post covers that checklist, plus which numbers in a monthly report actually mean something and which just look busy.

Google names rank-checking by scraping Search as a spam policy violation. It is also how a lot of monthly ranking reports get made.

If you've been researching SBA loans, you've probably run into advice about needing a business credit score of 165 or hi...
09/02/2026

If you've been researching SBA loans, you've probably run into advice about needing a business credit score of 165 or higher to get through the SBA's screening.

That's no longer true. The SBA stopped using that score — the FICO SBSS — on March 1st of this year. Applications don't receive one anymore, and the SBA doesn't screen with it.

What replaced it: each lender now does its own credit analysis, the same kind they'd do for a regular business loan of similar size.

That's good news if your business has solid cash flow but a number that never quite reflected it. It's harder if you were counting on a strong score to carry a weaker part of your file.

Either way it means the same thing: your records and your ability to explain them matter more now than they did last year.

Today's post also covers what's actually in a business credit report and how to fix errors — which is trickier than with personal credit, because the usual protections don't apply.

Plenty of 2026 advice still says you need an SBSS score of 165 for an SBA loan. The SBA stopped using that score on March 1, 2026.

Did you know Virginia has a financing authority for small businesses? Most owners we talk to don't.VSBFA has been at thi...
08/31/2026

Did you know Virginia has a financing authority for small businesses? Most owners we talk to don't.

VSBFA has been at this for over 40 years. Some of their programs you can apply to directly — including a microloan up to $150,000 that doesn't need a bank involved at all, and a child care financing program that currently charges no interest or loan fees.

But here's the part worth knowing: several of their programs can only be applied for BY YOUR BANK. Not by you. They're designed to help a lender say yes when your collateral falls short of what they'd normally want.

So if your banker has never heard of them, that help never reaches your business.

Today's post covers what's available, which route each program takes, and one eligibility requirement that catches people out — being in good standing with the SCC.

Virginia has credit support programs your business cannot apply to. Only your lender can. That changes what a banking relationship is actually worth.

If you've ever gotten one of these calls, this one's for you.A recorded voice says it's a "data service provider for Goo...
08/28/2026

If you've ever gotten one of these calls, this one's for you.

A recorded voice says it's a "data service provider for Google," and that unless you act now, Google will mark your business permanently closed. Press one to speak to a Google specialist.

The FTC sued an operation running exactly that script. They charged $300 to $700 to "claim and verify" a Google listing — something that's free to do yourself — and then sold a follow-up package for $949.99 plus monthly fees, promising top placement. Refunds to the business owners they hit eventually topped $700,000.

Here's the sentence the FTC published that's worth remembering: Google will not call you to threaten to remove your company from search listings. If a call does, it isn't from Google. Full stop.

Today's post walks through what Google itself tells business owners about hiring help, including the questions to ask.

Google says plainly that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. It also says you are responsible for the actions of any company you hire.

Here's one worth two minutes of your time if you run a business.If you're set up as a sole proprietor — including with a...
08/26/2026

Here's one worth two minutes of your time if you run a business.

If you're set up as a sole proprietor — including with a DBA — the FDIC doesn't see your business account as separate from you. It gets combined with your personal savings and checking at that same bank, and the whole pile shares one $250,000 limit.

If you're an LLC or a corporation, the business gets its own $250,000, separate from your personal accounts.

And a related one that catches people: opening a second business account at the same bank does NOT give you another $250,000. Same business, same limit, no matter how many accounts.

Today's post covers both, plus how many accounts a small business actually needs and what you'll be asked for when you open one.

The FDIC insures a sole proprietor's business account as the owner's personal account. Two accounts at the same bank do not mean $500,000 of coverage.

Quick money-saver, and it's a real one.Your EIN from the IRS is free. Always. The IRS says so on its own website: "Bewar...
08/24/2026

Quick money-saver, and it's a real one.

Your EIN from the IRS is free. Always. The IRS says so on its own website: "Beware of websites that charge for an EIN. You never have to pay a fee for an EIN."

But search for it and you'll find sites charging a few hundred dollars, some designed to look official. Last year the FTC sent warning letters to a batch of them for displaying terms like "IRS" and "EIN Assistant" without making clear they aren't the government.

Today's post covers that plus something more surprising: there's likely already a credit report about your business, built from public records, that nobody told you about — and consumer credit protections don't apply to it.

A credit report about your business may already exist, built from public records, without you ever being told. And the FCRA rights you have as a consumer do not apply to it.

Been told your website needs to be rebuilt on a different platform for SEO reasons?Maybe. But here's a check you can do ...
08/21/2026

Been told your website needs to be rebuilt on a different platform for SEO reasons?

Maybe. But here's a check you can do first, and it takes about two minutes.

Open Google Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool on one of your important pages, and look at the rendered HTML. That's your site as Google actually receives it. Google's documentation is blunt about why it matters: if your content isn't visible in that rendered HTML, Google can't index it.

That one check settles more platform arguments than any amount of theory — and it's free.

Today's post walks through what genuinely changes between a static site, a CMS, and a JavaScript-heavy build. Including one very popular claim that Google's own docs contradict.

Google does not rank you on what your site is built with. It does notice what your platform makes easy and what it makes expensive.

Have you ever had a genuinely good month — profitable, busy, everything going right — and then looked at your bank balan...
08/19/2026

Have you ever had a genuinely good month — profitable, busy, everything going right — and then looked at your bank balance and felt confused?

Your books probably aren't wrong. Profit and cash measure different things on different clocks.

Here's one that catches almost everybody: when you make a loan payment, only the interest counts as an expense. The principal portion reduces a debt on your balance sheet. The whole payment leaves your account, but only part of it ever shows up on your profit and loss. Owner draws work the same way — money out, nothing on the P&L.

Today's post walks through a full month, side by side, so you can see exactly where the money went. It's the last post in our cash flow series.

Profit is an opinion about timing. Cash is a fact about your bank account. Growth consumes cash before it produces any, which is why the best year can feel like the worst.

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