Accounting Guides
Practical accounting guides for small businesses, contractors, manufacturers, and bookkeepers.
Fixed Asset vs. Expense
Learn when a purchase should be recorded as a fixed asset versus a current-period expense, and why the difference matters for clean bookkeeping.
How Credit Card Purchases Should Be Recorded
Learn how to record business purchases made on a credit card, distinguish the expense from the payment, and keep liabilities and cash flow accurate.
How to Record Business Expenses Correctly
A practical guide to recording business expenses correctly, choosing the right account, and avoiding the most common bookkeeping mistakes.
How to Record Owner-Paid Business Expenses
Learn how to correctly record business expenses paid personally by an owner, without misclassifying equity, expenses, or payment accounts.
Accounting for Construction Businesses
A practical construction accounting guide: job profitability, invoices, bills, bank reconciliation, and monthly reporting.
Accounting for Contractors
A practical guide for contractors: separate finances, track job expenses, invoice faster, monitor profitability, and stay tax-ready.
Accounting for Small Manufacturers
A practical guide for small manufacturers: inventory control, purchasing workflow, COGS accuracy, reconciliation, and monthly reporting.
Accounting for Startups
Startup accounting made practical: clean foundations, runway visibility, receivables, payables control, and investor-ready reporting.
Accounts Payable Workflow
A clean accounts payable workflow: capture vendor bills, approve, schedule payments, avoid late fees, and keep cash flow predictable.
Accounts Receivable Workflow
A clean accounts receivable workflow: create invoices, collect faster, apply payments correctly, handle partial payments, and reduce cash-flow surprises.
Bank Reconciliation Explained
A practical bank reconciliation guide: match your books to the bank, resolve differences, and keep reports accurate month after month.
Guide to Purchasing and Purchase Order Management
A practical purchasing guide: PO → receiving → vendor bill → payment, with controls, matching, and reporting.
How to Read a Profit and Loss Statement
How to read a P&L: revenue, COGS, gross profit, operating expenses, net income, and what to monitor monthly.
Inventory Accounting
A practical guide to inventory accounting: how inventory affects profitability, common costing methods, and how to keep inventory records accurate.
Job Costing for Contractors
A practical job costing workflow for contractors: track labor, materials, subs, and overhead so you can measure job profitability accurately.
Purchase Order Management Workflow
A step-by-step purchase order workflow: request, approve, issue PO, receive goods, match vendor bills, and keep inventory and costs accurate.
Small Business Accounting
A practical small business accounting guide: consistent bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, invoicing, and the key reports to review.
Small Business Accounting Flow
A simple weekly and monthly accounting workflow: invoices, bills, reconciliation, month-end close, and key reports.
Learn the workflow behind FlowBooks
Our guides are designed to help business owners and bookkeepers understand accounting workflows, reporting, inventory, and the practical decisions behind a cleaner system.