Growth feels good until it doesn’t. Many Utah small businesses reach a point where revenue is increasing but cash is getting tighter, margins are shrinking, and the owner is working harder than ever for the same take-home pay. This is the scaling trap — growth that outpaces your financial infrastructure, your capital base, or your […]
Setting Up Your Business Chart of Accounts: A Practical Guide
The chart of accounts is the backbone of your bookkeeping system. It’s the categorized list of every account your business uses to record financial transactions — assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. A well-structured chart of accounts produces meaningful financial reports, makes tax preparation efficient, and gives you the visibility to run your business on […]
Strategic Cash Flow Analysis & Forecasting for Business Owners
Profit and cash flow are not the same thing. A business can be profitable on paper and still run out of cash — because customers pay late, inventory is purchased before revenue arrives, or loan payments don’t align with revenue cycles. Cash flow analysis makes the difference visible. Cash flow forecasting makes it manageable. FJ […]
Business Budgeting & Financial Forecasting Services
A budget is a financial commitment to a plan. A forecast is your best current estimate of what will actually happen. Together, they give you the framework to set targets, allocate resources, and make proactive decisions — rather than reacting to whatever the month-end P&L reveals. FJ & Associates, PLLC builds annual budgets and rolling […]
Understanding Sales Tax Nexus for Online and E-Commerce Businesses
Before 2018, selling online to customers in other states was relatively simple from a sales tax perspective — if you didn’t have a physical presence there, you generally didn’t owe that state’s sales tax. The Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair changed everything. Today, online businesses that reach sales thresholds in other […]
How Pass-Through Entities Are Taxed: A Complete Guide for Business Owners
The majority of U.S. businesses — sole proprietorships, partnerships, S-Corporations, and most LLCs — are “pass-through entities.” That means the business itself doesn’t pay federal income tax. Instead, business income passes through to the owners’ personal tax returns, where it’s taxed at individual rates. Understanding how pass-through taxation works — and how to optimize it […]
Claiming the Research & Development Tax Credit for Your Business
The Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit is one of the most valuable — and most underutilized — tax credits in the federal tax code. Many business owners, especially outside the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries, assume they don’t qualify. That assumption costs them money every year. Software development. Process improvement engineering. Product testing. Custom tooling […]
Small Business Budgeting Guide: How Utah Business Owners Build Budgets That Work
A budget is a plan expressed in numbers. Without one, spending decisions are reactive — made in the moment based on available cash rather than a strategic view of where the business needs to go. With one, you know in advance whether a hiring decision is affordable, whether a marketing spend will require a draw […]
Cash Flow Management for Utah Small Businesses: A Practical Guide
Cash flow is the lifeblood of a small business & the most common cause of business failure for companies that are otherwise profitable. You can show a profit on your P&L and still run out of cash if your customers pay slowly, your expenses are front-loaded, or your growth is outpacing your capital. This guide […]
Choosing the Right Business Entity Structure for Your Utah Business
Your business structure is the foundation on which every other financial and legal decision rests. It determines how you’re taxed, how much personal liability protection you have, how you can bring in investors or partners, and what your options are when you eventually want to exit. Choosing correctly the first time saves years of restructuring […]
