Case File 07 / Small Business Accounting

The books were not missing.
They were scattered.

Business Property maintenance / contractor

Annual revenue Approx. $350K–$500K

Workforce 4–6 seasonal employees

Primary need Monthly bookkeeping management

01 / Intake

What arrived on our desk.

The owner knew the business operationally. Jobs were being completed, employees were being paid, customers were sending checks, and materials were being purchased.

The difficulty was that those activities were being tracked differently depending on the situation.

Some information lived in QuickBooks. Some remained in spreadsheets. Payroll came through a separate provider. Job expenses were often understood from memory rather than tied directly to customer activity.

Date	Description	Amount	Category	Job / Customer	Paid?
7/02	Lowe's	$1,842.36	Materials?	Smith Residence	Yes
7/03	Sheetz	$92.18	Gas		Yes
7/05	Smith Residence	$4,250.00	Customer payment	Smith Residence	Yes
7/06	Home Depot	$687.44	???		Yes
7/08	Johnson Roofing	$2,800.00	Subcontractor?	Commercial Job	Yes
7/10	Equipment Finance	$742.16	Equipment expense?		Yes

HOME IMPROVEMENT SUPPLY
SALE RECEIPT

Paver Base $318.00

Landscape Fabric $96.50

Fasteners $48.19

Concrete Mix $121.75

TOTAL $584.44

OWNER NOTE

“Did we actually make money on the Smith job?”

Missing context

Which purchases belong to which jobs?

Which customer deposits remain open?

Did payroll liabilities clear correctly?

How much of the equipment payment is principal?

02 / Reconstruction

Bank-feed activity is not the same thing as accounting.

QuickBooks can reduce manual entry by importing activity directly from financial accounts.

That does not remove the need for review. Imported transactions still need to be connected to the underlying business activity.

Transaction Suggested treatment Amount Status

Sheetz #416 Fuel $92.18 Review

Lowe's Materials $1,842.36 Match

ADP Tax Payroll Liability $1,267.42 Match

Home Depot Uncategorized Expense $687.44 Needs Review

Equipment Finance Auto Expense? $742.16 Correct Split

ACCOUNTANT REVIEW / The equipment payment should not automatically be treated as a $742.16 expense. The payment contains both balance-sheet and income-statement activity.

EQUIPMENT FINANCE / PAYMENT REVIEW

Loan principal $491.82

Interest expense $250.34

Total bank payment $742.16

03 / Payroll

Three withdrawals. One payroll cycle.

A payroll provider may withdraw net pay, payroll taxes, and service fees separately.

The accounting records should tie those transactions back to wages, taxes, liabilities, and fees rather than treating each bank withdrawal as an unrelated expense.

Payroll bank activity July payroll cycle

Bank transaction ADP PAYROLL

$6,842.18

MATCHED

Bank transaction ADP TAX

$2,146.77

REVIEWED

Bank transaction ADP FEE

$96.00

CLASSIFIED

What hit the bank

Payroll withdrawal $6,842

Tax withdrawal $2,147

Payroll fee $96

→

What belongs in the books

Gross wages $8,260

Employer payroll tax $632

Employee withholdings ($2,050)

Payroll service fee $96

04 / Job Cost

An $8,750 job is not an $8,750 profit.

Once purchases and direct labor can be tied back to a project, the conversation changes from how much the customer paid to how much the work actually contributed.

Smith Residence

Patio & Landscape Installation / July 2026

Customer Revenue $8,750

Materials ($2,486)

Direct Labor ($1,975)

Equipment Rental ($620)

Disposal Fees ($315)

Estimated Job Profit $3,354

Estimated Job Margin 38.3%

Landscaping Crew labor, plants, mulch, stone, fuel, equipment use, recurring routes, and seasonal revenue.

Roofing Roofing material, dumpsters, permits, subcontractors, deposits, and individual job profitability.

Construction Materials, subcontractors, equipment, progress billing, customer deposits, and receivables.

Snow removal Seasonal billing, salt and materials, equipment cost, subcontract crews, and reserve planning.

05 / Month-End

The owner no longer had to interpret the bank balance alone.

Month-end reporting combined bank reconciliation, payroll review, customer receivables, operating performance, and outstanding obligations.

The purpose was not to provide more reports. It was to provide enough information to support the next business decision.

Owner Management Report

Monthly Business Snapshot

JUL 2026

Revenue $52.4K Monthly activity

Gross Profit $27.3K 52.0% gross margin

Operating Profit $10.5K Before owner distributions

Outstanding A/R $14.2K Customer invoices

Business checking reconciliation COMPLETE

Credit card reconciliation COMPLETE

Payroll liability review REVIEWED

Outstanding customer invoices $14,200

Invoices older than 30 days $9,800

Equipment loan reconciliation COMPLETE

06 / Result

The business still runs the same. The financial process no longer depends on memory.

The owner still schedules crews, works with customers, purchases materials, manages equipment, and makes operating decisions.

What changed is the structure underneath those activities.

QuickBooks became organized around the business. Accounts and classifications reflect the way the company actually earns and spends money.

Bank balances became verifiable. Bank and credit-card accounts are reconciled against external statements.

Payroll became part of the accounting process. Payroll expense and related liabilities are reviewed instead of relying only on bank withdrawals.

Job profitability became easier to discuss. Revenue can be compared with materials, labor, subcontractors, and other direct project costs.

Tax preparation stopped being the first cleanup of the year. Financial records are reviewed throughout the year rather than reconstructed at year-end.

Start where you are

If your books live across QuickBooks, bank statements, payroll reports, and spreadsheets, that is enough to start.

Bring us what you have. Eight Leaf Financial Services can help organize the accounting process around the way your business actually operates.

Discuss your books →