Guardian Solutions CPA

10/23/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸?

It's probably on this list of spending decisions that haunt Americans long after Halloween.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/finance/studies/2026-financial-regrets-study

10/22/2026

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀?

Your business can have strong sales and still struggle to cover its bills if you're spending money long before you actually collect payments from your customers.

Let's say you pay your suppliers for materials 60 days before you finish a job and receive payment.

During those 60 days, your money is tied up. But payroll, rent, and other expenses still have to be paid.

That's where your cash conversion cycle comes in because it measures how long it takes your business to turn money spent on inventory or supplies back into cash.

To figure it out, we look at:
1. How long inventory sits before it's sold
2. How long customers take to pay
3. How long you take to pay your suppliers

The longer that gap, the more working capital your business needs to keep operating.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵?

10/21/2026

Business is NOT for the faint of heart!

10/21/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗽𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀?

To see whether your business has enough readily available funds to meet its short-term obligations, check your Quick Ratio. It's a measure of how well your liquid assets can cover what you owe.

𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙩:

Take your cash plus accounts receivable (money customers owe you), then divide that total by your current liabilities.

You want that ratio to be at least 1.0.

That means you have at least $1 in these liquid assets for every $1 in short-term liabilities.

And unlike the Current Ratio, the Quick Ratio leaves inventory out of the calculation (because inventory still needs to be sold before it turns into cash).

Not sure what your Quick Ratio is? Comment 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢 below, and we can walk through which numbers to pull from your balance sheet.

10/20/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀?

To calculate your emergency cash reserve, start with the bare-minimum cash out the door if sales stopped tomorrow.

Pull your Profit and Loss statement alongside your balance sheet, and tally your monthly baseline obligations:
• Payroll for essential staff (including employer taxes and benefits)
• Owner draws (if you pay yourself via distributions rather than W-2)
• Rent, software, and equipment leases
• Total debt service (both loan principal and interest)
• Insurance premiums and essential utilities

Leave out variable costs like raw materials and sales commissions that drop off when sales stop.

Once you've calculated your monthly fixed expenses, 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦.

That's a starting target for your emergency cash reserve. If your business has less predictable revenue or greater operating risks, consider building up to six months instead.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵?

10/19/2026

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁?

Mistakes happen, whether a return was prepared by tax software or another preparer. We can take a second look, identify errors or missed opportunities, and amend the return when a correction is needed.

Comment 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 so we can set up a time to talk.

10/19/2026

Anyone who’s built a business eventually reaches the point where doing everything yourself starts getting in the way of growth.

But handing off work you’ve spent years building can be difficult. Whether it’s invoicing, managing records, keeping up with financial tasks, or other day-to-day responsibilities, you know how you want things done, and trusting someone else with that responsibility takes time.

As you build your team, keep a few things in mind:
1. 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲. Take an honest look at where your time and skills are best spent, then look for people who can take ownership of the work that’s taking too much of your attention.
2. 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹. Skills matter, but so does the ability to communicate, collaborate, and follow the processes your business relies on.
3. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀. Delegating won’t feel natural overnight, but the right team can steadily take work off your plate and give you more capacity to lead.

10/18/2026

Guardian Solutions CPA's Take: How Much Cash Should A Business Have On Hand?

How much cash should a business have on hand? Learn how to calculate 3 to 6 months of fixed overhead while keeping your tax reserves separate.

10/16/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱?

Before writing it off the invoice, look at whether there's still a realistic way to recover some of that money.

Depending on the situation, you could consider:
• Restructuring the balance into a payment arrangement
• Turning the balance into an interest-bearing promissory note
• Factoring the invoice to recover a portion of what you're owed
• Writing off the balance when recovery options have been exhausted

𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗽: Create a system for processing overdue receivables instead of letting them sit on your books indefinitely. Set a regular time to review aging invoices, decide which ones still have a reasonable path to collection, and deal with balances that don't.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘴 60 𝘰𝘳 90 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘦?

10/15/2026

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲?

Your business can show a profit on paper even when you haven't actually collected all of that money from your customers.

If you use accrual-basis accounting, revenue gets recorded when you issue an invoice, not when the customer actually pays you.

That means your Profit & Loss statement can include revenue you haven't collected yet.

So you might see a healthy profit number while a chunk of that money is still sitting in Accounts Receivable.

This is why your P&L and bank balance tell you different things about your business.

Your P&L shows financial performance based on your accounting method. Your bank account shows the cash you actually have available.

If there's a big gap between the two, pull your Accounts Receivable aging report and look at how much of your revenue is tied up in unpaid invoices, especially those that are 90+ days past due.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴?
DM us if you want clearer visibility into your true cash position.