Eubanks Accounting & Advisory

10/20/2026

New episode of GovCon Giants breaks down something every contractor needs to hear.

Former Air Force contracting officer Kevin Jans explains how he identifies exactly which buyers to pursue, out of hundreds of thousands of contracting professionals, before a solicitation is ever posted.

He covers the three deciders behind every government purchase, the four acquisition time zones, and the FAR language change that makes targeting non-negotiable going forward.

Worth a listen if you're spending more time bidding than winning.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4XFVCZVBJIy0EvrpCB5wlL?si=Rhmv_wG2QbKJW_dBBF3j9w

10/16/2026

Four signs it is time to hire an accountant, not four reasons to feel behind.

Most owners wait until a mistake forces the decision. The better move is to recognize the signs before that happens.

Swipe through for the patterns we see most in owners who are ready for professional help, even if they have not said it out loud yet.

None of these mean you failed at running the business. They mean the business outgrew doing it alone.

10/15/2026

Today is the extended deadline for individual and C-corp returns on extension. If you filed today, it is worth asking why.

Sometimes an extension is a smart timing decision. Just as often, it means the books were not ready, or nobody owned the process until the deadline forced it.

Hire an accountant when mistakes start costing more than the service would. That threshold usually arrives earlier than owners expect.

A missed deduction or a late estimated payment often costs more over a year than an advisor would have charged to prevent it.

If today felt like a scramble, that is the signal.

10/14/2026

A contractor called me in September panicking about a $200,000 true-up.

For anyone who hasn't hit one yet: a true-up is what happens when the estimated rate you billed all year turns out to be wrong. You true it up to the actual number at year-end. Sometimes you're owed money. Sometimes you owe it back.

Their provisional rate had been set in January and never touched again.

Actual costs came in higher than projected all year, and nobody adjusted the rate until the incurred cost submission forced the issue.

The true-up itself was not the problem. The size of the surprise was.

A quarterly check would have caught this in month four instead of month
twelve.

Rates do not stay accurate on their own. Somebody has to check them.

Visit https://eubanksaccounting.com to see how we help contractors catch this before the incurred cost submission does.

Need accounting help? Our business accounting outsourcing company partners with small and mid-sized businesses for accounting, tax, and consulting.

10/09/2026

An indirect rate has a life cycle. Most contractors focus on only one stage.

Swipe through to see how a rate moves from provisional to final, and where contractors most often lose track of their own numbers.

The stage most often skipped is the interim adjustment. Contractors set a provisional rate in January and do not look again until the incurred cost submission is due.

That gap is where the biggest surprises happen.

10/08/2026

Provisional rates are not permanent. They are your starting point for negotiation and eventual finalization.

I talk to contractors who treat their provisional billing rate as if it's locked in for the year. It is not. It is an estimate, built on projected costs, that gets trued up once actual numbers are in.

Treating a provisional rate as final creates a problem either way. Contractors either underbill and leave money on the table, or they overbill and owe money back after an incurred cost audit.

The rate you propose in a forward pricing rate proposal should reflect your best current data, not last year's assumptions carried forward out of habit.

Reviewing rates quarterly, not annually, keeps the eventual true-up smaller and less painful.

10/06/2026

Most contractors don't leave QuickBooks on their own timeline.

An auditor makes that decision for them.

Here are the four signs I watch for before that happens:
Contract volume outpaces what QuickBooks can segregate. The logic that works for four contracts starts breaking somewhere between eight and fifteen. Suddenly the real numbers live in a spreadsheet nobody outside accounting has seen.

Indirect rate complexity exceeds a single set of books. One pool, manageable. Three pools recalculated correctly every month, not so much. That gap is where billed amounts quietly drift from what the rates actually support.

Timekeeping breaks down under scrutiny. QuickBooks has no native way to enforce labor charging by cost objective or flag overlapping hours across contracts. Every workaround holds until the person running it isn't looking.

Audit exposure becomes the wake-up call. This is the one with a deadline attached.

Two of these sound familiar? Address that before the third one shows up on an auditor's schedule instead of yours.

I broke down what each sign looks like and what to do before someone decides for you.

Read it here: https://eubanksaccounting.com/2026/09/16/the-signs-your-quickbooks-setup-has-become-a-compliance-risk/
What's your accounting system's weak point right now?

10/02/2026

Four signs your entity structure needs a second look.

Entity structure is not a one-time decision, even though most owners treat it that way. The choice made in year one carries forward every year until someone changes it.

Check the signs I look for when I sit down with a business owner. If two or more apply to you, it is worth a conversation.

None of these mean something went wrong. They mean the business grew past the paperwork.

Visit https://eubanksaccounting.com/ to learn what we can do for you.

10/01/2026

Entity structure is the decision you make once and pay for every year after.

Most owners pick an LLC or an S-corp in year one and never think about it again. The structure that fit at $80,000 in revenue rarely fits the same business at $400,000.

I have watched owners overpay $15,000 to $20,000 in self-employment tax for three years straight. Nobody had flagged that an S-corp election would change the math.

Your entity structure sets your tax rate. It also shapes how exposed your personal assets are.

Revenue growth is one reason to look again. Adding a partner is another.

Neither requires starting over. Both usually just require a conversation and a filing.

Contact us for an entity structure review https://eubanksaccounting.com/

09/30/2026

The federal fiscal year closes tonight. For agencies, that means budget ex*****on mode ends and next year's spending priorities take over.

Contract awards often spike in the final weeks of September as agencies use up remaining funds. If you have a proposal sitting with a contracting officer, this is the window where decisions get made quickly.

It is also a good marker for your own calendar. Use today to check whether your indirect rate structure and job cost reports are current enough to support whatever comes through the door in October.

What did fiscal year-end bring your way this year? A new award or a rate true-up? Tell me below.