The deposit just cleared.

Half up front on the HVAC install. A third down on the remodel. Cash in the checking account. Feels like payday.

On cash-basis books, that money is real. It showed up. You can see it. No fancy “not revenue yet” speech required.

Here is the scrappy problem: you spend it like it is free.

Materials for next week’s job. A truck repair. A draw that felt earned because the balance looked fat. Then the job that paid the deposit needs copper, or a crew day, or a supplier COD — and the account is thin again.

That deposit was spoken for the moment it hit. Not locked in a vault. Just earmarked. Cash-basis owners who stay solvent keep a simple list: which deposits still have work attached, and what cash has to stay put until those jobs are done.

You do not need accrual rules for that. You need books you trust enough to know what is actually free to spend this week.

If deposits and “free cash” are the same pile in your QuickBooks, that is exactly what monthly bookkeeping is for. Want it sorted? Get in touch.

— Jake
Wenonah Bookkeeping