Resources and Tools

The resources we point business owners to most often.

Free tools, federal references, and industry-specific resources for current clients and for owners researching what a decision-ready accounting relationship looks like.

Tools and resources for financial decision-making

Put a number to it before you guess.

A practical diagnostic for business owners who want a clear picture before sitting down with an advisor.

Industry diagnostic

ABA and pediatric therapy

Financial Health Questionnaire

Free

A diagnostic built for ABA and pediatric therapy clinic owners. Answer a few questions about your practice finances and get a clear picture of where you stand: billing mix, cash flow, staffing costs, and owner pay.

Take the Questionnaire Hosted on our ABA industry site.

Coming next: cash flow forecast, hiring affordability calculator, and owner pay model. Subscribe to the newsletter to get them first.

Where to start when you need a real answer from the source.

Free, authoritative resources worth keeping on hand.

IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center →

A broad starting point for federal small-business tax questions, including EINs, employment taxes, business structures, recordkeeping, and the IRS tax calendar.

IRS Self-Employed Tax Center →

For sole proprietors and Schedule C filers. Covers estimated tax (Form 1040-ES), self-employment tax, and what changes when self-employment income shows up for the first time.

IRS Tax Calendar for Businesses →

Quarterly estimated tax dates, payroll deposit deadlines, and information return filings, all in one place. Bookmark it.

IRS Forms and Publications →

Direct lookup for W-9, 1099-NEC, Schedule C, and every other form you'll touch. Skip the third-party copies and pull from the source.

SBA Business Guide →

Stage-based navigation: plan, launch, manage, grow, expand. If you're not sure what stage of the question you're in, start here.

SBA, Write Your Business Plan →

Both traditional and lean templates. Useful even for established businesses that have never written one down.

SCORE →

Free one-on-one mentoring from retired executives, plus a deep template library. SBA resource partner.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) →

Local, in-person small business advising funded through the SBA. Useful when you want a second voice or aren't ready for a paid engagement yet.

General guidance. Every business is different. Talk to a CPA or advisor about your specifics.

The questions clients ask most often, with direct links to the source.

Apply for an EIN Online (IRS) →

The free, official way to get an Employer Identification Number. Apply directly through the IRS at no charge; third-party filing services are not required.

Pay Federal Taxes (Businesses) →

IRS Direct Pay for business tax payments. No registration required.

EFTPS, Electronic Federal Tax Payment System →

For businesses scheduling payroll taxes and estimated payments. The standard system for corporations, LLCs, and partnerships.

SBA, Choose a Business Structure →

A clean overview of sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, S-corp, and C-corp. Whether an S-election actually saves you money is a different conversation, but this is the right place to start the structure question.

Independent Contractor or Employee? (IRS) →

Worker classification carries significant payroll, tax, and legal consequences and is best addressed before the working relationship begins. Read this before you write your first contractor agreement, not after.

General guidance. Entity choice, worker classification, and tax payments have real legal and tax consequences. Work through these with a licensed CPA or attorney, not just a website.

The accounting platform many of our clients run on.

QBO Sign In →

Log in to your QuickBooks Online account.

QBO Help Center →

Official support and how-to articles from Intuit.

The industry organizations and publications worth knowing.

Generic small business resources do not get into payor mix, authorization gates, RBT certification, or the things that make practice finance different. These do.

Applied Behavior Analysis

Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) →

A major industry association for autism service providers, with practice guidance, advocacy, and industry resources.

Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) →

The ABA-specific accreditation body. BHCOE's standards shape what payors and acquirers consider quality.

Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) →

The credentialing body for BCBA, BCaBA, and RBT. A key reference when staff are renewing certifications or moving between states.

Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA) →

The professional membership and advocacy organization for behavior analysts. Strong on policy, ethics, and practitioner-side issues.

Behavioral Health Business →

Trade publication covering M&A activity, reimbursement changes, and policy developments across behavioral health.

Pediatric Therapy

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) →

The OT professional association. Practice-management, reimbursement, and advocacy resources for pediatric OT practice owners.

Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy (APTA Pediatrics) →

The pediatric academy of the American Physical Therapy Association. Practice resources specific to pediatric PT.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) →

The SLP professional association. Reimbursement guidance, school-based practice resources, and clinical standards.

Practice management software (CentralReach, Rethink, AlohaABA, Theralytics, WebABA/Ensora, Lumary, TheraNest, Fusion Web Clinic, and others) sits outside this list intentionally. We work in all of these systems. The right choice depends on caseload, payor mix, and how you want to handle billing.

If you operate a multi-center practice and are starting to think about exit: M&A activity in this niche has its own dynamics — payor concentration, BCBA retention, multi-state nexus, and quality-of-earnings expectations specific to behavioral health. Behavioral Health Business is one useful source for tracking transactions and market developments in the sector. When you're ready to talk about what an acquirer would actually look at, that's an Advisory Project conversation.

Exit planning is most useful when it begins years before a transition.

Whether you are five years out, ten years out, or just want to know what your business is worth right now. These are the places to start. A real exit plan answers three questions: what is the business worth today, what would it take to make it worth more, and who is the right buyer.

Planning frameworks

Frameworks turn exit timing into a process. Reading any one of these gives you a structured way to think about value, readiness, and the right buyer.

Exit Planning Institute (EPI) →

The trade body that trains Certified Exit Planning Advisors (CEPAs). Their public content covers the Value Acceleration Methodology and is genuinely useful even if you never hire a CEPA.

Business Enterprise Institute (BEI) →

BEI's Seven Step Exit Planning Process gives you a concrete framework rather than abstract advice.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, How to Develop a Business Exit Plan →

A clear, plain-language overview of the major exit options (internal sale, external sale, family succession, ESOP) and what each one trades off. A good first read.

Library of Congress, Exit Your Business →

A neutral, curated reading list with no vendor pitch attached. Strong if you want to go deep without sales pressure.

What the IRS actually does when you sell

Tax treatment is where exit deals get expensive. Knowing the basics before you negotiate purchase price allocation matters a lot.

IRS, Sale of a Business →

Explains why the IRS treats a business sale as a sale of each individual asset rather than one big transaction, and what that means for buyer and seller.

IRS Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets →

The reference document. How to figure gain or loss, when it is ordinary versus capital, and how to report it.

IRS Form 4797, Sales of Business Property →

The form you will file when business property changes hands. Sellers and CPAs end up here together more often than anyone expects.

IRS Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses →

Plain-English overview of long-term versus short-term capital gains, holding periods, and the rate categories. Useful background before any sale conversation.

General guidance. Exit planning, business valuation, and tax treatment of a sale are areas where the right answer depends heavily on your specific facts. Treat these resources as background reading, not a substitute for working with a CPA, attorney, and exit planning advisor before any sale.

Accounting and advisory terms explained.

Plain-language definitions of fractional CFO, controller, fixed-fee accounting, and more. 75 terms organized by topic.

View glossary →

Ready for a conversation?

Start with a free Discovery Call. If the Financial Clarity Assessment is the right next step, we’ll confirm that on the call.