I remember sitting across from a freelance graphic designer last year who’d just received a notice for advance tax penalties. She’d earned ₹12 lakhs, paid zero quarterly instalments, and genuinely believed “tax filing happens in July.” The ₹18,000 penalty felt like a punch—not because she tried to dodge taxes, but because no one explained how…
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You’re staring at your accounting software. Profit shows ₹2 lakhs for the month. Your bank balance? ₹47,000. Something doesn’t add up, and honestly, this confusion has torpedoed more startups than bad products ever have. Here’s the straight answer: Yes, cash is an asset—specifically, a current asset. It’s an economic resource your business owns that provides…
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I’ve reviewed hundreds of small business P&Ls over the last decade, and here’s what surprises me every time: founders can tell me their monthly revenue down to the dollar, but ask them about their operating income, and I get this nervous laugh followed by “Uh, that’s after expenses, right?” Close. But not quite. Here’s the…
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I remember the first time a client called me in panic. “Mohnish, the MCA portal rejected my company registration. Something about DIN not matching. What even is a DIN?” This happens more than you’d think. Here’s the thing: DIN—Director Identification Number—is the first compliance step most founders encounter, yet it’s where 40% of incorporation delays…
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You’re three months into your startup. Revenue is trickling in. You’ve got five SaaS subscriptions charging different cards, a contractor billing you in USD, and payment gateway settlements landing in your account two days after customers pay. Your co-founder just Venmo’d you for that AWS bill they covered. And now your investor wants to see…
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At ProfitBooks, we often see business owners staring at their balance sheet with one recurring question: “What’s this retained earnings number, and why doesn’t it match my bank balance?” I’ll be honest—retained earnings trips up more founders than almost any other accounting line item. Not because the math is hard, but because the concept sits…
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I remember the first time a small business owner asked me, “Mohnish, is $3,000 too much for tax filing?” I paused. Because the honest answer wasn’t yes or no—it was “it depends on what you’re actually getting.” That conversation happens more often than you’d think. At ProfitBooks, we work with thousands of business owners who…
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I still remember the afternoon when a long-time client called me, frustrated. “Mohnish, they’re saying I owe ₹84,000. But I’ve paid invoices. I have bank statements. Why can’t we just sort this out?” The problem? They were both looking at different invoices, different payment dates, and nobody had a single document showing the complete picture.…
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I’ll never forget the day a frustrated client called me about a “quote” we’d sent him three months earlier. “Mohnish, you said it would cost ₹50,000,” he said, clearly annoyed. “Now you’re telling me it’s ₹65,000?” The problem? What we’d sent wasn’t actually a quote—it was an estimate. But we’d labeled it “Quotation” at the…
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