I remember sitting across from Rajesh, a first-time founder who’d just incorporated his design agency as a private limited company. He looked genuinely worried. “Mohnish, I got a letter from my bank asking for my GSTIN. Do I need to register immediately? My CA said I might face penalties if I don’t, but my revenue…
The Truth Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know Last month, a friend who runs a small design agency called me, frustrated. “Mohnish, I sent an invoice to a client, and they keep asking why I’m billing them twice. I’m so confused—aren’t they the same thing?” I’ve had this conversation dozens of times. The confusion…
I’ll never forget the day a promising retail startup owner sat across from me, visibly stressed. “Mohnish, the bank rejected my loan application. They said my current assets don’t support my current liabilities. What does that even mean?” She had healthy sales, a growing customer base, and genuine passion—but her balance sheet told a…
What Type of Account Is Unearned Revenue? (And Why It Matters More Than You Think) I’ll never forget the conversation I had with Rajesh, a SaaS startup founder in Bangalore, about three years ago. He’d just landed his first big client—a ₹6 lakh annual subscription—and was thrilled. “Mohnish, we just made ₹6 lakhs!” he said…
I still remember the day a frustrated bakery owner walked into my office with a shoebox full of receipts. “Mohnish,” she said, dropping the box on my desk with a thud, “my accountant keeps telling me I’m recording things wrong, but I don’t understand what I’m doing differently. I buy flour, I pay rent, I…
What Is Net Sales? The One Number That Shows Your Business’s Real Revenue I’ll never forget the day a client walked into my office with a huge smile, waving his monthly sales report. “Best month ever!” he announced. “We did ₹12 lakhs in sales!” I pulled up his books. Then I showed him the…
I’ll never forget the day a client walked into my office, beaming with pride about his “profitable” business, only to discover minutes later that he was technically insolvent. His bank account showed healthy activity, his sales were growing, but his equity told a completely different story—one he’d never learned to read. He’s not alone. Over…
I’ll never forget the panic in Rajesh’s voice when he called me last year. He’d just had a massive argument with his business partner over profit distribution. “Mohnish, we both put in different amounts at different times, and now neither of us can agree on who owns what percentage of the company.” This wasn’t a…
You know that sinking feeling when everything’s on the line? Tuesday morning, 9:15 AM. My phone buzzed with a WhatsApp message from Rajesh, a small textile shop owner in Mumbai: “Mohnish, I’m standing in front of a client who wants an immediate invoice for ₹2.3 lakhs. My laptop is at home, and I need this…
Last month, I was consulting with Priya, a startup founder in Bangalore who’d been using a basic spreadsheet to manage her growing e-commerce business. “Mohnish,” she said, clearly frustrated, “I spent three hours last night trying to figure out my GST returns, and I’m still not sure I got it right. My chartered accountant friend…