Novii CPA

Meet Mike, the newest CPA strengthening Novii CPA’s CAS team.

With five years of experience as a revenue accountant in the biotech industry, Mike brings a strong technical foundation and a thoughtful, solutions-oriented approach to client advisory services. A CPA with a degree in accountancy, he is passionate about helping businesses gain clarity and make informed decisions. Known for his reliability and attention to detail, Mike values building lasting relationships.

Outside of work, he enjoys sports, music, travel, and time with family and friends.

Say hello in the comments and share a warm welcome!

FIFO vs. LIFO — which inventory method is costing you more in taxes

The inventory method you chose when you first set up your books could be the reason you're overpaying on taxes every single year.

FIFO assumes the oldest inventory gets sold first. Sounds logical, makes your balance sheet look healthy, but when costs are rising it also means your cost of goods is lower on paper, which pushes your taxable income up.

LIFO flips that. You're expensing the most recent, usually more expensive inventory first. Taxable income drops. Your balance sheet doesn't look as clean, but your tax bill reflects what's actually happening in your business right now.

Neither one is universally better. It depends on your margins, how your costs have been moving, and sometimes just how much cash you need to hold onto this year. A lot of businesses that picked FIFO on day one have never revisited it, even as their costs climbed steadily for years.

Switching isn't always simple, and there are IRS rules around it, but it's worth at least knowing what you're leaving on the table before writing another check to the government.

Want to see how each method affects your numbers? Send us a DM 🙂

The IRS will literally pay you back for R&D spending

You're spending money on research and development. The IRS will actually pay you back for it - if you document it correctly.

This is the R&D Tax Credit and it's one of the most underused credits in biotech and life sciences.

Here's what qualifies. Wages paid to employees working on R&D. Contractor costs for qualified research. Supplies used in the research process. And in some cases, cloud computing costs for R&D workloads.

You do not need to be profitable to claim it. Pre-revenue biotech companies can use it to offset payroll taxes which is a game changer for early-stage startups.

How much can you get? The credit is generally 20% of qualified research expenses above a base amount. For many biotech companies, that's tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes more.

The catch is documentation. The IRS requires you to show that your research meets four specific criteria, it's technological in nature, it has a permitted purpose, it involves experimentation, and there's uncertainty involved.

Most biotech companies already do this work. They just don't document it in a way that supports the credit.

If you're spending on R&D and you haven't claimed this credit - you're leaving real money on the table. Link in bio to book a free 30-minute call and find out what you qualify for.

Fully booked. Still broke. Here's why.

You're billing more than ever. Your calendar is completely full. So why does your bank account still look like it did when you had half the clients?

This is one of the most common problems we see with professional services firms. And it almost always comes down to the same three things.

First: Billing lag. You do $50K of work in January. You invoice in February. You get paid in March — maybe April if the client is slow. That 60-to-90-day gap between work done and cash received is silently strangling your cash flow.

Second: You're not collecting upfront. Most service businesses send invoices after the work is done. Flip the model. Require a deposit before you start. Bill at milestones.

It's not aggressive — it's professional.

Third: Your revenue is project-based and unpredictable. One big month, one slow month. The feast and famine cycle kills cash flow planning. If you can convert even a portion of your work to retainers — monthly, recurring revenue — your cash flow stabilizes almost immediately.

None of these are revenue problems. They're cash flow structure problems. And the fix doesn't require more clients — it requires better structure.

Follow us for more cash flow strategies built specifically for service businesses.