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- Main Street found AINow it has to figure out how to manage it.
Main Street found AINow it has to figure out how to manage it.
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Sorry we're late today. We took the scenic route to your inbox.
I share the 4-5 most important accounting that actually matter. I scroll so you don’t have to.
So grab your coffee, take a quick break, and lets catch up.
Today’s Ledger:
Main Street hired AI.
Firm multiples are a trap.
Space runs on China’s minerals.
WTF of the Day🤯
Small Businesses Are Using AI First And Learning It Later
Small business owners have clearly decided AI is worth trying. New survey found 66% of U.S. small businesses are using AI, up from 55% last year. A third are spending more on AI tools than they were 12 months ago. And the returns sound real. Seventy percent say AI helped increase revenue, 55% say it cut costs, and 92% of AI users say it saves them time.
But here is the weird part. Most owners are using AI before they really know how to use it well. Seventy percent say they still need more training. Many are learning from YouTube, social media, webinars, or by asking ChatGPT how to use ChatGPT, which feels very 2026. Nearly half said they would choose AI software over hiring a person if both could do the same job. That does not mean AI is wiping out Main Street jobs yet. It means small businesses are starting to treat AI like an extra worker, even while they are still figuring out how to manage it.
What’s poppin in accounting🍿
The Accounting Firm Multiple Is Not The Real Number
When an accounting firm sells, every owner wants to know the same thing. What multiple can I get? That sounds like the big number. But it is only half the story. The buyer first needs to know the firm’s real profit after cleaning up the books. That number is called net adjusted EBITDA. Annoying name. Simple idea. It means the profit a buyer thinks they are actually buying.
That is where deals get messy. A firm may look profitable, but the buyer has to adjust for partner pay, retired partner payments, debt costs, odd expenses, duplicate staff, tech costs, and other stuff that may go away after a sale. Even unpaid client bills can change the picture. If old invoices finally get collected, partner pay can jump even though the firm did not really become more valuable overnight. So the multiple is not magic. The cleaned-up profit number is what decides whether owners get paid well or leave money behind.
Weekly Trend Chart 📊
The New Space Race Runs Through China’s Supply Chain
The space race sounds like rockets, billionaires, and launch videos. But the boring stuff underneath may matter more. Satellites and spacecraft need metals, minerals, gases, and fuel before they ever leave the ground. And a lot of those materials come from a small group of countries. That turns space into a supply chain fight, not just an engineering race.
China is the big one. It produces 99% of the world’s gallium, 78% of graphite, 70% of titanium, and 69% of rare earth elements. The U.S. still has key pieces too, including 43% of the world’s helium and rare gases and 54% of beryllium. So as governments and private companies spend more on space, the real competition is not just who can launch the most rockets. It is who controls the materials that make the rockets, satellites, and spacecraft possible.
Meme of the Day😂
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