Bookkeeping and Accounting Setup
Assess whether your new business has a bookkeeping system, chart of accounts, and process to keep clean records from the start.
Open the free tool
For founders, new owners, and anyone starting out
Licenses and Permits Readiness
Screen the federal, state, and local licenses or permits your activity may require, and what to confirm before you open.
4 guided steps
Private in your browser
Official guidance links
Start the free checker
Your free guided checker
Answer a few quick questions below. It is private - nothing is submitted or stored - and takes about a minute.
Informational business-formation diagnostic only; not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Confirm entity, tax, and state decisions with a qualified attorney and CPA.
The questions this tool walks you through
Here is what the checker asks and why each step matters. Prefer to talk it through? Contact us and we will help directly.
Does your work require a personal professional or occupational license from a state board - for example medicine, law, accounting, engineering, real estate, cosmetology, or the building trades?
Professional licensing attaches to the individual practitioner, not just the business, and the state board that regulates the profession is your first stop.
Confirm the individual practitioner license with the state board before advertising the service.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Does your business operate in a specifically regulated industry - food and beverage, health or childcare, financial services, cannabis, alcohol, or passenger or freight transport?
These sectors require a dedicated federal or state agency permit that must be issued before you open; a general business license is not enough on its own.
Secure the industry-specific agency license before you open, on top of any general license.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Will you handle food, provide any health or personal-care service, or take custody of client money - even outside a heavily regulated industry?
Activities like catering, home food, massage or skincare, or holding client funds trigger a health, safety, or consumer permit even when the broader business seems low-risk.
Secure the industry-specific agency license before you open, on top of any general license.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Will you run the business mostly from your home rather than a separate commercial premises?
Home-based operation shifts the main risk from commercial zoning to a home-occupation permit, HOA rules, and local caps on signage, foot traffic, or on-site employees.
Clear home-occupation zoning and any HOA limits before you operate from home. Obtain the general local business license and confirm commercial zoning for your address.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Want a professional to confirm your answer?
Send us your situation and one of our senior CPAs will review it with you - fixed fee, no surprises.
Contact Us