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Most “SOP examples” you find online are useless. Generic templates with empty headers. Or worse, polished corporate docs written by someone who’s never actually done the work themselves.
I’ve been running small businesses for years now (first Simpo, now Glitter AI), and over that time I’ve written, rewritten, and quietly ignored hundreds of SOPs. The ones that actually stick around share a few traits: they name real tools, they admit where the friction lives, and they tell you exactly what to do when things go sideways.
So here are 10 SOP examples for the stuff small businesses actually do every week. Invoicing. Payroll. Refunds. Onboarding. The boring, repetitive work that falls apart the second the person who knows how to do it takes a vacation.
Steal any of these. Adapt the structure. Swap the tools. Please don’t go write another “SOP Template” with five empty bullet points. - Yuval, CEO of Glitter AI
Teach your co-workers or customers how to get stuff done – in seconds.
What makes an SOP example actually useful
Quick framing before the examples. Every SOP below follows the same shape, because it’s the shape that actually holds up in a real small business:
- Who runs it - the role, not the person. People leave. Roles stay.
- When it runs - trigger or schedule. “On the 15th and 30th” is way better than “monthly.”
- Inputs - what you need before you start (login, file, approval).
- Steps - plain language, in order, with the actual tool names.
- Exception/escalation - what to do when reality doesn’t match the script.
- Owner - the person accountable when it breaks.
That’s the whole thing. No 40-page Word doc. No flowchart with 14 swim lanes. If your SOPs look heavier than this, they’re decoration, not documentation. For a deeper take on the format, see my standard operating procedures guide.
1. Process an Invoice in QuickBooks (Accounts Payable)
Who runs it: Bookkeeper or office manager When: Every Tuesday and Friday, or within 48 hours of an invoice arriving Inputs: Vendor invoice (PDF or email), QuickBooks Online login, approval from department head if amount exceeds $1,000 Owner: Head of Finance
This is the most-run SOP in most small businesses. It’s also, somehow, the one most likely to be done five different ways by five different people.
Here’s the process. Pull the invoice from the AP inbox. Verify the vendor exists in QuickBooks and matches the W-9 on file (this is the step everyone skips). Enter the bill against the right expense account and class, attach the PDF to the bill record, and route for approval if it’s over the threshold. Then schedule payment based on the vendor’s terms. Most are net 30, but a few will offer a 2% discount for net 10, which is worth taking on anything material.
Exception: If the vendor doesn’t exist yet, do not create them on the fly. Pause and request a W-9 first. That one habit prevents most of the 1099 cleanup pain in January. If the invoice doesn’t match a PO or signed agreement, escalate to the department head who placed the order.
For the broader finance picture, my accounting SOP for finance departments walks through how AP fits into month-end close, and the QuickBooks training guide covers the actual click paths in QBO if your bookkeeper is new.
2. Onboard a New Employee, Day 1
Who runs it: Office manager or People Ops lead When: Triggered when a signed offer letter is countersigned Inputs: Signed offer, role description, hiring manager’s calendar, IT request form Owner: Head of People
Day 1 onboarding is where small businesses lose the most goodwill, by far. The candidate just spent six weeks falling in love with you during the interview process. Then they show up Monday and there’s no laptop, no Slack invite, and HR is asking them for an I-9 nobody told them to bring.
Here’s the actual sequence. T-minus 5 days, send the new hire a welcome email with a checklist of what to bring (ID for I-9, voided check for direct deposit) and a link to a 30/60/90 doc. T-minus 3 days, IT provisions the laptop, Google Workspace account, Slack invite, and access to the role-based tool stack (the hiring manager owns the tool list, not IT). Day 1 morning: in-person or video welcome with the manager, a paperwork session with People Ops (I-9, W-4, direct deposit, handbook acknowledgment), and a tour or virtual office walkthrough. Day 1 afternoon: 1:1 with manager, lunch with the team, first low-stakes task assigned.
Exception: If IT can’t provision in time, and this does happen (laptops back-ordered, SSO outage, the usual), have a loaner ready. Never let someone sit on Day 1 doing nothing. That’s how attrition starts in week one.
For a copy-paste version of the full checklist, grab the employee onboarding checklist guide.
Glitter records your screen and turns it into a step-by-step SOP automatically.
3. Run Bi-Weekly Payroll in ADP
Who runs it: Bookkeeper, with sign-off from Head of Finance When: Every other Wednesday by 2pm, for Friday pay date Inputs: Approved timesheets (hourly), commission/bonus sheet (sales), expense reimbursements, ADP login Owner: Head of Finance
Payroll is the one SOP where “good enough” isn’t really an option. People notice the exact second their check is wrong.
The flow. Monday-Tuesday, hourly employees submit timesheets in ADP and managers approve them. Wednesday morning, pull the commissions sheet from the sales ops doc and confirm the numbers with the VP of Sales. Pull approved expense reimbursements from Expensify. Open ADP, run a pre-process audit (compare gross-to-prior-period; anything more than 10% off, investigate). Process payroll. Save the journal entry PDF and import it into QuickBooks against the right department classes. File payroll tax confirmations.
Exception: New hire mid-cycle? Pro-rate from start date, not from cycle start. Termination? Verify final paycheck rules for your state. California requires same-day for involuntary terminations, which catches everyone off guard. If a manager hasn’t approved timesheets by Tuesday EOD, escalate to their director, not the employee.
4. Handle a Customer Refund Request
Who runs it: Customer Support rep When: Within 24 hours of refund request Inputs: Order ID, reason for refund, customer history (lifetime value, prior refunds), Stripe or payment processor login Owner: Head of Customer Success
The refund SOP is mostly about not needing to escalate. If your reps have to ping a manager for every $40 refund, your support is slow and your manager is the bottleneck.
The script. Confirm the customer’s identity and pull up the order. Check refund eligibility against the policy (within 30 days, item not used or service not consumed past X). If yes, and the amount is under the auto-approve threshold (we use $200), process the refund in Stripe, log it in the CRM with the reason code, and reply to the customer with the confirmation. If it’s over the threshold or outside policy, escalate to a Customer Success Manager with a one-paragraph summary.
Exception: Chargebacks are not refunds. If the customer has already disputed the charge with their bank, do not also refund. You’ll pay twice and still lose the dispute fee. Route chargebacks to Finance immediately. Repeat-refund customers (3+ in a year) should also get flagged to CS leadership.
5. Reconcile a Bank Account in Xero (Month-End)
Who runs it: Bookkeeper When: First five business days of each month, for prior month Inputs: Bank statement PDF, Xero login, prior month’s reconciliation report, credit card statements Owner: Head of Finance
Bank rec is one of those SOPs where the work is 80% routine and 20% “what is this $437 charge from a vendor I’ve never heard of.” The whole point of the SOP is to make sure that 20% gets investigated, not buried.
Process. Log into Xero, navigate to the bank account, import or sync the latest transactions through the bank feed. Match each transaction to an existing entry. Xero will suggest matches, but verify them, especially for vendors with similar names. For unmatched transactions, code them to the right account and class, and attach a receipt if you have one. At the end, the closing balance in Xero has to match the bank statement to the penny. Run the reconciliation report and save it to the shared drive.
Exception: If you can’t get to a zero variance, do not “plug” the difference into a misc account. The usual culprits: a check that cleared in the prior period but wasn’t recorded, a duplicated transaction, or a stale uncleared deposit. If the variance is over $500 or still unresolved after 30 minutes, escalate to the Head of Finance. Don’t sit on it for days.
6. Pull a Sales Report in Salesforce
Who runs it: Sales Operations Analyst (or VP of Sales in smaller orgs) When: Every Monday at 9am for the prior week’s pipeline review Inputs: Salesforce login with report builder access, the standard “Weekly Pipeline” dashboard, segmentation by AE Owner: VP of Sales
Half the value of a sales SOP is making sure the same numbers show up week to week. If “qualified pipeline” means three different things across three reports, leadership ends up making three different decisions.
The flow. Open the Weekly Pipeline dashboard in Salesforce. Confirm the date filter is set to “Last Week” (Mon-Sun, not the rolling 7 days; this is the one that bites people). Export the pipeline-by-AE report to CSV. Cross-check with the closed-won list to make sure won deals dropped out of pipeline correctly. Build the weekly summary slide: opportunities created, opportunities advanced, opportunities lost, closed-won. Drop it into the Monday pipeline review deck.
Exception: If a deal is sitting in the wrong stage (say, marked Closed-Won with no signed contract in DocuSign), don’t fix it yourself. Flag it to the AE. The data has to match what the AE believes is true, otherwise you’ll spend the meeting arguing about numbers. If pipeline drops more than 20% week over week, send a heads-up to the VP of Sales before the meeting starts.
Teach your co-workers or customers how to get stuff done – in seconds.
7. Reset MFA in Okta (IT)
Who runs it: IT Helpdesk or designated admin When: On request - typically when an employee gets a new phone or loses their authenticator Inputs: Verified employee identity (manager confirmation if request came via email), Okta admin console Owner: Head of IT
MFA reset is a tiny SOP, but it’s the most attacked one in your business. Social engineering against the helpdesk to get MFA reset on a target account is how a lot of breaches start. The SOP itself is short. The verification step is non-negotiable.
The process. Receive the request via the ticketing system (Zendesk, Jira Service Management, whatever you use). Verify the requester’s identity using a method not tied to the account being reset. Usually that’s a video call where you can actually see them, or confirmation from their manager via Slack DM. Log into Okta admin, find the user, reset MFA factors, and send the user the enrollment instructions. They re-enroll their authenticator on next login.
Exception: Never reset MFA based on an email request alone, even if it looks legit. If the requester pushes back on identity verification (“I’m in a hurry, my CEO needs this”), that’s a red flag, not a reason to skip the step. Escalate to the Head of IT or Security if anything feels off.
8. Process a Time-Off Request in BambooHR
Who runs it: People Ops admin (or manager, depending on your setup) When: Within 48 hours of submission Inputs: Employee request in BambooHR, accrued PTO balance, team calendar for coverage check Owner: Head of People
This one looks trivial until you remember that bad PTO handling is one of the top complaints on Glassdoor for small businesses.
Flow. Employee submits the request in BambooHR. Manager gets notified, checks the team calendar for coverage gaps and project deadlines, and confirms the employee has accrued balance. Approve or reject in BambooHR, with a comment if rejected. The system auto-updates the calendar and notifies the employee.
Exception: Unlimited PTO policies still need a coverage check. “Unlimited” doesn’t mean “show up Monday and tell us you’re gone all week.” If two people on the same team request overlapping time, default to first-come-first-served unless one is for a pre-planned event (wedding, surgery). If an employee has zero accrued balance and is requesting PTO, escalate to People Ops to discuss unpaid leave or borrow-against-future-accrual options.
9. Quote a New Customer (Sales Handoff)
Who runs it: Account Executive, with handoff to Sales Engineering or Operations When: Triggered when a discovery call confirms a viable opportunity Inputs: Discovery notes, requirements doc, pricing sheet, CPQ tool or quote template, signed NDA if needed Owner: VP of Sales
The “quote a customer” SOP is the one that breaks most often, because it spans two roles (sales and ops) and three tools (CRM, CPQ, e-signature).
The sequence. AE logs the discovery call notes in Salesforce and confirms BANT (budget, authority, need, timeline). AE drafts the quote in the CPQ tool. For any non-standard configuration, loop in Sales Engineering before generating. Internal review by the Sales Manager for any deal over a threshold (we use $25K ARR). Send the quote via DocuSign with a 14-day expiration. Update the opportunity stage to “Proposal Sent.” When signed, hand off to Customer Success with a kickoff doc that includes the original discovery notes, not just the contract.
Exception: Custom terms (longer payment terms, custom SLA, indemnification redlines) require Legal review. Never send those out under your own approval. If the customer goes silent for more than 7 days post-quote, the AE owns the follow-up cadence. Don’t let the opportunity drift in “Proposal Sent” for a month.
10. Submit a Quarterly Sales Tax Filing
Who runs it: Bookkeeper, with review from Head of Finance When: By the 20th of the month following each quarter end (April 20, July 20, October 20, January 20 - varies by state) Inputs: Sales tax report from the e-commerce or invoicing platform (Shopify, Stripe Tax, Avalara, etc.), prior quarter’s filing for reference, state tax portal login Owner: Head of Finance
Sales tax is the SOP that goes from “boring quarterly task” to “company-ending crisis” if you skip it for two years and then get a notice from a state. Get this one right.
Flow. Pull the sales tax report from your platform of record. For each state where you have nexus, log into the state’s tax portal and match the totals to the report. File the return. Most states allow a $0 filing if you had no taxable sales there in the quarter, and you still need to file to avoid penalties. Pay the amount owed via ACH and save the confirmation. Log the journal entry in QuickBooks/Xero against the sales tax payable account. File the confirmation PDF in the shared drive under Tax/[Year]/Q[N].
Exception: If you crossed a state’s nexus threshold this quarter (typically $100K in sales or 200 transactions), you may need to register with that state before you can file. That’s a 2-3 week process. If the platform’s report doesn’t match what’s in your accounting system, do not file the platform number blindly; reconcile first. For multi-state filings, look at a tool like Avalara or TaxJar. Manually filing across 15 states is how mistakes happen.
Glitter generates the SOP from a screen recording - you do the process once, we write it up.
How to actually use these SOP examples
Don’t copy-paste any of these word-for-word. The whole point is that good SOPs match how your business actually works, not how some generic template thinks it should.
Take the structure (who runs it, when, inputs, steps, exception, owner) and fill it in for your own processes. The structure is what makes them work. The specifics are yours.
In 2026, the fastest way to do this isn’t to sit down with a Word doc and try to remember every step from memory. It’s to record yourself doing the work once, and let an AI write the first draft. That’s what we built Glitter’s SOP generator to do. You screen-record the task, and you get a structured SOP with screenshots, step descriptions, and the right places to slot in exception notes.
The work of running a small business doesn’t go away. But the work of documenting the work absolutely should.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an SOP example?
An SOP example is a documented version of a real business process showing who runs it, when, the inputs needed, the steps in order, and what to do when something goes wrong. Good SOP examples for small businesses are short, name the actual tools used, and include exception handling.
What are common SOP examples for small businesses?
The most common SOP examples in small businesses cover finance (invoicing, payroll, bank reconciliation, sales tax), HR (onboarding, time-off requests, MFA reset), sales and customer ops (quoting, refunds, sales reporting), and IT operations. These are the processes that run weekly or monthly and break when the person who knows them leaves.
How long should a small business SOP be?
A small business SOP should fit on one page. If it is longer than that, it is probably either too detailed or covering more than one process. The goal is something a new hire can scan in 90 seconds and execute, not a 30-page reference manual nobody opens.
What sections should every SOP example include?
Every SOP should include: who runs it (the role), when it runs (trigger or schedule), inputs needed, the steps in plain language, an exception or escalation path, and the owner accountable when it breaks. Skip any of these and you have a checklist, not an SOP.
How do I write SOPs for a small business with limited time?
Record yourself or your team doing the process once, then turn the recording into a written SOP. Tools like Glitter automatically generate step-by-step SOPs from screen recordings, which cuts SOP writing time from hours per process to minutes. This is dramatically faster than starting from a blank Word template.
Are there free SOP templates for small businesses?
Yes, free SOP templates are widely available, but most are too generic to be useful. The 10 SOP examples in this post - invoicing in QuickBooks, payroll in ADP, refunds, onboarding, bank reconciliation, sales reporting, MFA reset, time-off, quoting, and sales tax - give you the structure plus realistic specifics you can adapt to your own business.
Who should own SOPs in a small business?
Each SOP should have a single named owner - usually the department head whose function the process belongs to. Finance owns AP, payroll, and reconciliation SOPs. People Ops owns onboarding and PTO. Sales leadership owns quoting and pipeline reporting. The owner is responsible for keeping the SOP current, not necessarily for executing it.
How often should I update SOPs?
Review every SOP at least once a year, and update immediately when the underlying tool or process changes. If you switch from QuickBooks to Xero, the AP SOP changes the same week. SOPs that drift from reality are worse than no SOPs because people stop trusting them.
What is the difference between an SOP and a checklist?
A checklist is a list of items to verify or complete, with no context. An SOP includes the checklist plus who runs it, when, the inputs, the exceptions, and the owner. SOPs handle the question of what to do when the checklist does not match reality, which is most of the value.
How can I make sure my SOPs actually get used?
Three things make SOPs sticky in small businesses: keep them short (one page), name the actual tools and screens (not abstract steps), and link them from where work happens (Slack channels, ticket templates, onboarding docs). If an SOP lives in a shared drive nobody opens, it does not exist.
