Running a small business can be difficult. Between managing employees, supervising marketing, and keeping the financials in order, a small business owner may be handling all or most of these tasks themselves. Thankfully, there are myriad tools that can help small business owners keep their finances organized.
Below are ten financial tools no small business owner can live without:
1. Business Plan Software
Efficient business plan software helps keep ideas and information organized when attempting to grow your business. It is also useful when presenting ideas to investors.
2. Accounting Software
Good accounting software is one of the best investments a small business owner can make. Quickbooks is a popular program that enables you to track daily sales, generate invoices, and manage payroll all at once. This is a notoriously easy-to-use software with pretty much no learning curve.
3. Credit Card Processing Software
In this age of technology, it seems almost archaic to not offer credit cards as a form of payment. There are multiple types of credit card processing software that can be used such as point-of-sale systems, creating online payments, and mobile credit card readers.
4. Financial Analysis
Keeping all aspects of the business in one place so that you are able to see profits and losses (including cash-flow) will prevent any financial problems from sneaking up on a company.
5. Budgeting Tools
You may not need to get a separate budgeting tool since accounting software often comes with something to manage your budget. Creating and sticking to a budget is paramount to a business’s long-term success.
6. Inventory Management
Having a proper inventory management system will prevent headaches in the future. A good system will allow you to track all the relevant details… how much has been sold, by whom, and a way to view data by different time periods are ideal features for a inventory software. Some programs will even let you create alerts to indicate when inventory of certain items start running low.
7. Business Credit Monitoring
Tracking your business credit is just as important as keeping tabs on your personal credit. This is especially true if you’re thinking of taking out a business loan, applying for a credit card, or even requesting a higher credit limit on an existing card.
8. Business Credit Card
A business credit card is a good way to establish business credit making it easier to get higher credit limits in future financing scenarios. Certain business credit cards like the Ink Cash Credit Card will earn cashback on certain purchase while others accrue rewards. Business cards can also be given to employees, making it easier to keep track of business spending and business travel expenses.
9. Expense Tracking
While a business credit card makes it easier to track credit card expenses, expense tracking software will be able to combine all expenses whether paid with cash, check or credit card. Plus, there are even mobile apps that allow you to track business expenses adding to the convenience of the software.
10. Invoicing Software
A simple invoice and billing software with useful features is a must-have for small businesses hoping to grow. It helps to create professional invoices to send to customers, and ideally will include a system to create reports (and ensure payments are received on time.) Did you know that you can take out an invoice financing loan against the balance of any invoices that you are owed? Keeping track of your invoices is important not only for getting paid, but also for knowing how much you could potentially borrow if needed against those invoices.
