7 Financial Tools Your Small Business Needs to Be Successful
Operating a successful small business is no easy feat. One of the biggest challenges can be trying to make sense of your financial data—especially if you’re doing it all on your own. Luckily there are loads of tools and apps available to help you take control of your financial information. From scheduling payments to tracking expenses, these 9 tools will hopefully make your life a little bit easier:
Expense tracking software
If you're spending more than you realize on business expenses, then expense tracking software can help keep your finances on track. Such tools allow you to track daily expenditures, create user-friendly expense reports and export detailed financial data into accounting platforms like QuickBooks.
Some of the business headaches that expense management software can help you solve include:
- Reducing or eliminating manual data entry
- Keeping track of company spending
- Having a powerful set of tools to manage and report on your business expenses.
Payroll management software
While you can hire an accountant to manage payroll, this is often not feasible for startups.
Fortunately, several online products allow small business owners to process payrolls in-house. Two popular options include Gusto and Zenefits. Both of these tools provide comprehensive coverage including tax filing, benefits management, and automated payroll.
Additionally, these products can help you create an organized method of managing company information like tax IDs, employee contracts, and insurance options.
Billing software
Running a business without an efficient way to bill clients can be frustrating and overwhelming. It can be a headache to keep track of which accounts need to be invoiced, how much is owed and when payments are due. If you have a paper-based billing system, chances are it will take hours each week just trying to reconcile your accounts.
By investing in an online billing tool, you can create professional-looking invoices in minutes. Moreover, you can easily track bills and payments to ensure that everyone gets paid on time and your business is running smoothly.
Tax preparation software
As a small business owner, you already have a lot on your plate. Between finding new customers, keeping your current clients satisfied, and running operations smoothly, it can be easy to neglect the financial process of filing taxes. That's why having tax preparation software can make a big difference in helping you meet deadlines and avoid costly mistakes.
There are many options for small business owners looking to file taxes online. Also, many of these services can be easily integrated into your current systems and even help you save time by automatically filling out forms.
Inventory management software
Keeping track of inventory is the key to avoiding the nightmare scenario of running out of important supplies. Inventory management software allows you to monitor what's in your storeroom, examine inventory trends, and better plan for future purchases. You can also use this type of software to forecast demand based on historical sales data.
With proper inventory management, you can save time and money by ordering the right amount of products and eliminating excess. This can give you an edge over your competitors and ensures your business' financial health isn't compromised.
Budgeting tool
One of the best ways to help improve your financial stability is by creating a budget. After all, this is how you can anticipate future expenses and streamline your business's finances.
The easiest way to create a budget with minimal effort is by using software that automatically tracks spending and income. Most of these products can be easily accessed online or even through your mobile device. Once you have created a budget, it can be adjusted to meet your business's needs.
Benchmarking software
Small businesses often face a lot of uncertainty and volatility. To top it off, many startups don't have enough resources to handle a significant financial crisis. This means you need all the help you can get to help avoid costly mistakes. One way to minimize risk is by benchmarking your performance against peers in similar industries and locations.
Benchmarking software can be an effective way to improve your business because this type of product allows you to compare key metrics like revenue growth, expenses, and profit margins. While benchmarking tools don't come cheap, they could save you valuable time by quickly highlighting the areas that need improvement.
Accounting software
Keeping track of the money in and out of your business is essential for tracking growth, profitability, and reducing risk. That's where accounting software comes into play. This type of product gives small business owners the ability to organize and analyze financial data. It can even be used by multiple users to streamline the process of accounting.
The best accounting software for small businesses allows you to record transactions, import bank account data, reconcile accounts, generate financial reports, and prepare budgets. In other words, all the features that will help get an early read of your financial health.
Accounting software also provides small business owners with tools for budgeting, cash flow forecasting, expense tracking, and other useful functions that promote financial stability and growth.
Conclusion
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from using financial tools to manage their business. These products streamline management and help reduce administrative costs, giving you more time to focus on what your company does best.
What's better is that you don't have to pay an arm and a leg to get access to such tools. With just a few bucks per month, you can get a tool that helps your small businesses cut costs, increase revenue and reduce the risk of costly errors.
Penny, for instance, is a free platform that allows you to better manage your company spend. You can track your expenses, get real-time visibility into your employee spending, and approve expense requests effortlessly.
Sign up for a free account today.
