Small Business Owners: Have You Checked Your Financial Wellness?
26 Jan 2022
News
Recognized annually in January, “Financial Wellness Month,” is the ideal time for small business owners to assess their finances and determine areas for improvement. Some key factors to consider include:
- How do you manage and control daily finances?
- Do you have enough cushion to handle most financial emergencies?
- Have you planned for responsible debt management?
- Have you set and implemented retirement goals?
Benton Economic Partnership can help you find the answers to your questions by expertly directing you to the resources and programs that can assist you, including incentives such as revolving loan funds, Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Tax Abatement Financing (TAF), low interest loans, grants, land write downs, fee reductions or even possible waivers.
Additionally, the Minnesota Central Region Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offers business expertise and technical assistance to help you start, grow, or reinvent your business through no-cost and confidential business advising, training, and market research. Their financial experts assist with essentials such as how to create an initial budget, develop financial projects, and manage cash flow.
Useful Technology for Finance Management
For control over day-to-day finances, technological applications have made it easier than ever for entrepreneurs and small business owners to manage them on their own.
Keeping track of business expenses is not always easy, especially for business owners who are busy with daily operations or on the road a lot. Expensify allows for integration between the app and credit cards and debit cards. This way, expenses can be uploaded and managed without manual data entry.
Service-based businesses will find the customizable invoicing features of FreshBooks offer significant advantages. Beyond invoice management, the cloud-based bookkeeping integrates with many other financial software programs to make FreshBooks a program worth investigating to help streamline daily operations.
This app allows companies to manage their payroll, tax, and benefits. The app reports any new hires to the government, ensuring that nothing is accidentally missed during the onboarding process. Plus, they handle state and federal taxes and even email digital pay stubs to employees. This allows a business owner to manage everything from their phone late at night or on the road. The need to print out paystubs or worry about tax filings is eliminated.
Micro-businesses are defined as those small businesses with only a few employees who often wear multiple hats to keep operations running smoothly. Xero accounting software can work well for these circumstances at a subscription rate that makes sense for small businesses. Its cloud-based platform offers flexibility with a mobile app, payroll integration with Gusto, and inventory management.
Small businesses looking for free accounting software can investigate the features offered by Wave. Accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning are made simple with its mobile app that can seamlessly incorporate multiple businesses into one account.
QuickBooks is still a popular tool for small business accounting. It can sync with your bank accounts to make it easier to reconcile the books at the end of the month, manage invoices, keep track of vendor payments, and more. Many businesses can benefit from using this software daily, or at least monthly. Since QuickBooks is comprehensive accounting software, it can take time to learn how to use it. Fortunately, QuickBooks offers support through articles, community discussions, video tutorials, and more.
Accepting payments is easier than ever thanks to Square. They offer a card reader that plugs into any smartphone so that business owners, salespeople, and employees can all take payments on the spot. This can improve cash flow by providing quick access to capital, rather than waiting for invoices to be mailed and paid at a later date.
More About Benton Economic Partnership
Managing business finances is complex, but it is the deciding factor in your ultimate success. Contact BEP with any questions and explore the benefits of membership in BEP here. Follow BEP on Facebook.
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