Amy Pigott 
You may not have the easiest time when you manage your business finances. After all, it is a skilled profession. And while you might need some outside help from time to time, it often isn’t necessary if you are willing to put in some extra effort when it comes to payroll and accounting.
Learn About Your Country’s Taxes
One of the first things you must learn about is taxes. If you pay someone else to complete tax returns for you, then you might think this is irrelevant. But every country is different, and some have more or less things you need to pay. For example, the UK has employer national insurance contributions. There is also the chance you are being overcharged or stolen from. So it always helps to stay on top of things. Or you could get penalties for wrongful tax returns.
Get Help to Manage Your Business Finances
As mentioned, you can pay someone to manage tax returns and payments for you. And depending on the size of your business, this might be necessary. For example, it can become challenging to keep up with things like payroll as your business grows. Yet you can outsource these if you need to. Outsourcing is done by over 90% of businesses of all sizes. However, always check the reputation of any external service you wish to use for sensitive processes.
Stay Hands-On with Transactions
You don’t need to be a banker to understand money coming in and money going out. And it helps massively if you stay hands-on about your transactions. For instance, even outsourcing services can make mistakes. And then there is the possibility that an employee who has access to funds will steal from you. This does happen, so you need to stay vigilant. It doesn’t take much. Simply go over statements once per month, and question anything that doesn’t look right.
Use an Array of Accounting Apps
Of course, there are tons of apps you can use to help your business every day. And fortunately, there are many accounting apps with different features that can make it much easier for you:
- Quickbooks is easy, and you can link it to a business card, get tax info and invoice.
- Mint is an excellent app because it can sync accounts, help you budget and set limits.
- YNAB is different because it is forward-focused, so it lets you plan future outgoings.
- Pocketguard is a simple, hands-off app that links to various accounts and apps.
- Honeydue is great for managing accounts and money between multiple users.
There are many more you can consider using. But these are among the best that offer easy-to-use features while offering powerful features. Yet none of them are free to use.
Stay on Top of Tax Returns and Payments
Taxes are mentioned above. And while it’s great to become familiar with how taxes work in your country, you must also make sure you stick to filing and paying them on time. The tax year typically runs from April to April. And there are strict deadlines. It helps to submit a return on the first day of the new tax year. This gives you ample time to make a plan for paying taxes which can be divided over many months before the next tax year and can be paid in installments.
Manage Your Business Finances with Quicker Payments
The more money your business has coming in, the better. But it is an unfortunate fact that you will face late payments or even non-payment for goods and services. This means you have to allocate time and funds to chase what you are owed. And this means lost revenue. However, you can ensure faster payments in a few ways. You can offer incentives such as discounts for early payments, send invoices as soon as possible, and offer multiple payment methods.
See Where You Can Cut Costs
While it’s obvious, you can improve business finances by cutting costs. Fewer costs mean you pay less money. But it also means reduced management, saving you more time as well. Tracking your expenditure is the first step because you can highlight what costs you more. You can replace or cancel these expenses. It helps to have a budget plan, too, with goals you can work towards. Then you can save money with a more sustainable approach to your business.
Summary
It can be a nightmare to manage your business finances while trying to keep a company productive. However, you can help yourself by getting to grips with tax laws, returns and payments. You can use apps to help with this, and you can reduce work by cutting costs.
