Do you remember how exciting it was starting your business? Designing a logo, searching for premises, buying furniture, stocking the shelves, buying staff uniforms; you could just smell success ahead!

Then came the end of the month. You had to pay salaries, buy more stock, pay rent and … play debt collector. Suddenly, you felt pressurised and panicky as you realised you did not really know what was going on with your finances.

You didn’t have enough money to pay salaries on time, there was less in the accounts receivables than you thought there would … This is not a new scenario when it comes to small business. Owners are often tied up in a multitude of responsibilities and don’t have the time for financial admin. Unfortunately, this is one area of your business you cannot neglect.

By identifying early on that you need help to manage your finances is the first step to success. The right online accounting software and online bookkeeping software packages are an easy and affordable solution to sorting out your financials.

Forecasting, income and expenditure and payroll are critical to the financial health of your business. You can easily manage these and many other financial elements with accounting software and online bookkeeping.

If you hired a bookkeeper, you will expect this employee to manage many different responsibilities, with a focus on recording and reporting of financial information. Financial transactions are the lifeblood of business and in order to build a realistic and accurate view of the health of your coffers, each and every transaction must be recorded.

Accounting software which offers online bookkeeping is easy to teach staff to use. Another advantage is that staff in various departments can have a view of the financials and be inputting transactions throughout the business day. This continual flow of information into the accounting software and online bookkeeping programme creates data which, in turn, begins to paint a realistic picture of your financial status.

Use accounting software and online bookkeeping to:

• Track daily transactions. Accounting software with daily automatic bank feeds is a particularly useful tool which saves on data entry time.
• Send out invoices and manage bad debt.
• Manage accounts payable. Maintaining a good credit record with your suppliers is essential to the success of your business. Accounting software and online bookkeeping tools help you to stay on top of supplier invoices, expenses and petty cash.
• Track cash flow. Your business needs day-to-day capital to operate effectively. With the help of online bookkeeping, you can monitor the balance of revenue to expenses and intervene if necessary.
• Manage payroll. Instil confidence in your employees by managing your payroll professionally.
• Be SARS compliant. With the right accounting software and online bookkeeping tools in place you can confidently hand over your financial information to your accountant to base important decisions or your tax returns on.

QuickBooks is helping thousands of small businesses not only survive but thrive. Call 010 203 4300 or email info@easybiztech.co.za today.