Tools for Small Businesses to Achieve and Maintain Financial Wellness
31 Jan 2022
News
Being a small business owner is being a juggler. You have to maintain all of the daily management operations while planning and implementing for the future. One ball to never let drop is your finance management. January is “Financial Wellness Month,” an excellent time for small business owners to assess their finances and determine areas for improvement. Some key factors to consider include:
- How do you manage day-to-day operations such as taxes, payroll, and invoicing?
- Have you set and implemented retirement goals?
- Do you have enough reserves to handle most financial emergencies?
- Have you planned for responsible debt management?
Once you determine areas that need help, your first step is to explore the advantages and assistance available to you in your area. In Junction City, Kansas, the Junction City-Geary County Economic Development Commission (JC-GCEDC) can help business owners determine what assistance is available by directing them to the information and resources that can help with fiscal management.
Additionally, services are available through the Kansas Small Business Association. They provide financial assistance, free counseling, specialized help for minorities, women, and veterans, and more.
Junction City also partners with The Washburn Small Business Development Center (SBDC) which provides free small business consulting services and training seminars to northeast Kansas entrepreneurs. No matter what stage you are at with your business, the Washburn SBDC has tools that can assist you.
Useful Technology for Finance Management
For control over day-to-day operations and accounting, 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.
Contact Junction City-Geary County Economic Development Commission
Managing business finances is complex, but it is the deciding factor in your ultimate success. While new tech is changing the business landscape by making it possible for business owners to do more on their own in less time, technology cannot replace the benefits of sitting down with an expert in your region. Contact JC-GCEDC today at 785-762-1976 or edc@jcacc.org.
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