Bookkeeping and Check Printing Tools for Better Cash Flow Management

Financial success for small businesses depends upon proper management of cash flow. Cash flow problems will impact virtually every aspect of the business and make accurate budgeting difficult or impossible. Disciplined bookkeeping goes a long way in managing cash flow properly, recording incoming and outgoing money, and creating accurate financial forecasts for the future. Check printing and mailing software—working with other vital bookkeeping tools—helps businesses modernize their payment processes and streamline the record-keeping, both of which lead to better cash flow management. Check software that works compatibly with small business accounting software also helps reduce some of the most common bookkeeping challenges small and starting businesses face.

Some common bookkeeping challenges that bookkeeping and check printing software can help alleviate:

Tracking expenses

One of the biggest bookkeeping challenges involves the tracking of expenses. If you do not keep meticulous track of where your money is going—and where it will need to go in the immediate future—you cannot create a meaningful budget or a useful forecast of future profits. You may also miss out on some crucial tax deductions. Accurate bookkeeping requires that every expense is recorded and accounted for. Online accounting services are great tools for automating the expense tracking, and those that are compatible with check printing services offer the most value for your money. Some expenses inevitably need to be paid by check, and having a check-creating software that not only prints and mails your payments but also automatically records and categorizes them will improve bookkeeping accuracy, aid in tax preparation, and save time in the long run.

Delayed payments from your clients

You pay your bills on time…shouldn’t you be entitled to the same courtesy? While having a client or two pay a little bit late may not seem like a big deal, the accrual of a lot of late payments will disrupt your cash flow, make budgeting and financial forecasting difficult, and turn orderly bookkeeping into a chaotic nightmare. Time you are forced to spend chasing down outstanding payments is time that could be put to more productive purposes. Software that automates invoicing and following up on late invoices streamlines receivables, improves cash flow, and leads to more accurate books. Some of the popular software programs that automate the invoicing process can also streamline your own bill paying and keep you current on your payables as well as your receivables. Choosing software that works compatibly with your accounting program is the best way to ensure that all data is integrated and in sync.

Payroll management

Paying your employees accurately and on time is one of the most important HR responsibilities; it is also one of the most complicated. Online payroll services have come a long way in offering high-quality payroll and benefit management for small business employees that used to be affordable only to large companies. Payroll management services take the uncertainty out of deduction and paycheck computation so that employees can be paid promptly and accurately. Choosing a payroll provider that can also provide printed paychecks to those employees who do not have direct deposit or who are not part of the year-round payroll system is essential to maintaining an accurate, efficient system.

Account reconciliation

Small business owners have a lot going on at once and don’t always have time to balance every transaction against multiple ledgers and records; but failure to do so will result in huge—sometimes costly—accounting errors that throw off everything from cash flow to tax filing to financial forecasts. Balancing your business checking account and making all credit, cash, and checking transactions match up in real time is the only way to forecast accurately and to make sure your employees are all working from the same set of accurate numbers at any given time. Check printing software that works compatibly with your accounting software allows your checks to be automatically categorized and recorded properly in your registry. Since check software works with cloud technology and is universally accessible to your team, it enables everyone to work from the same set of updated data in real time and does not require multiple manual entries that can lead to errors.

Organized bookkeeping is essential to maintaining a positive and predictable cash flow, but the bookkeeping will never get organized on its own: it needs a system. Online tech tools for businesses simplify so much of what used to be done manually and free up countless hours a year that used to be used for financial management. Low-cost bookkeeping software programs that work together enable small businesses on a budget to harness sophisticated financial tech tools that improve cash flow management.