Family Business Management Can Benefit From Automating Payment Tools

Family-owned businesses make up a significant part of the small business community, with millions of them in the U.S. While family businesses offer unique benefits to workers—including the ability to work with trusted people, share an investment in success, and build a legacy to pass down—family businesses can also face unique challenges. Personal disputes, differing management styles, and perceived inequalities in workload or compensation can lead to problems. Financial management is one area particularly vulnerable to problems when differing leadership and management styles come into conflict or when employees disagree about how to spend and invest the funds. While sharing the work—including the payments and bookkeeping—can be a helpful and less stressful way to distribute tasks and better manage time, it can also lead to conflicts when everyone is doing things their own way.

A standardized payment and bookkeeping system puts everyone on the same page

Checkeeper offers customized professional checks well-suited for family-run businesses.

Checkeeper allows simultaneous access by multiple people

Family-run businesses often involve sharing and delegating and may have more than one person authorized to review and issue payments. Set the Checkeeper account’s 'User Permissions' to authorize multiple people to access the payments and keep track of everyone’s individual account usage. Add names and email addresses of users you wish to authorize, and Checkeeper will email each a secure link to set up account access. Each user will have their own login but have shared access to the same navigation bar and account settings. Limit the user permissions to only designated features if every user does not require full account access, and change, expand, limit, or revoke those permissions at any time. All check payment data is updated in real time so that every user has access to the same accurate set of data.

Checkeeper adds accountability to the payment process

When multiple people are issuing payments from the same checking account, accountability and transparency are paramount. Checkeeper adds that extra layer of security to the check-issuing process by tracking the usage and authorizations of individual users. Run a report to get a monthly or quarterly review of check spending, and receive a comprehensive overview of all payment data on every check—including the authorized user who initiated the payment, as well as the date and time. This feature cuts down on disputes, oversights, mistakes, duplicated payments, and misuse of the funds.

Checkeeper offers remote, 24/7 access

Not all family members are likely to be on the premises at the same time. When some are traveling, working from home, or moving around among client locations, everyone can still have access to the same updated data in real time. Checkeeper goes where you do, with no device-specific downloads or special equipment needed. Access your account to print checks—or order checks printed and mailed for you—from anywhere, and have all data recorded and stored for you automatically.

Checkeeper bridges the generation divide for multi-generational family businesses

Younger entrepreneurs are very familiar with digital tools and are comfortable creating and submitting payments through online channels. Some older business owners may be more comfortable with the time-tested, well-established and trusted payment methods that they’ve always used. Checkeeper offers both. Paper checks offer more security and require fewer fees than a lot of other digital payment methods available, and they can be received by virtually everyone. For those times a paper check is the preferred or required payment method, Checkeeper offers the benefits of cloud-based payments and bookkeeping, while still maintaining the integrity and security of one of the most widely-used business payment methods.

Checkeeper consolidates management for multiple businesses

Families that run more than one business or have multiple revenue streams going at once benefit from Checkeeper’s consolidated management options. Add as many secondary businesses to your single Checkeeper account, and manage all of them from the same login and navigation page. Go back and forth between companies to issue checks without creating any bookkeeping or accounting overlap. Each added business has its own online registry, reporting features, saved templates, designated add-ons, and mailing credits. Manage all your business payments at once to simplify and streamline the process for everyone.