Do you ever feel like you don’t have a good grasp of your business’s financial situation? Does money seem to go back out the door just as fast as it comes in? Running a business is often like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. There’s too much information coming at you at once to take all of it in.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Plenty of tools can help you get a handle on your finances and gain more transparency into your business’s financial health. Many of these tools are available as apps on your iPhone or Android so that you can track important financial information on the go.
The days of waiting until the end of the month or the quarter for financial results are over. Savvy business owners stay informed in real time. They know where their expenses are, what invoices are outstanding, and what cash flow they can expect at any moment.
Applications to Manage Your Business Finances
That kind of real-time insight can mean the difference between success and failure for many businesses. Most businesses fail not because they don’t have a great product or their poor marketers but because of cash flow issues. Deep insight into your finances can help you avoid the following cash flow crisis.
Here are five apps that can make you a more financially-savvy business owner:
Invoice2Go
Invoice2Go does precisely what its name implies. It allows you to create and manage invoices on the go. This is especially important if – like many owners – you double as owner and sales rep. Are you out in the field meeting with customers regularly? What if they have questions about their most recent invoice or their invoice from a few months back?
LoanCalc
LoanCalc makes borrowing easy. You enter the most essential terms of the loan, like the amount, the interest rate, and the term. Then, LoanCalc gives you graphical, easy-to-understand displays about how much the loan will cost you, how long it will take to pay off, and how much interest and principal you’ll pay every month.
You can also enter information for multiple loans, and LoanCalc will compare the two. Then, you can make an informed decision about which loan works best for you.
Currency Plus
Do you do business with international customers or vendors? If so, then you probably always have to keep an eye on global currency. Currency+ does the dirty work for you. It has information for every kind of currency on the planet, and its exchange rates update instantly.
With Currency+ on your phone or tablet, you can confidently negotiate with international clients because you’ll always know exactly how the currency will convert. Currency+ is only available on the iPhone, but other similar apps are available for Android.
Expensify
One of the most significant benefits of owning a business is writing off many of your business expenses. However, that benefit is meaningless if you forget to record the expense. Expensify resolves that problem. It also makes filing expense reports simple for your sales team.
With Expensify, you take a picture of your business receipt. The app then turns the image into an easy-to-read expense report. With the push of the button, you or your team can submit the report to your accounting team.
It’s free to use for individuals and $5 per month per user for businesses. However, enterprises get two free accounts and are only charged for additional accounts if the app is used. That means you don’t have to pay for their subscription if you have a salesperson who doesn’t submit a report in one month.
Expensify is an easy way to ensure you’re accounting for all your business expenses.
Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a time-tracking app with a wide range of features, making it a handy tool beyond measuring your team’s productivity. It shows you the total number of hours your team has tracked and how much you’re spending on each team member, project, and client.
With its project budgeting feature, you can see a detailed overview of your team’s active projects, who’s working on what, and how much you’ve spent so far. You will be notified as budgets are approached so you can make adjustments as needed.
Hubstaff has a payroll feature that automates sending payments to your team. The app can calculate the amount based on your team members’ pay rates and total hours worked, or you can manually send fixed amounts. It also has an invoicing feature that automatically generates invoices and sends them to clients after completing projects. You will receive notifications when a client gets the invoice. Clients can send payments in Hubstaff via PayPal as well.
The app is available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.
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