FINANCE
S ’ E R E H T : G N I L L BI ! T A H T R O F P P A AN
One of the toughest tasks that small business owners have to master is billing. We review five online tools to take the headache out of your monthly checks and balances
T
hanks to the internet, there’s a wealth of tools at your fingertips to get organised (and stay that way) when it comes to billing. From managing vendor quotes to keeping track of unbilled amounts, a billing app will streamline the monthly slog of balancing income and expenditure. Downloading an app is effortless (and often free), and will give you greater means to control and manage your business. Especially relevant for small business owners without massive accounting departments to back them up, a billing app will also free you up to focus on what you love: your business. But if you’re intimidated by the amount of apps to choose from, we’ve done the legwork for you. Check out these five billing apps: 26
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Quickbooks
www.quickbooks.intuit.co.za Easily the most popular and widely recognised billing and invoicing app for small businesses, Quickbooks gives you the ability to update your invoices from a single dashboard. Your data is secure and is backed up to Quickbooks’s servers. Plus, you can access it on any of your devices, whether you are working on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. All you need is the internet. Quickbooks also allows you to give access to your employees, but it lets you limit what information they can view and modify. Best Features: • Synced devices: Quickbooks automatically syncs data across your computer, tablet and mobile phone, saving you time.
• Easy set-up: It takes minutes to get started and is automatically customised for your specific type of business. • Priorities: Your Quickbooks dashboard instantly feeds important information to you, such as overdue invoices and your next steps. • Customised invoices: You can create your own invoices in minutes. • Automated: You can send automated invoices to your customers, all from a single dashboard. • Tracking: Quickbooks will give you a bird’s eye view of your expenses, sales and income. • Payroll: there are even features that allow you to pay your employees • Free trial: Quickbooks offers a 30-day free trial for new users.
