Managing your money is one of the most important responsibilities you’ll have as a small business owner. It’s vital that you know how much money you’re spending and how much you’re earning, as not keeping track of this data can make running a business extremely difficult. To make sure you have an easy time recording all your transactions, consider opening a business account.

This article will look at what a business account is and a few of the different business accounts available to small businesses. We’ll cover several topics, such as:

  • What should I look for in a business account?
  • What is the best business account for a small business?
  • How can I easily open a business account?

What should I look for in a business account?

Easier invoicing

There are many benefits to having a business account, but these benefits vary depending on what company provides your account. Some of the best business accounts have built-in accounting software that helps with tasks like creating invoices. For example, Countingup allows you to create unlimited, customised invoices for free.

If you run a client-based business, you’ll have to create invoices frequently, so having a business account that makes this easy is a huge benefit. Countingup’s business account lets you make and send invoices on their easy-to-use app. It even provides notifications when clients pay your invoices.

Help with paying tax

If you don’t track your tax-deductible business expenses, you might end up paying vastly more tax than necessary. A good business account can help with tracking expenses and may even provide other features that make paying taxes easy.

One business account with these kinds of features is Countingup. Its automatic expense categorisation sorts all your business expenses into HMRC approved categories. Then, when you’re filling in a self-assessment tax return, you can copy all of the information from each category into your form.

Accountant access

You’ll be in charge of your company’s financial management most of the time, but occasionally you may have to hand over some responsibility to an accountant. Making sure they have all of your financial information can be complex and frustrating, but the best business accounts have a system in place to streamline this process.

Countingup, for example, has an Accountant Hub where an accountant can access their client’s data quickly and securely. Users simply send their accountant an invitation on the Countingup app, and the accountant can then find everything they need to do their job.

What is the best business account for a small business?

We’ll look at the pros and cons of a few different business accounts, so you can decide which is best for you.

Co-operative bank

The Co-operative offers a range of financial services, including a business account. You can sign up for their Business DirectPlus account online and use their app to manage your financial transactions.

The Co-op business account allows you to store money and keep an eye on your transactions, much like any other bank account. They also offer some accounting tools via related apps.

Other than that, there aren’t many features that make the Co-op’s business account especially suited to businesses. Some parts of the app are difficult to navigate, and their customer service team can be tough to get ahold of during business hours.

Cashplus

Cashplus is a digital banking company that offers business accounts for companies of all sizes. As with most digital banks, you can sign up and conduct essentially any bank transaction online, without needing to visit a physical location.

Cashplus offers the ability to download account statements (which is great for record-keeping) and offers 24-hour fraud monitoring. You can also track your spending, as their app allows you to tag expenses with a specific project name so you know exactly how much you spent on what. 

Cashplus doesn’t offer any other accounting software with its accounts, though, so you won’t have any assistance when it comes to sorting your taxes or creating invoices. Cashplus also doesn’t offer a way to share your info with your accountant other than emailing individual statements.

Countingup

Countingup offers a great business account, which is made even better by its free built-in accounting software. You can sign up for a Countingup business account by visiting their website, downloading the app, and completing a few short steps.

The Countingup app’s strength is in the fact it’s a two-in-one product: the accounting software is all part of the business account itself, so you can view your financial data and complete accounting tasks all in one place. A good example of how Countingup combines its accounting software with your financial data is the way it displays your profit and loss. 

A profit and loss statement is a financial document that shows how much money your business has made and lost over a set period. The Countingup app shows real-time view of your company’s profits and losses, updating as you make transactions on the business account. It also displays your net income by automatically deducting the losses from your profits.

This feature saves you tons of time that you would have had to spend manually creating this kind of statement. Countingup also saves you tons of time when you’re creating invoices, as you can create and duplicate them easily on the Countingup app.

Finally, Countingup offers a three month free trial for its services.

How can I easily open a business account?

Financial management can be stressful and time-consuming when you’re self-employed. That’s why thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

The variety of accounting software available in Countingup’s business account combined with their easy-to-use app makes Countingup one of the best business accounts available to small businesses.

On top of everything, signing up to Countingup is free and easy.

Find out more here.

Countingup