In the craft world, even for small businesses, financial management is of paramount importance. Having a clear view of cash flow is essential for making informed decisions and stimulating business growth. What's more, sound financial management is essential if you are to meet the requirements of the tax authorities.
Fortunately, online business accounts offer a host of innovative features that make life easier for small craftsmen on a day-to-day basis.
How do you manage the finances of your craft business?
There are 3 main aspects to managing the finances of your craft business:
- Accounting involves recording your income and expenditure. Depending on your legal status, you may be subject to a simplified or detailed accounting system. Keeping track of your invoices and receipts is essential to the proper bookkeeping of your business.
- Cash flow must be used to finance your production costs before you can deliver your product or service. This means, for example, ensuring payment of raw materials and labor for a project before collecting the associated invoice. Advance payment of these expenses requires control of working capital requirements.
- Budget planning involves strategic thinking about the actions to be taken or investments to be made. Planning is based on controlling your costs and analyzing quantified indicators.
These economic parameters must be monitored on a regular basis: checking customer payments and dunning where necessary, reconciling invoices, filing expense receipts, calculating gross margin and sales margin...
As a small craftsman, you probably prefer to focus on your expertise rather than on the numbers of your business. This is where online accounts come in as innovative solutions for simplified management of your finances.
Are artisans obliged to open a business account?
When setting up your own craft business, you can choose between different legal forms. You need to consider a number of parameters before making your decision, including: the percentage of social security contributions, the taxation system, the number of partners...
It should be noted that the legal form also determines whether or not a company is required to open a business account.
Artisans under the micro-enterprise scheme
Have you chosen to run your craft business as a sole proprietorship (EI) under the micro-enterprise scheme? If so, there are several different situations to consider.
1. If your sales exceed €10,000 for two consecutive years, you must have a bank account dedicated to your business.
2. If you work as a craftsman, you must open a business account.
As you can see, in the first case it may be a simple current account for your micro-enterprise craft business. In practice, however, a business account is strongly recommended to separate your personal resources from your business assets. This financial transparency simplifies your relations with the tax authorities, particularly in the event of an audit.
Registered artisans
If you want to run your craft business as a VSE or SME, you'll probably want to set up a company, with a choice of statutes such as SAS, SARL, SASU or EURL.
In this case, you'll need to open a business account for your craft business. The registration of your company is conditional on the presentation of a certificate guaranteeing that the share capital has been deposited in a professional bank account.
An online pro account simplifies the day-to-day management of your finances as a craftsman
Online business accounts offer financial management solutions perfectly suited to the day-to-day needs of small businesses. Thanks to a wide range of functions, you can manage your accounting, cash flow and budget planning from the same tool.
Reduced rates
Business account packages are generally more economical with an institution that manages online accounts than with a traditional bank. The absence of physical branches reduces operating costs, which is reflected in the price of online business accounts for craftsmen.
Sub-accounts for your service charge provisions
To simplify the management of your finances, Anytime lets you create sub-accounts to cover your expenses: for treasury, for Urssaf, for VAT... You can segment your budget thanks to these piggy banks. You can set up automatic transfers and authorize social security and tax deductions thanks to a dedicated RIB.
An interface for managing your expense reports
If you don't want to waste any more time processing your expense reports, your online pro account gives you a digital management interface with archiving and probative value.
No more running around for receipts or filing paperwork. Simply take a photo of the ticket and associate it with the expense. This simplifies accounting reconciliation.
A billing tool
Among the innovative features, some online business accounts integrate an invoicing tool. You can create quotations and transform them into invoices, track payments and program reminders if necessary. All from a single management interface linked to your customer area.
Customizable settings
For better monitoring of your business expenses, physical bank cards are secure and can be configured. You control cash outflows by adjusting withdrawal authorizations and ceilings in real time...
It is also possible to associate other services with your online pro account, such as integrating the API into your accounting tool or opening direct access to your accountant, scheduling due date reminders thanks to the tax dashboard, defining nomenclature rules to categorize your operations...