Instant accounting
FNB Business Banking
FNB Business Banking clients have free access to an online accounting solution that uses FNB electronic bank statements to generate financial statements. It allows you to prepare income statements, balance sheets and cash-flow statements and provides debtors, creditors, budgeting and VAT functionality.
Get it from: FNB. Call 0860 22 22 55 or email:instantaccounting@fnb.co.za
Cost: Free
Online billing
SnapBill
SnapBill is an online invoicing and billing system. When starting out, you can take advantage of the free offering to invoice up to five clients. The Startup package lets you invoice up to 50 clients and costs R50 per month. The online billing system is quick and easy and can be automated for recurring billing. SnapBill is always available and accessible from anywhere via any web enabled device. Complete system back-ups are done every 15 minutes to ensure that no data is lost or compromised.
Get it from: www.snapbill.com
Cost: Free – R50 per month
Entry level software
Palladium Software
To keep start-up costs down you can opt for limited functionality accounting software, like the Individual Version offered by Palladium Software. It lets you invoice customers, remit statements, process and pay suppliers, pay taxes and print compliant financial statements. Palladium adds a release every year so that the application stays current with new enhanced features. It is limited to a single user, but does not time out with transactional volume or after a specific date.
Get it from: www.palladiumsoftware.co.za
Cost: Free
Leading accounting software
Absa Business Essentials
Absa Business Essentials is a service available to existing Absa Small Business Customers. Members get access to tools and services that are essential to business operation, including QuickBooks Pro software worth R3 000. Quick-Books Pro lets you track money in and out of your business, record who you owe money to and who owes you, which of your products, services or customers makes the best return, understand how profitable the business is at any time, and record and manage VAT.
Get it from: Absa (www.absa.co.za)
Cost: R185 per month
Online payroll
Pastel My Paycheck Online
Pastel Payroll offers software solutions to suit the different stages of a company. For start-ups it could work out more cost-effective to use the Pastel My Paycheck Online solution if you have less than five employees. It is a cost-effective method of paying your employees and requires no installation time or set-up costs. It also allows you to access your payroll data at any time from anywhere in the world. Pricing starts at R196 per annum for two employees.
Get it from: www.pastelmypaycheck.co.za
Cost: Starts at R196 per annum
People management
PeoplePlus
Aimed at SME s looking for cost-effective business tools, PeoplePlus has launched a freemium HR & payroll solution. It makes significant HR and Payroll functionality available for free, with the option to add the premium services at competitive prices. The free solution is web-based, making it available 24/7 and it offers data back-up and automatic legislative updates. It includes human resource information, leave management, disciplinary and training management modules, a recruitment portal, a document manager and payroll module.
Get it from: www.peopleplus.co.za
Cost: Free
Tax calculator
Pastel Payroll
To work out how much tax you need to deduct from your employee’s salaries, use Pastel Payroll’s free tax calculator by logging on to the Pastel Payroll website and following the link to the Online Salary Tax Calculator.
Get it from: www.pastelpayroll.co.za
Cost: Free
Manage your money
Bull’s Eye Advisory
As a new business owner investing your own money into your business, you need to make sure that your finances are in order. A good idea is to have a personal budget. Bull’s Eye Advisory offers a free personal budgeting tool on its website.
Get it from: www.beadvised.co.za
Cost: Free
Pocket profit calculator
ActionCOAC H
ActionCOACH has released its 5 Ways To Profit Calculator app. The app shows you how to improve the bottom line of your business by simply increasing one (or more) of five critical areas: leads, conversion rate, number of transactions, average sale value or profit margins. You simply plug in the current number (baseline number) of each of those areas, calculate your ‘baseline’ profit, and then choose the percentage you would like to increase your profits by – the app will determine what numbers you need to reach to achieve your profit goals. You can also use the app to see the difference small increases in all five areas make on your bottom line. The app offers a number of strategies to increase the baseline numbers in each area.
Get it from: iTunes
Cost: Free