Finance apps for business

Read on for our recommendations of finance apps for business which give you greater control and save time and money by linking with your accounting software.

Pleo- Smarter spending for your business

Pleo started life as a replacement for petty cash and business credit cards, giving business owners control over spending via an online dashboard.

Business owners could provide debit cards to employees that be could be pre-loaded with funds, turned on and off, and have a maximum limit on transaction values.

The cards can also be set to automatically top up when funds fall below a certain limit. The software comes with a mobile app that captures pictures of receipts as supporting evidence on the go, meaning fewer lost receipts and an increased ability to recognise expenses in real time.

As often happens with finance apps for business, this software has developed into a feature-rich platform that takes managing business spending to the next level. Pleo takes care of the business spending in many ways such as:

• Digital petty cash removing the need to handle cash and trips to the bank
• e-wallet capabilities for mobile spending
• Automatically fetching email receipts for online purchases made using the Pleo card
• Built-in approval process for payment of regular and ad-hoc supplier invoices,
• Ability to schedule payments for future dates to suit cashflow.

Pleo also connects to your bookkeeping software, enabling quick and straightforward reconciliations via a dedicated bank feed. With safety features built in, a dashboard to manage cards, and budgets to avoid overspending by specific users or on projects, Pleo could be the payment solution you didn’t know you needed.

Pleo has a starter package that is free to use forever for up to three users, so you can try it out with no cost and no pressure to switch to a paid version. Should you decide you like more bells and whistles or if your team grows, paid packages are available.

If you would like to arrange a demo or discuss how Pleo could remove pain points around purchases for your business, get in touch.

Apron – A new payment run and invoice capture solution – and it works with WhatsApp, too!

Some of the features of this new software include batch payments for suppliers and employees, data capture and invoice payment reconciliation, and even credit card payments when the supplier doesn’t take card payments.

Apron helps you manage business payments without a wallet, so there is no additional bookkeeping. Instead, each batch payment leaves the business bank account as a single amount.

With a full approval process built into the software, team members can be trusted to manage the purchase invoices and create the batch payments, which are then sent to you, the business owner, for final approval. At the approval stage, edits can be made to which invoices are being paid, which bank account to use, and even scheduling a later date. Once paid, the information is fed back through the integration, and the bookkeeping software is automatically updated.

Apron can also be used to pay employees. Once your pay run is created in your chosen payroll software, the payment file can be imported into Apron, and the payment scheduled for payday. No more last-minute payday stress! Payroll data is also kept confidential. The value leaves the bank as a single total, so team members with access to your bank account cannot see individual amounts being paid.

If you’re nervous about new apps, don’t worry. If you can WhatsApp a photo to a friend, you can upload your invoices on the go, as WhatsApp can be used to send invoices to the software for processing. Users have found that due to this great feature, employees are losing much fewer receipts and invoices.

You can use Apron payroll payments for free for up to 50 payments per month. If you would like to try supplier payments, you can get a one-month free trial, and then it’s just £29 per month thereafter.

If you would like to see it in action or would like help setting up a trial, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Xero – Tap to pay for Android users

Late payments are a common challenge for many small businesses, impacting cash flow and causing undue stress. In partnership with Stripe, Xero have developed Tap to Pay, enabling small businesses to accept payments on the spot using just an Android mobile phone. This simplifies the payment process, ensuring businesses receive funds quickly and efficiently.

Setting up Tap to Pay is free, with no ongoing monthly or subscription fees. However, it requires an active Stripe account, and you’ll be charged a processing fee once your customer makes a payment. The fees charged in the UK are:

• 1.4% + £0.20 per transaction for European Economic Area (EEA) cards

• 2.9% + £0.20 per transaction for non-EEA cards

In addition to helping you get paid instantly, Xero’s Tap to Pay features take care of the bookkeeping, marking the invoice as paid and recording the stripe fee ready for the bank reconciliation.

If you want to become one of the first users of Xero’s Tap to Pay functionality on Android in the UK, please let us know as soon as possible so we can register your interest.  This is a fantastic opportunity to be among the pioneers using this cutting-edge payment technology.

Support with Finance Apps for Business

If you would like to contact Maynard Johns regarding any finance apps for business, please complete and submit the form below. Alternatively, book a telephone call or meeting using our online diary system.