Maintaining a positive cash flow is what keeps your business afloat. A recent study indicates that one of the top issues worrying Canadian business owners is effectively managing cash flow, with 70% of those surveyed expressing this concern.
But managing cash flow isn’t just about having enough funds in the bank to run your business — though that’s obviously important. It’s also about timing when transfers hit your account, about knowing sales patterns, and determining when it’s best to invest. And for that, Square has a variety of tools that can help.
Here are six Square tools that make it easier for your business to stay in the green.
Instant Transfers
Square transactions are always transferred quickly — usually in one to two business days. But if you want the money to hit your account even faster (as in instantaneously), you can leverage Square instant transfers. Whether it’s late at night or over the weekend, instant transfers let you move money from your Square Balance to your bank account immediately with just a tap.
Custom close of day
Want to set a specific time at which each day’s sales are transferred? Square Transfers makes that easy. You can customize your transfer schedule to occur just after the close of your business day. That way, if you’re open until 9 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. over the weekend, you can set your transfer schedule to match. Setting a close of day time ensures you’ll receive a single transfer for a full day’s payment activity – making bookkeeping a breeze. And you can set it and forget it. You just need to customize it once and then the feature goes on autopilot.
Square Analytics
Square’s POS comes with free analytics to show you how business is going, both at a granular and a bird’s-eye-view level. You can drill down to see which days are your busiest, and even which times of day you typically ring in the most sales. This type of information can be instrumental to your budgeting strategy and can help you decide when to schedule transfers.
The data is presented in both numerical and graphical form in your Square Dashboard, making it easy to get a quick lay of the land. You can also download it into a CSV file if you’d like to do an even deeper analysis.
Square Loans
Need some additional cash to purchase new equipment? Open a new location? Hire more staff? Square Loans is a simple way to get transparent financing to grow your business. You can check your Square Dashboard to see if you’re eligible to apply for a loan. And accepting the funds is easy — no complicated paperwork required. After you accept, voila: Your small business loan is transferred to your bank account as soon as the next business day.
Accounting software in Square App Marketplace
Square App Marketplace has a wide array of accounting software programs that you can link to your Square account. Tools like Intuit QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, Commerce Sync, Shogo, OneUp, and Kashoo Cloud Accounting all have robust functionality to help you manage your finances and cash flow.
We know that staying cash flow positive as a small business is challenging, especially if you’re just getting off the ground. That’s why we’ve specifically designed tools to make managing cash flow easier, so you can focus on what matters — growing your business.
All loans are issued by Square Canada, Inc. Actual fee depends upon payment card processing history, loan amount and other eligibility factors. A minimum payment of 1/18th of the initial loan balance is required every 60 days and full loan repayment is required within 18 months. Offer eligibility is not guaranteed. All loans are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. Square Loans not available in Quebec.