Manage your books and improve your cash flow with Wave Money
Small business finances are tricky. On one hand, you know it’s important to stay on top of your cash flow—especially if you want your business to prosper. But on the other hand, crunching numbers pulls the passion from your work, and it can be both complicated and intimidating.
Wave Money simplifies all of that.
The Wave Money business bank account and Wave debit card are the key to effortlessly automating your business finances—combining no-fee banking, automatic bookkeeping, and cash flow management in one place.
Is Wave Money a real business bank account?
Yes, Wave Money is a real business bank account. Except it’s better than “traditional” business bank accounts, especially for service-based entrepreneurs. Traditional business bank accounts were created for the specific needs of larger companies, many of which differ from a service provider. Regular bank accounts come with long-term commitments, high minimum account balance requirements, and hefty fees—an average $450/year, according to one report from ACI Payments. Plus, payouts take a long time so you don’t always have instant access to your hard-earned capital.
In fact, about 1 in 10 small business owners believe their bank currently meets their needs, and 70% are even looking to switch. Plus, 80% of SMBs feel they need more than their financial institution to track their finances.
Enter Wave Money. It’s a real, FDIC-insured business bank account created with small businesses in mind. It’s the first no-fee, no-commitment business bank account with centralized automatic bookkeeping, payments, and cash flow management.
Basically, Wave Money does what other business banking accounts can’t: manage your bookkeeping for you. It's a free and easy way to manage all of your business income and spend in one place, saving you time for the more important things.
Wave Money is more than just a business bank account. It also includes a Wave Money Visa debit card and a companion mobile app to manage your finances and get insights on the go.
Why is it important to have a business bank account?
A business bank account is valuable for any business—big or small, new or established. Perhaps the most obvious benefit of Money is how much work it does for you. As an entrepreneur, you’re used to wearing all the hats, and that includes bookkeeper. In fact, more than a quarter of US-based SMBs self-manage their finances sans accountant.
Plus, business bank accounts offer features that are tailored specifically to businesses. For example, Wave Money automatically categorizes expenses in real time, prepares tax records and documents, and syncs with Wave Accounting and Payments for instant payouts and integrated bookkeeping.
Other benefits might include small business lending, financial planning, and payroll. Choosing the best business bank account really depends on your unique needs, which is also why it’s a good idea to look for a financial institution with specific experience serving businesses like yours.
Why should I keep my personal and business finances separate?
You’ve heard the benefits of a business bank account, but why separate from your personal finances if those accounts have equally valuable benefits? There are actually a number of reasons to separate personal from business—especially when it comes to your banking. Yet more than a quarter of SMBs keep them together, despite this being the biggest bookkeeping challenge for 23% of entrepreneurs.
Here’s why you want to keep personal and business finances separate:
- Tax advantages: For the 30% of small businesses that believe they overpay in taxes, this could be a great first step. Keeping your finances separate can make it easier to pull income and expense reports and reduce what you owe. It’s also easier come tax time to file, as you’re not painstakingly separating things out line by line.
- Personal asset protection: More than three-quarters of entrepreneurs use personal funds to finance their business. But when you don’t have a business entity with its own capital and assets, your personal property is at risk in a worst-case scenario.
- Easier funding: Unfortunately, only about 28% of loan applications are approved. If you have a strong financial history with records to prove it, this will improve your likelihood of securing funding through loans. And if you apply for funding through your business bank, an account in good standing will work in your favor.
- Simpler accounting: You probably didn’t become a business owner to spend all day managing your books. But it’s important to ensure you’re on top of your cash flow so you can stay profitable—and in business. Separating your finances makes it easier to do this yourself, or bring on professional help when you’re ready.
How does the built-in bookkeeping help me prepare for tax season?
While W-2 employees often get refunds, entrepreneurs are used to paying at tax time. In fact, they pay taxes every quarter. And tax time is never fun, so anything you can do to make it easier to organize, file, and pay your taxes is always a welcome reprieve.
With Money’s built-in bookkeeping, your tax details are updated automatically all year long, so your business finances are always up-to-date and organized. This makes tracking business expenses and income easier, and ensures you have accurate records to pull from and report when you file. Plus, accurate bookkeeping can reduce the likelihood of facing an audit.
What are Instant Payouts and how do they impact my cash flow?
Chasing payments isn’t what you signed up for, but it often turns out to be a part of the gig. Late payments and non-payments are costly, and they eat up time and resources to track down. That’s why it’s important to look for instant payout options with your financial institutions.
Eligible customers can connect Money to their Wave Accounting for Instant Payouts and fast access to your cash. This means no interruptions to your cash flow, making it easier to stay on top of Accounts Payable, keep the wheels turning, and reinvest in your business.
Through Instant Payouts, you can offer different payment options to your customers, including invoices, online payments, ACH bank transfers, and more. Once the payment clears, Instant Payouts can push the funds to your bank account via your Visa or Mastercard debit card, even on evenings, weekends, and holidays.
How can I use the Money debit card?
The Money debit card is a business debit card that connects to your Money business checking account, giving you fast and flexible access to your cash. You can use it to both deposit and withdraw funds.
How to deposit with Money
- Accept Wave Payments (and if eligible, free Instant Payouts)
- Receive an ACH from another bank account
- Connect a third party payment system
- Deposit a check (coming soon)
How to withdraw with Money
- Purchase something in person or online via card or Apple Pay
- Send an ACH
- Send an email money transfer
- Set up a direct debit in a third party portal (e.g. set up your insurance to automatically deduct from your account every month)
Moving forward with Wave Money
To service-based businesses, Wave Money is the only no-fee business bank account that manages their bookkeeping automatically—because you deserve more time to focus on your business, not accounting.
The information and tips shared on this blog are meant to be used as learning and personal development tools as you launch, run and grow your business. While a good place to start, these articles should not take the place of personalized advice from professionals. As our lawyers would say: “All content on Wave’s blog is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered legal or financial advice.” Additionally, Wave is the legal copyright holder of all materials on the blog, and others cannot re-use or publish it without our written consent.
