Whether you are just starting out or you are looking for better ways to manage your existing micro or small business, one of the key factors in making it a success is to manage your business financials and track your business health. 

Choosing the right accounting software package is a hard task for anyone, especially small business owners. What's right for other business owners may not be compatible with your small business. That's why we've come up with the top ten tips you should consider when choosing an accounting software package. These are sure to make your job simpler and less time consuming, so you can get on with running your business. 

When looking at software options make sure your accounting package can help you:

1. Keep your GST records in order: Most small businesses are required to report on GST via submitting a Business Activity Statement every month or quarter. This at times can be an exhausting job. Your accounting software package should be able to help you keep adequate records to ensure you fulfil this requirement painlessly and efficiently. 

2. Create and send out invoices: Making sure you are invoicing customers correctly should be a top priority. An accounting software package should be able to help you chose, customise and implement the right invoice template for your business. It should also calculate, print, email, and record invoices and credit notes to your satisfaction, keeping all invoice management centralised.

3. Record payroll for employees and vendors: The task of paying employees and vendors can be gruelling and at times lengthy but it is a must for every small business to stay on top of. Your accounting software should help you set up an efficient payroll, pay, edit, print, and email payslips. The right software should make things easier for you, not harder!

4. Track the current status of your business: Tracking the status of your business is especially important in today's continuously changing and growing market. Weekly sales, expenses, money owed, what you are getting in and out are all relevant aspects of a business that a good accounting software package will be able to help you monitor closely. 

5. Track Your Inventory: Inventory is a vital component of your business, and ensuring you're up to date with stocks and purchases is imperative. Your accounting software should help you keep track of your stock levels, products and sales through a manageable and adjustable list that monitors this in real time for you. 
6. Manage Time Sheets and Billing: Calculating time sheets and time billing is not always fun, however, it is a central component of running your own small business. A good accounting software package will be able to help you bill customers for time spent via a timesheet feature that will calculate multiple rates and costs, and auto create invoices from the timesheet. 

7. Integrate your Online Systems: Ensuring all your financial records are combined make calculating costs and expenses more manageable. A good software package should be able to integrate your accounting records with other accounts such as PayPal. This allows for auto-payments, purchases and invoices to be managed centrally. 

8. Provide Detailed Financial Reports: Preparing financial reports should be easy but more than often it becomes a hard task. Your accounting software should be able to produce multiple reports and charts, be able to customise reports to suit the small business owner and be able to schedule weekly reports to be sent to specific emails, saving you time and effort. 

9. Manage Finances: Accounting for what you do with your money and where it goes is something all business owners should monitor and keep records for. A good software package will help you do this by tracking the spending, transferring and depositing of money. It should also have tools that connect to the company register as well as online records. 

10. Customer Management: We all know that satisfying your customers is the single most important thing in a business. Without customers, what business you have? Your accounting software package should include tools and features that help you track and monitor customer relations and touch points as well as create charts suited for each individual. This will ensure that you know each of your clients needs and wants on an individual level and you are able to sufficiently identify how you have managed each client. 

These are just a few tips that should be taken into consideration when choosing the right accounting software package for your small business. After all, every business is different and should have the right software catered to their individual needs, so don't settle for less!