(StatePoint) It’s been a challenging year for small businesses, with local shutdowns requiring many operations to close their doors, some temporarily, all while weathering the ripple effects of a global economic downturn.

However, experts say that by getting back to basics and honing your small business toolkit, you can run a tighter ship, leaving your enterprise in a better position to survive these difficult times. Here are a few strategies to consider.

Automating Accounting

Upgrading your accounting software will help you avoid errors that are common with manual number crunching and leave you well-prepared should your business be randomly audited. Keeping your books in order and automating back-office tasks like this will save you substantial time and energy, which is especially important these days when your attention is better spent on the big-picture aspects of running your business. Just be sure to choose a trusted, vetted solution.

Ditching Paper Payroll

A 2019 survey by Intuit QuickBooks and Kelton Global found that small business owners spend on average 4.5 hours each pay period preparing, calculating, and filing payroll. By automating payroll, you can turn your attention to more pressing needs, such as finding new clients, exploring new digital offerings and maintaining your business.

Various tech tools can help you get a handle on what may be your largest expense – paying your workers. A payroll service with a one-day direct deposit feature can be especially valuable, as it allows you to hold onto company cash longer. Overall, automating payroll can give you confidence that employees are paid on time and accurately. 

Owning Tax Time

And while traditional payroll software can be helpful, it may not go far enough – Intuit QuickBooks, for example, has an expanded suite of QuickBooks Online Payroll offerings that enable small businesses to run payroll and file taxes automatically. This saves small business owners valuable time each payroll cycle by eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors. QuickBooks also offers Tax Penalty Protection that guarantees if a customer receives a federal, state, or local payroll tax penalty from an error made while using QuickBooks Online Payroll, QuickBooks will help resolve it with the government and pay up to $25,000 in fees and interest. To learn more, visit www.getqb.com/payrolltools.

“Across the board, small business owners today are facing exceptional circumstances, only now they have the option of using new game-changing tools,” says Laurent Sellier, vice president and business leader of QuickBooks Online Payroll. “By overcoming cash flow, payroll and tax challenges, companies can be in a better position to make it through these uncertain times.”

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