Home topics finance finance-cash-flow Advice Banking Cashflow Advice Choosing a bank? Consider this first Jeremy Cabral October 26, 2012 One of the biggest decisions any small business owner faces is choosing which institution will handle their business banking requirements. It’s important to ensure that personal and business banking is kept separate where possible, as this increases transparency in your business transactions and makes reporting easier at tax time. Here are eight important points you should consider when choosing your bank: 1. Transactional accounts There are multiple different transactional products available, so the key is to work out what you need for your business before you make your decision: You will need a transactional account for your business, as this is the account that you’ll use frequently to manage your cashflow . Before choosing a transactional account for your business, you will need to identify what facilities and options you want attached to your account. These will include; Internet banking ATM access EFTPOS access Branch access Cheque book Overdraft Payroll processing facilities Interest bearing Lockbox services. 2. Interest bearing vs low fees Many small business owners look for business accounts that earn interest on any money they leave sitting in there. Unfortunately, many interest-bearing accounts also charge higher than average account fees and they may also limit the number of transactions allowed in a given month. Your business’ primary transaction account shouldn’t limit how many transactions you’re able to make. Likewise, you’ll find that keeping your banking fees to a bare