How to Find Small Business Budgeting Software
Packages That Simplify and Facilitate Budget Planning Process
Sep 25, 2009
Business budgeting is a basic but essential process that allows businesses to attain many goals and keep track of expenses. How can business budgeting software help and is it really necessary for a small business?
Why Purchase Budgeting and Planning Software?
Budgeting with software gives a business owner control over the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of the budgeting process. It allocates the financial resources of the company according to a preset plan and forecasts cash flow. It allows the business owner/s to track customer data and activity.
Although a lot of business software is broad based and covers all aspects of the small business, some have become directed at specific elements. For example, forecasting software has been developed that can evaluate trends and predict upcoming investment opportunities. Another more specific software is budgeting software. This type of software helps to design and expand on an operating budget and then measures performance in maintenance of the budget.
If the business sticks to the budget without deviation, there is less of a chance of the enterprise failing altogether. Budgeting software that can assist in this becomes a great aid to the small business owner.
What Small Business Budgeting Software is Available?
There are many free budgeting software tools available and other not-so-free options such as:
Exl-Plan free: An Excel-based business financial planner for "first-cut" or high-level projections. Based on the business owner's assumptions, Exl-Plan generates fully-integrated annual projections (income statements, cashflows, balances sheets etc).
Microsoft Forecaster: Microsoft Forecaster works well with a variety of general ledgers and coordinates with other Microsoft small business software to automate and simplify the entire budgeting process. It is very similar in its appearance to other Microsoft programs which makes it very easy for the small business owner and key people to quickly grasp its operation and to benefit from its features.
Budget Maestro by Centage: This has a very sophisticated logic built into the program and continually tracks the income statement, balance sheet, and cash position. It allows manager to see the bottom line impact of plans and combines forecasting software and budgeting software into one easy package.
Applix Budgeting TM1 Program. This business budgeting software has been designed to work well with Excel spreadsheets. It takes the spreadsheet past the limitations of Excel and is also very much a forecasting software with its “what if” modeling features.
There are many other good budgeting software programs available besides the ones outlined above.
Finding Budgeting and Planning Software
Look for reviews and visit forums – this will help the business owner to find the best software and free budgeting software. Some reviews will add screen shots of the software and what computer specifications are required.
Some free downloads require business owners to have a certain type of program to be able to download or require a large chunk of computer memory, which can slow down the computer's processing.
Look at forums or consult with others to find the right software – often word of mouth is a better way of finding the right business budgeting software, since friends can confirm its advantages and practicality.
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Sources:
1. bookfresh.com, Article "How can a Small Business Profit from Budgeting Software", information retrieved on 25 September, 2009.
2. ezine.com, Article "Budgeting and Forecasting Tips for Small Business" by Natalie Aranda, information retrieved on 25 September, 2009.
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