Managing Money During the Holi ...

News by SB Informer

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Managing Money During the Holidays Creates Challenges for Small Business Owners, too

SB Informer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 01:51 AM

The holiday season is a busy time for small business owners as they juggle multiple demands while bringing closure to the fiscal calendar year. A recent study sponsored by Bank of America and conducted by Braun Research, Inc. identified the top three concerns small business owners grapple with at year-end. Bank of America provides product and services specifically designed to help address each of these three issues as part of its Business 24/7 offering.

The Bank of America-sponsored study also indicates that computer software and online services, such as Business 24/7, are the most popular tools for small business owners who are trying to organize and manage these time consuming tasks.

"Small businesses are constantly seeking new ways to save time, get more organized and better manage finances. To assist with everyday tasks and year- end demands, Bank of America provides small business owners online tools that are convenient and easy to use," said Mark Hogan, president of Small Business Banking for Bank of America.

Nearly one-third of small business owners surveyed find payroll to be one of the more challenging administrative tasks throughout the year. Most small businesses manage payroll in-house with a dedicated employee either doing it by hand (30%) or using payroll software (21%).

"When running a successful business, small business owners are faced with a multitude of administrative obligations, above and beyond their core business interests. With the holiday season here, these obligations become a burden when added to tasks that must be completed to successfully close the year," said Steve Strauss, columnist and author of The Small Business Bible.

"Payroll is one task that could be easily managed with the use of convenient banking services designed to meet small business needs."

Bank of America delivers a solution to tackle the top three woes with their Easy Online Payroll(TM) service. Easy Online Payroll is a convenient online service that enables small business owners to maintain organization through the entire year by handling all the end-to-end payroll needs. This innovative tool provides the following features:

- Creation of paychecks for a wide variety of different pay types (e.g.
    regular, hourly, salary, overtime, vacation or sick days pay, etc.)
- Development of W-2 statements with electronic filing;
- Guaranteed-accurate federal, state, local and voluntary withholding
    calculations;
- Ability to pay and file all federal and eligible state payroll taxes
    electronically;
- E-mail reminders and insightful payroll reports;
- Easy integration with leading accounting and bookkeeping software;
- Ability to run payroll from anywhere and at any time; and
- Free and unlimited support from payroll experts.

The Easy Online Payroll product is free for small businesses that pay all of their employees by direct deposit to a Bank of America account. For more information about Bank of America's small business solutions, please visit http://www.bankofamerica.com/business24-7.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 55 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,700 retail banking offices, nearly 17,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 20 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 80 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC.

Braun Research

Braun Research, Inc. is a privately-held marketing and public opinion research firm whose goal is to uphold the highest standards of data collection. Headquartered in Princeton, N.J., Braun Research engages in data collection via telephone and online for various marketing and advertising agencies, survey research firms, government agencies, foundations, universities and academic entities, as well as religions organizations. Since the company's founding in 1995, it has conducted more than 4,600 research projects worldwide. Braun Research is a well respected firm employing techniques and Standards approved by various survey research academic organizations and other affiliations including those with whom Braun is active member, including AAPOR (The American Association for Public Opinion Research) and CMOR (Council on Marketing and Opinion Research) and CASRO (Council on American Survey Research Organizations).