Business bank accounts

Setting up a business bank account keeps your business finances separate from your personal finances making it easier to track income and costs for your accounts. Also, some banks won't allow use of personal accounts for business transactions.

When choosing an account, you should consider the monthly fees for having the account, fees for transactions, overdraft fees and rates, and the bank's interest rates. Comparison sites such as Moneyfacts Compare can help you evaluate the options for different types of business and levels of turnover.

Also consider whether the account provider is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which protects your money if they go bust and how important that is to you.

If you use accounting software, then it will be helpful if the bank account can link up with that.

Think about who should have access to the account, arrangements for security, how you will regularly monitor the account to identify any suspicious transactions, and how you will manage payments to prevent any fraud by employees.