Ch. 1, Ep. 4: Money goes in

[Cash register sound] Ah…nothing’s sweeter than getting paid for all your hard work. And aside from the thrill of seeing the number in your bank account go up, keeping an eye on all the money that goes into your business can help you plan for the future.  

This is From Dollar One by Interac and this tip is all about the “ins” of the “ins and outs” of money.  

The money flowing into your business includes all the money you earn from sales and services you provide, along with any other incoming sources like loans or grants. 

There are three things you want to keep an eye on with your incoming money:  

• One is your total sales. This is the total amount of sales your business generates from the products and services you sell. It’s essentially the money you’ll be using down the line to help make a profit, tally up your income, and pay your expenses with.  

• Then, there’s your total revenue, which is the total money you make in the period of time before your expenses are deducted.  

• And finally, then there’s your gross profit, which is your total revenue minus the cost directly tied to making and delivering your product

But why is knowing those things so important? Well, you need to know your cash inflow, for instance, to calculate accounts payables (the money you owe others) and accounts receivables (the money others owe you). And perhaps most importantly, you need to know what money you make to calculate your taxes. We have a handy tax prep checklist you can refer to in the link in the description.  

Now, when it comes to actually getting paid and flowing that money into your business, the payment methods you accept can be a make-or-break moment for sales.  

And, with fewer people carrying cash these days, counting on cash as your sole payment method may result in a lost sale. Today’s consumers expect to pay with a card or their mobile wallet. In fact, an Interac survey of 1,000 Canadian adults found that 72 per cent of Canadians want the option to use their debit card when checking out online, making a purchase in-app, or paying in-store or curbside. 

That’s a strong case for offering and accepting contactless and digital payments like Interac Debit and Interac e-Transfer. 

These payment methods may also be more affordable for your business. For example, Interac Debit charges per transaction are comparatively lower for merchants than alternate payment methods, like credit cards, which typically have an average cost of 1.4 per cent of the total transaction value. So let’s say you sell a $500 item, it might cost you an average of $7 – but if you sell that over debit, it costs you 10 cents. So that gives you some idea of the magnitude of difference. 

When it comes Interac e-Transfer, a separate poll conducted by Interac showed that 52 per cent of Canadians said that they were just as comfortable paying a small business by Interac e-Transfer as they would be using other payment methods. In fact, in April 2022, Interac e-Transfer use surpassed more than one billion transactions over a 12-month period and almost half of Interac e-Transfer users leveraged the service to pay a small business.

If you want to learn more about how to setup and start accepting Interac Debit and Interac e-Transfer payments visit our How-To hub on Interac.ca/howto, to get started. 

[OUTRO] 

Thanks for listening! If you’d like to learn more or sign up for our newsletter, visit Interac.ca/dollarone. 

Okay, now that we’ve learned about the ins of your money, what about the outs? Stay tuned to find out.