Change is a constant in the business world. Whether it’s adapting to new trends or embracing technology, companies need to stay on their toes. One big change that often comes up is updating your business bank details. Maybe you’re merging with another company or just want better banking services. Either way, managing this change properly is crucial for financial stability in terms of making sure customers know where to pay you and smooth operations. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best process to handle changing your business bank details without any headaches.
Step 1: Plan and Talk
Before you dive into any changes, take a moment to plan things out and communicate with your team. Make a timeline and figure out who needs to be involved. This could be your finance team, IT department, vendors, or clients. Let everyone know what’s happening and provide clear instructions. Assign someone as the go-to contact for questions or concerns.
Step 2: Research and Choose
Do your homework to find the perfect bank for your business. Look into fees, services, and reputation. You want a bank that fits your financial needs and offers the services you require. Talk to different banks and get the lowdown on what they can offer. Also, make sure they have a user-friendly online banking system and robust security measures with a solid Xero bank feed integration!
Step 3: Set Up and Test
Once you’ve found the right bank, work closely with their team to set up your new business account. Get all the necessary paperwork and forms filled out in a timely manner. Work with your IT department to make sure everything integrates smoothly with your existing financial systems. Test everything to ensure payments, transfers, and reconciliations work like a charm before fully transitioning to the new account.
Step 4: Update Your Systems
To keep things running smoothly, update your internal systems with the new bank details. Update your Xero account on the invoice layout settings area, payroll systems, and anything else that needs your bank info. Make sure everyone who handles payments knows about the changes and has the updated account details. Provide training and support to help everyone adapt to the new system.
Step 5: THE BIG THING – Let the World Know
Don’t forget to inform external parties that need your bank details. Shoot an email to your clients, vendors, and creditors to let them know what’s happening. We like to send out mail merges with a signed PDF and have taken customer database details from Xero, CRM systems etc.
On the notification give them the heads-up on the effective date, new account information (adding the old also helps), and any special instructions for future transactions. Put the details of how they can contact you to answer any questions or concerns they might have. We also recommend updating the database for everyone that has been spoken/emailed so that you can send reminders to a reduced contact list.
You will find that lots of customers will want to have verbal confirmation over the phone or require you to update their supplier form; in this case allow for some extra admin burden in the first few weeks to supply customers with the reassurance the change to details are legitimate.
Step 6: Keep an Eye Out
Once the change is in place, keep a close watch on the new account. Regularly reconcile transactions and stay on top of recurring payments or automated transfers. Make sure everything is smoothly flowing into the new account. Also keep note of any payments into the old account and follow-up directly with the customer. If any issues pop up, reach out to the bank’s support team to get them resolved ASAP.
Changing your business bank details might seem like a hassle, but with a well-planned process, it can be a breeze. Research, communication, and monitoring are key to a successful transition. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you’ll be able to navigate the change smoothly and focus on what really matters—running your business with confidence.
At FC we help clients to manage the impact of changing bank details. We have helped one client contact 1500 of their customers through different methods: email, post, calls, online surveys – it took time but time the client knew they could not allot from daily operations and we managed it with regular reports of updates.
If you have any further questions regarding changing your business bank details, please feel free to get in contact with us at any time here.