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What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
I’m a partner of a corporate & financial consulting firm (LLP), plus I’m a director & CFO of two AIM listed companies. I work across about 10 companies in varying capacities and they all have business banking needs. We help setup a lot of new businesses also. -
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
(a) Generally having to deal with traditional banks - legacy process & procedures (paper forms to change mandate, company name, address etc)
(b) Setting up business bank accounts for newly formed companies.
© Insufficient control procedures via online banking - segregation of duties. -
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Varies by business but typically bank via HSBC and managing accounts via Xero. Larger businesses use NetSuite etc. -
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Don’t like much about HSBC. They are extremely painful to deal with. -
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Ability to have multiple users with varying access types (read only, input only, authorise only and full access) and also varying approval levels/limits per user.
- What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Digital Advisers Ltd
We are a new Limited Company (just starting). IT services for privates and companies. Web design, digital marketing etc.
Two persons with significant control over the company (which is not accepted by Starling Bank yet so we are struggling to find a proper bank account without monthly fee and we are not interested in “Prepay technologies ltd.” Where transfers take ages.
- What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Manually tagging all my transactions. I would like my bank to do everything for me automatically in QuickFile account software.
- What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
QuickFile
- What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Because I’m testing few of them, (Tide, Coconut) I like Coconut’s features of tagging transactions and estimated tax.
- If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Cheques deposited by taking a photo.
No monthly fees please. I’m not bother to pay a small fees on money transfers etc. But monthly fees are killing new businesses.
Ohhh and please… Give us prestigious dark grey & coral business card. 
1. What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
One of two directors (and the designer) of a limited company
2. What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
We’ve only just set up our company so Im yet to discover all the delights but so far keeping track of expenses for accounting and knowing almost nothing about the accounting/reporting side.
3. What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
A spreadsheet, eek! Not even a fancy one.
4. What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Don’t have one yet! I was hoping to set up both a personal and business account with Monzo but because the business accounts haven’t fully launched yet Im setting one up with Starling in the meantime and then I’ll switch if Monzo seems better. I wanted to have both in one place otherwise I would still have set up a personal account with Monzo.
5. If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
No fees and integration with or provision of any clever accounting tools that will save me having to work out what to do and spend more time manually exporting transactions.
Hello! Monzo Business Bank account user here:
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What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Contractor working under my own Limited Company -
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Knowing at any given time what my dividend allowance is based on projected earnings. -
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Emailing my accountant and a calculator.
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account? (Counting Up)
Like:
- I can request all my business info in one email for when I need it starting a new contract
- I can categorise sales/expenses with Business/accounting related tags that then appear in QuickBooks when I export the CSV
Dislike:
- It doesn’t connect to QuickBooks
- I have to manually change the formatting of the date in order for QuickBooks to accept it
- I can’t download a bank summary (as PDF / CSV) until the month is over
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Connect my business bank account with QuickBooks <— This is a must for me to continue using Monzo as my business bank account. (tied into it because thats what my accountant uses, and I don’t want to switch accountants)-
Charles
1. What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Currently one of two directors in a limited company but about to become a sole director again soon.
2. What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
- Keeping up to date with expenses, especially uploading scanned receipts to them, and then the associated bank reconciliation.
- Keeping up to date with the other director’s expenses because I’m the one responsible for making sure the finances are ok.
- Working out what parts of receipts are VATable or not (mainly supermarket receipts for lunch are not great, especially for the other director who isn’t as savvy about VAT as I am).
3. What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
- Crunch Accounting, with integrated statement upload from Metro Bank business account.
- Spreadsheet supplied by Crunch for business mileage.
4. What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Likes:
- It’s free for the stuff I need - sending and receiving bank transfers, debit card use, integration with Crunch accounting.
- Integration with Crunch
- Not that I really ever use the branches, but the fact they’re open 7 days a week is reassuring.
- I can pretty much do everything via the mobile app and it’s usually quicker because I only need to use Touch ID to sign in, whereas the desktop sign-in involves an ID, password, PIN and a memorable word.
Dislikes:
- Reliance on branch - it doesn’t happen often but when I’ve had to replace a card or they’ve locked my account (without telling me!), I have to go into a branch and it takes longer than I’d like to get things sorted.
- Delay in transactions appearing in account. Typically 2-3 days from a debit to it showing up in the transactions list.
- Lack of Apple Pay. Used to be there but they turned it off for some reason.
- Forex fees for non-Euro transactions.
5. If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
I’d like to be able to replace the bank account + accounting service with just one integrated service. (I looked at CountingUp but I don’t qualify.) One benefit: most of my expenses are incurred using my debit card so I’d like for the bank to have some sort of intelligence that realises that if I, say, use contactless for travel within London, it should add an expense for that, instead of me having to do it manually.
For me and my businesses there are two things I would like to see.
Facility to use my account for online transactions from our commerce stores, with direct merchant billing straight to the account.
Also to be able to link to wave invoicing for receiving payments by invoice.
Basically I would like to do away with using several payment processing providers, accounts and have an all in one service.
For me Monzo already does everything else pretty darn good.
Bit late to the game here but nevermind! I’m struggling to find something to meet my needs-we’re not really a business. I run a sports club (the playing section, not any profit making section). Our over-arching club is a registered charity. We do have a good turnover but nearly all of that money is re-invested quite quickly. I need an account that both myself and the treasurer can access. Neither a personal nor joint account is appropriate. The most appropriate account would be a business account but we seem to have a major stumbling block in that we’re not actually a business-we’re a charity if anything but with people that need joint access 🤷 I’m sure if we went to a high street bank they would be able to open is some sort of account but the features of Monzo are so much better ie instant notifications, which suit our needs better.
One of the biggest issues I face personally is allowing customers to open a business account under 18, you can incorporate a company at the age of 16, yet most high street banks don’t let you open an account until your 18.
I’ve just signed it to Starling Business (sorry!) and they let anyone aged 16+ to open a business account, Monzo 100% need this, without question.
Thanks 
1. What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
I’m a Professional Photographer, working as a sole trader.
2. What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Keeping track of expenses and taxes is a pain unless I pour more money and time into other third party apps - I dont have the spare income (or time) to invest so it gets neglected.
3. What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Web based CRM, accounting via Spreadsheets.
4. What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
It’s reporting is terrible, app is flakey and charges unclear. Money moves relatively quickly however.
5. If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA? Low / No fees - Savings (somewhere helpful to put tax contributions, perhaps a low rate ISA).
- What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Photographer. Sole trader.
- What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Keeping my tax to one side when im paid so I know how much I have left, annoyance of needing to log in with a security device to setup a new recipient if I need to pay someone.
- What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Very little. I invoice with zoho invoice which is a cheaper copy of freshbooks.
- What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
It’s hsbc.
It’s all a mish mash. If I want to pay someone something I have to click “pal a bill” even if it’s not a bill.
Not being able to make notes against statement entries at the time that I could download at the end of the year for my accountant. I forget what they are sometimes!
Being reminded I have a statement entry I’ve not put a note by and which isn’t recognised.
- If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Being able to automatically or semi automatically (somehow) put a % or my income aside into a tax pot. The question is … how could you know it’s income rather than anything else? Hence why I say semi automatic. That might work better for most businesses. Although for me it could be automatic that anything over £300 is income.
What do you do?
Sole trader Music Teacher/ Producer
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances?
1.Providing accessable and seamless ways for customers to pay whilst also integrating that with my bookkeeping system efficiently.
2.Reconciling transactions to my chart of accounts.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
A Monzo account for banking. Then I use a Google form with add ons to create quick beautiful invoices that also feeds into a Google sheet that has multiple workbooks that track invoicing, Monzo transaction CSV uploads and then categorises into chart accounts and monthly analytics/projections. I used to use Freeagent but realised this is actually quicker with Google form + Google sheet combo when coupled with a speedy Monzo account.
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Monzo current account is fantastic but has one giant draw back: no customisable spending categories. My wife and I were going to go main joint but this held us back. But I put chart of account codes in the notes and this gets indexed by my spreadsheet when I upload the CSV so I am still very happy with my system for business.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
If Monzo current account could do custom categories and have sliders/type in option for setting budgets instead of the pressing add or minus buttons (takes forever to do big changes and also goes up in weird 5’s!) then it would be incredibly strong and would be head and shoulders above Starling. My wife and I have tailored a spreadsheet for ours but if this could do those two things, we would finally move everything over.
In a BCA these features would be dope:
Invoicing/Recurring invoicing in-app to in-app customer base with end user payment option right there (But MUST incl. payment option for people outside of Monzo too) would be so strong. Like next level strong. It would be most useful if a record of sent invoices was somewhere and even better if it was CSV’able.
A form of customisable categories is a must. And then a way of reconciling with a chart of accounts for people that don’t use accountants would also be so strong.
Payroll options in-app would also be strong.
if features like this get added, a web page/tablet app would be fantastic for seeing more information on a bigger screen.
I think the first one alone would make it a winner for me. It would cut my admin time in half and I could probably stay in the one app most of the time. If it could lift data from a work calendar for billable hours onto an invoice that would also be amazing. I still haven’t seen that on a bookkeeping platform yet. Advanced stuff though!!
Hello Jordan,
I also would like to see real time banking that works with my online software - Sage one. This helps with reconciling my accounts.
I agree that the big quarterly payments for VAT need to be accepted and that the business has a completely separate app/website from the “usual” app.
John
Hi, probably a bit late to the game here, but we’re a limited company on an active look out for a new bank account for the company.
The current pain points are several, in that we’re currently having to bank with two business banking accounts with two instituions in order to try and make things easier. Pain points and features which we require are as follow:
- BACS Bureau support (one bank has this, the other doesn’t), so our payroll company can pay the staff.
- Not being charged for every single transaction!!!
- Ability to have a dollar account (or other currency). Some banks offer this, however, if you’re dealing with the US it can really hurt if you currency get changed at every transaction, so a dollar holding account is a requirement.
- Integration with Xero. Whilst I’m sure there’s an ability to implement something similar, it’s used not only by the company but also by external accountants, so is very entrenched, with lots of friction to move off. Not impossible, but I think it would need to be required day 1, and then entice off day 2.
- Finally, something which we don’t have which would be nice is Virtual Credit Cards or similar, for staff who need expenses when travelling. We don’t utilise this at the moment, but definitely something we’d be interested in.
Anyway, hopefully of some use!
What would you suggest instead?
Hi there!
I’d like to have the option of managing expenses within the account. I’d like to be able to upload receipts taking a pic or uploading a pdf.
Having a budget calculator would also be helpful.
I run a clinic and my invoicing is covered by a software that also does inline booking, patient notes etc so I don’t really need that.
Thank you!
To capture receipts in the transaction timeline, believe it or not but sometimes I actually pay for services or buy things with cash, I’d like to be able to capture this info in the app by taking a pic of the reciept and have it fall into the timeline where it belongs and thereafter for all receipts have a receipt gallery to view all photographed receipts… Please.
As it happens, I’d also like this feature for my personal account as well.
- What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
I am a self-employed beekeeper and expert at removing bee colonies from buildings, a self-employed web designer and software developer, a partner in an LLP which presses and pasteurises apple juice for clients big and small and my wife and I run an artisan bakery from home which is about to take on a premises and become a limited company.
- What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Cash is a headache, many people pay us in cash, I’d love a “cash pot” with a regular prompt to count it, pay it in etc and help linking cash to invoices from the app so my accounts are easier. I hate book keeping, so anything that makes this easier would be amazing.
- What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
GNUCash and izettle. Any integrations with these would be great or just data in a common format that I can interchange.
- What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
I like nothing about my Lloyds business account. It costs me money to have money in the bank, to pay money into the bank. It is very time consuming to create a business account and if we have problems with online banking it takes forever to issue new passwords by post. It’s totally weak. We are not treated with any care or respect, but as if we should feel lucky to be charged for lending money to the bank. Our juice business is small at the moment and our Lloyds account feels like it is more appropriate for massive businesses
- If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Something in the App to help manage cash and log cash transactions for bookkeeping purposes would be amazing. Auto categorising types of spending on the account could make books a doddle.
Dear Jordan,
Good morning. Here is my answer to your questions.
I hope this helps your development.
Thank you.
Regards,
Emuobosa
How long do we have to wait … I signed up at the beginning and have been pestering Monzo to be asked to get an invitation to open a business account but it has talked on DEAF EARS… maybe they only ask people who have bought shares in the crowdfunding etc… hardly fair !!!
No, only 100 people have been invited to the test so far. Definitely not investors only. There’s no point nagging their chat system as they can’t bump you up the list sadly, we’ve just got to the patient.
I’m also super eager to get on it, fingers crossed it won’t be too much longer 