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How to Succeed in Business
How to Set Up a Corporate Bank Account
One of the things that you are going to need to do fairly early in the process of starting your company is open a corporate bank account. In the early days you can use your personal account if you want to but there are advantages of having a corporate account. The biggest advantage is that it will allow you to keep personal and business expenses separate so that record keeping is easier. Opening a corporate bank account is similar to opening a personal bank account but there are some differences that you need to be aware of.
The first thing that you are going to have to do in order to setup a corporate bank account is to determine what kind of account that you need. This will be based in large part in how your company is structured. A sole proprietorship will have different needs from a corporation. You are also going to need to look at how many transactions you make each month and how large the balances you maintain are likely to be. The fees for the bank account will be based largely on these factors. If you are going to make a lot of transactions you are probably going to want to get an account that allows unlimited transactions for a flat fee. On the other hand if you only make a small number of transactions you can save money by paying per transaction. A lot of accounts will waive or reduce the fees if you maintain a certain balance, if you plan to leave a lot of cash in your account you should definitely look into that.
The next step is to choose the bank that you are going to want to deal with when you setup your account. In most cases this is simply a matter of choosing a bank that you already do business with. If you already have a personal account with a bank and you are happy with their service you can probably just go ahead and set up a corporate account with them as well. One thing that you will want to keep in mind is that you are probably going to want to open an account with a bank that is near your business location. This is especially true if you a running a business that requires daily transactions
When it comes time to actually set up your account you are going to have to make sure that you bring the correct paperwork with you. This will vary from bank to bank and depending on the type of account that you are opening but will always include a taxpayer id number. You are also going to require a certified copy of the company's fictitious name certificate. This will allow you to open the account under your companies name rather than your own. You and anybody else who has the authority to use the account will have to put their signatures on file at the bank. Choose a business strategy to prevent a bankruptcy