I have been running my own bookkeeping business for the last 4 years and the first thing I did was set up a business bank account. It makes it so much easier to track business income & expenses if they all go via one account.
At the time I was banking with a credit union so I just approached them to set up another account in the name of my business. I also set up a second high interest account to transfer money into to provide for GST and Income Tax.
It is useful to have a cheque book, but I mainly use my visa debit card and internet banking. I haven't had the need to set up merchant facilities as most of my clients pay direct to my account via EFT rather than via credit card.
I don't pay any fees on this account unless I use another bank's ATM machine.
Recently I have developed a manual for Solo Business owners with ideas to simplify their administration and bookkeeping requirements. It is available on line at
http://www.BeYourOwnBookkeeper.com
Robyn Howard
author of
Be Your Own Bookkeeper