Advivo Accountants and Advisors explain the benefits of adopting an automated payroll process.
Payroll is an essential function of any business. As an employer, it’s your job to make sure your employees are remunerated correctly. Whether it’s a cloud-based solution or manual process, you need a system in place for tracking hours worked and paying your employees correctly. There is a lot involved in making sure all aspects of the payroll are correct and your responsibilities can become overwhelming.
Using a manual process can be very time consuming for a growing small business. If you have several employees, you will have to manually track their hours and rates and be across federal and state tax law to ensure you are deducting the correct amount of tax for employee in each payrun.
That’s where payroll systems come into play. The rapidly moving technology in this space helps automate the entire payroll process. For big companies, their end of payroll is covered by Single Touch Payroll (STP), and now small businesses can access STP using systems such as Xero and MYOB to manage their day-to-day payroll management. There are penalties if payroll information is not kept current, so small business owners need to ensure what they are recording is correct at all times. Even using an automated system, small business owners still need to understand the payroll requirements and awards and ensure they are inputting all the correct information.
Benefits for using automated payroll systems
- All the necessary paperwork exists in one place and is easily accessible to all employees/managers
- Small business owners can manage payroll from anywhere
- Help small business owners to stay on top of their finances
- Help businesses stay nimble
- Manage and streamline the rules, regulations and services
- Will help businesses maintain employer compliance
- Ensure money is not wasted on fines and late fees.
Determining the best payroll system for your business
There are a number of important things to consider when choosing a payroll service, which start with assessing your business’s needs with aspects such as:
- What features do you need and which are nice to have?
- Do you need to integrate payroll software with time billing and attendance HR software?
- Which cost structure works best for your business?
- Does the payroll solution provide employees with self-service access?
- Do you need your payroll provider to report new hires to the government on your behalf?
It is important to understand the methodology of payroll systems, the costs associated and the best solution for your particular business. The aim is to have an intuitive and efficient payroll system in place to make processing your payroll easy.
If you have any questions or need any advice on how to manage your payroll or decide on the best system for your business, the experienced team at Advivo Business Advisors and Accountants are here to help. Please contact us today.
