Payroll Software

Choosing payroll software can be quite a daunting task if you are not already conversant with the payroll process. That is one of the main problems that business owners find with payroll, it is all so complicated and time consuming.

One easy way of choosing payroll software is to let someone else do the task for you, unless you really have a need to understand the complexities of tax, national insurance, statutory sick, maternity and paternity pay, then it really is a good idea to wash your hands of the subject completely, outsource your payroll function and let the choice of payroll software be left to those who understand the issues in more detail, the payroll services companies.

However, there is of course the hardcore few who feel the need to understand every aspect of their company, unfortunately these are the people who tend to wear so many hats that they end up not wearing any that fit.

If you are a business owner and really feel the need to understand payroll up to a point whereby you are competent to choose the actual software that you are going to operate then this article, may assist you.

However, it is written from the perspective that a process that is critical to your business, but is not the main product of your business, then it is best left to people who know what they are doing and spend your time on more useful things like growing your business.

However, there are those who will not accept advice, for those of you who follow this path, here are the things to look for.

Popularity, just because a particular piece of software is popular and is advertised everywhere you look do not instantly think that it is the best, very rarely do market leaders have the best product, they may have the best marketing, or the best sales team, but rarely do they have the best product. This is most certainly true in the payroll software market in the United Kingdom.

Before the solicitors get involved, the views in this article are entirely my own based on my 20 years plus experience of payroll services and payroll software in the UK.

When choosing payroll software for your business the overriding consideration should be ease of use. This is not ease of use for your accountant or your book keeper that has only ever worked on one software product, it is ease of use for you the business owner and the member of staff within your business that you select to use the software and take overall responsibility for the payroll.

Remember that there is more to payroll software than just producing a payslip, it needs to provide you with the reports that are necessary to pay your staff, it should provide reports for your accountant to use and it should keep up to date records of your staff details. Payroll stops for no man (nor woman) as such, whoever has responsibility for the payroll software should have a fully trained understudy who can step in at a moment’s notice to cover illness, holiday or departure.

Once again we get back to the same issue, even if your software is easy to use, produces the required reports, keeps the details of your staff up to date, processes the payroll accurately, etc,etc. Is this what you are in business for? If you are a payroll services company then probably yes, if you are anything other than a payroll services company then most definitely no.

Forget about choosing payroll software, put your efforts into finding a competent payroll services company that offers all the benefits that you have identified and takes full responsibility for the entire payroll process, choosing payroll software is then not a problem for you at all as it is someone else’s problem.

A problem given away is a problem solved.

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Paperless payroll services

The paperless office has been a cliché now for many years, however, when is an office really paperless, then answer is never. Paper arrives in the post every day, unless you are one of the very few businesses that scan and electronically file everything that arrives then the post simply adds to the large and ever increasing paper mountain.

The paperless office then maybe just an urban myth or something flowery in a mission statement to aspire too. There are however areas that can be paperless, these are processes within the office, this article discusses one of these processes that have many participants working to make it a totally paperless process, this is the area of payroll services.

Traditionally payroll services consisted of timesheets being completed by staff, manual calculations of taxes and net pay, leading to a payslip in an envelope, most likely with the cash payment inside as well.

The first “paper” to disappear was the cash payment, today very few members of a workforce get paid in real hard cash. The vast majority are paid directly into their bank accounts.

Timesheets were the next to disappear; traditional cards to log on and off work have been replaced by electronic systems that use intelligent swipe cards to record employee attendance information. This data passes through to the payroll system which in turn calculates the pay due.

The most innovative ideas in the payroll service industry come from the outsourced payroll suppliers, who need to make their service more appealing to the business owner in order to retain or gain their custom.

Surveys show that the two most important aspects of an outsourced payroll service are the simplicity of the service and the time required from the business owner to administer the service.

Companies that provide managed payroll services need to innovate as they are always competing not only with each other but with do it yourself online payroll systems that claim to be a more cost effective solution to payroll. However the online payroll solution suffers from the same drawbacks as doing it yourself using an in house system, namely, that it is complex and requires a large time investment from the business owner.

Very rarely will an in house or self administered online system meet that holy grail of the paperless process. The last piece of the paper trail to disappear is the payslip. Payroll service providers used to offer pdf format payslips as an option, now it is the norm with an option to take paper payslips at an added cost.

The preformatted paper payslips are normally printed by the employer and distributed to their staff; however this is the choice of the employer. In the age where most people have an internet connection, the time cannot be far off when all the payslips will be distributed by email; and sent directly to the recipients. At present there are one or two technology issues together with more than a few legal issues regarding the direct distribution of payslips to employees. However, these are being worked on and around by the payroll services industry and it will not be long before the last piece of the paper chase is removed and payroll processing will be added to the ever increasing list of completely paper free processes.

Summary.

The holy grail of the paperless office has been sought for many years now, unfortunately it is as far away as ever, however, progress is being made by the development of paperless processes within businesses. Leading the way in this area is the payroll Services sector. This article discusses the paperless payroll process and how it evolved.

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Payroll Services Scunthorpe

Here at Indigo Payroll Services we love to keep our business payroll management software simple and easy to implement, notwithstanding the fact that we are dealing with cutting edge technology. For us it’s gratifying watching our clients go about their businesses nonchalantly while wehandle the intricacies of their payrolls.
Clients availing our Payroll Services in Scunthorpe, like many other others in towns and cities across the UK, are amazed how affordable and uncomplicated our services are. They are happy with the elimination of administrative delays and greater data accuracy.
To learn more about how Indigo manages its payrolls and satisfies its clients, have a look at the news section in our website.
Indigo guarantees competitive pricing that will not set your wallets on fire.To convince yourself check out the prices for Payroll Services Scunthorpe using the quote tool located in www.indigo-payrollservices.co.uk

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Payroll Services Salford

Here at Indigo Payroll Services we take great pride in placing the services of our dedicated payroll specialists and accomplished accountants at the disposal of our valued small and medium sized business clients all over the UK, in implementing the most efficient payroll processing system in the UK.
The Payroll Services in Salford, like in many other locations all over the UK, has been warmly welcomed by our clients and they love the fact that they can safely entrust their payroll work to us and go about attending more pressing business matters.
Indigo’s has grown remarkably over the years and its foray into the payroll market has been systematic and well planned, and we are rightly proud of our skilled team of dedicated accountants and payroll professionals.
Look into the news section in our website and benefit from the world views expounded by our learned directors.
Indigo offers the lowest and most reasonable rates in the industry. If you need to be convinced on this score, check out the prices for Payroll Services Salford using the quote tool located in www.indigo-payrollservices.co.uk

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