Five Ways to Manage Your Small Business’ Payroll More Effectively

It can be time-consuming and expensive to manage your business’ payroll in-house. Many small businesses can do without the expense of retaining staff to stay abreast of ever-changing payroll legislation. Outsourcing payroll to a dedicated service can help small companies save money and redirect funds towards growth and development areas. Here is a guide to choosing the best service for your firm.

Match The Benefits To Your Needs

The three types of payroll services are dedicated providers, banks, and accountancy payroll services. All three types offer the same main benefits of being cost-effective, accurate, quick, and time-effective as they keep up to date with ever-changing rules, regulations, and legislation. Each of these three types of payroll services offers unique benefits however so you will need to closely match the needs of your company to the provider you choose.

Dedicated Providers

Dedicated payroll providers can themselves be split into three distinct groups. You have those that offer in-house payroll software, those that offer a completely outsourced payroll service, and those that offer a cloud-based payroll service. How do you choose between them? It depends on the size of your business as well as your preferences.

In-House Payroll Software

If you have to budget to pay to train your staff to use in-house payroll software, this is the cheapest solution for most small businesses who want to keep up to date with legislation changes.

Outsourced Payroll Software

While some providers only do fully outsourced payroll services, some small firms want the benefits of outsourcing payroll without the costs so choose a hybrid blend in-house and outsourced. By retaining some control they reduce costs, and some dedicated providers such as Ceridian can offer firms this flexibility.

Cloud-Based Payroll Solutions

Some providers offer a cloud-based payroll system. This suits small firms who can’t afford to fully outsource, but also can’t afford to hire qualified staff or pay for expensive in-house payroll software.

Bank Managed Payroll Services

The second choice of outsourced payroll providers is banks. These offer great value to companies of all sizes, even small businesses. Most charge a flat rate depending on how many companies you have. Banks off the widest range of standard services including electronic payslips but you will need to shop around to find the best rates on bespoke reporting and year-end processing depending on your needs.

Accountancy Payroll Services

Accountancy firms offer the most flexibility and provide custom solutions to meet the payroll needs of small firms. They have Certified Public Accountants on hand to ensure that firms are always guaranteed to be in compliance with all legal requirements. Accountancy-based payroll solutions cannot be pigeonholed; they will create unique systems for each firm they work with and create the optimum blend of in-house software, outsourcing, and cloud-based automation. This helps small firms focus on improving staff relations, focusing on clients, and achieving business goals. Once an accountancy-based system is up and running, payroll is fully automated, federal and state calculations are pre-programmed to suit your preferences, and multiple locations, pay types and payroll schedules can be accommodated.

Conclusion

If you are finding your business’ payroll services time-consuming and expensive to run and manage, hopefully, the five options outlined above have given you some options. Outsourcing payroll tasks is one of the best ways for any small business to lower its costs and redirect funds towards growth and development areas.

The Atlanta Small Business Network, from start-up to success, we are your go-to resource for small business news, information, resources.