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Choosing the Right Payroll Software: 8 Key Considerations for Small Business Owners

The responsibilities of owning a small business can be overwhelming. Along with managing your day-to-day operations, you must also deal with payroll, taxes, and compliance. Thanks to the payroll automation system, you no longer have to worry about payroll.

Given the many options available, how do you decide which option is best for your business? When choosing payroll software for your small business, consider eight key factors.

Payroll Software: What Is It?

Payroll software is a local or cloud-based service that keeps track of employee pay and benefits. Robust, integrated, and adequately configured payroll software can aid organisations of all sizes in adhering to tax and other financial regulations and lowering expenses. With payroll processing apps, businesses can save time and money while ensuring accuracy in their payroll operations. This software allows human resources teams to devote more time to strategic budgeting, planning, and other business-forward initiatives.

Types of payroll systems:

  • Software: Like an online payroll service, payroll software needs you to enter all the information. The software has automated features that save you more time than doing everything through an online service. However, you must update the software and double-check its results to ensure everything runs smoothly.
  • Online payroll: If you choose to handle your own payroll, numerous online services are available. This option will save you money but requires more time because you will input all the data and process the payroll yourself.
  • Bookkeepers: A bookkeeper is a person who maintains your financial records and accounts. This option is available to small enterprises with a few employees. Your bookkeeper can either be an employee of your business or one of their many clients.
  • In-house: If you have a big company with many workers, you might want to hire an accounting department to handle your payroll. Your accounting team will know everything there is to know about your business and its culture, so they’ll be ready to grow and change as your business does. They are also prepared immediately in case of an emergency or a change at the last minute.

Now it’s up to you which types of payroll you want to use in your company. Do you want in-house or software? Do you want to be a bookkeeper or do online payroll? If you ever want to have automated payroll software, you need to keep some considerations in mind.

Considerations for Small-Business Payroll Software

When evaluating payroll software, you should consider how the functions and customer service will change as your business grows and moves forward. Here are eight things you should consider when choosing your payroll software. When you have good software, it will have a significant impact on the present and future of your business.

1. High Level of Security

You should look for payroll software that does more than just automate payroll and taxes. It should also help keep your business and employee information safe and secure. When viewing highly sensitive employee data, keep an eye on the software’s security measures. Also, check to see if the system has safeguards to help you spot risks and strange behaviour in the account.

2. An Efficient Payroll Processing System and Accurate Tax Calculations

The most important thing is to have a payroll automation system that can figure out things like CPP and EI taxes, bonuses, holiday pay, overtime, etc. Find out more about the product and ask the right questions about possible vendors to help you meet your government filing and remittance obligations.

Can the salary system automatically change the tax rates and tax forms? Does it automatically send Records of Employment (ROE) to Service Canada and pay income taxes in your province? It’s also important to pick an option that makes it easy to send money to third parties, like benefits, RRSPs, etc. Look for a method that makes it easy for you to set up your income, deductions, taxes, and changes.

Since the compliance landscape seems to change daily, you’ll also need to find a system to help you track changes. It’s important to have payroll software that can adapt to changes in the law. Still, you should also look for a payroll service system that goes above and beyond to keep you up-to-date, like one that offers an info centre with information on different software updates.

3. Proven Expertise

You must ask the appropriate questions to ensure that you work with an experienced partner, not just a service provider. Ask various vendors for examples of how they have assisted other businesses with your particular challenges. In addition, it will be essential to determine their level of expertise in helping businesses with expansion. Check if their payroll software is designed to accommodate exponential growth or if you need help adding new employees and calculating payroll in different regions.

4. Capabilities for Payroll Reporting

The proper reporting capabilities will help you and your team make quicker, more intelligent business decisions. Payroll software with data analysis and reporting features will allow you to obtain valuable business insights without spending countless hours managing dashboards.

For instance, it can access payroll and year-end reports from the prior year and archived reports from prior years. Inquire with vendors if their systems include pre-built payroll, year-end reports, and advanced reporting capabilities.

5. Employee Self-Service

Employees desire the ability to access their information anywhere and in real-time. Consider a payroll partner with a mobile solution that enables employees to view and manage their pay, personal information, and other details.

A solution with self-service capabilities can also help you or your HR team reduce administrative work. In addition, you should search for mobile payroll processing capabilities to give administrators the tools they need to make changes on the go.

6. Flexibility

If you want your business to succeed, you need a solution and a partner that is as flexible as you do. If your company’s requirements change, how simple is it to implement new features? Inquire with potential providers about the system’s adaptability to frequent personnel roles, work locations, and compensation shifts.

7. Processes That Are Efficient in Implementation

It will be essential to receive guidance after signing on with a new payroll provider for a successful launch. Providers should tell you how long implementation will take and their implementation process. Can you get set up with the help of a dedicated person?

Additionally, some payroll providers offer resources such as pre-implementation checklists to assist your team in preparing for a seamless implementation.

8. Strong Customer Support

When using a system services payroll, it’s important to know that you don’t have to figure things out alone. A strong partner could help your in-house payroll team solve problems that keep workers from getting paid on time and correctly.

You should look for providers who can help you with everything. What kinds of help are available, and what kind of ongoing help will you get? Will you be put in touch with a team of reps who know what a CPA has trained your business needs? What are the different help communication options (phone, email, support inquiries, etc.)?

Customers can get assistance from payment services by phone or live chat. Consider how well you will likely be handled as a customer while deciding.

Final Thought

After all, managing the payroll for your company is one of the most crucial tasks you’ll be responsible for. It is vital to locate the software that is most suitable for your demands as well as the needs of your company. When you begin your search, you should have a solid understanding of what to look for, thanks to the considerations presented to you so far. You should now be ready to search for suitable payroll software for your company. Good luck!

Top Payroll Software Options In 2022 and Why Should You Choose Them

Payroll software is an on-premises or cloud-based solution that manages, maintains, and automates payments to employees. If you’re a business owner, you know that payroll is one of the most critical aspects of your company. You have to make sure that your employees are paid on time and in full and that you have also made all of the necessary tax payments.

This can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not using the best payroll software.

There are many different payroll software options on the market, and it can be hard to know which one is right for your business. This blog has compiled a list of the top payroll software options for 2022 and what makes each unique.

1. Gusto

Gusto is one of the most popular payroll software options on the market, and it is easy to see why. It’s incredibly user-friendly, offers a wide range of features, and can be customised to fit your specific business needs. Gusto also integrates with several other business applications.

Gusto includes up to 3 free pay runs for your account. There is a small fee per additional pay

run if you need more than that. You can set up automatic or manual payroll runs in Gusto. You can run it as often as possible if you have manual payroll. If you have automated payroll, you can choose to run it weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

2. Rippling

Rippling is a newer payroll software option that has quickly gained popularity due to its unique approach to payroll. Rather than being a standalone software, Rippling integrates with your existing HR system. This makes it much easier to use, as you don’t have to switch between multiple applications. Rippling also offers a wide range of features, including automatic payroll, direct deposit, and online pay stubs.

Rippling has a built-in unified personnel database that makes it quick and easy to add new hires, update employee information, and run payroll. This is particularly helpful if your business grows and data management needs to increase.

3. OnPay

Its features include automatic payroll, direct deposit, online pay stubs, and tax filing. OnPay also integrates with several accounting software options, making it user-friendly.

You’ll enjoy unlimited monthly pay runs, and there are a couple of key benefits from this. First, it ensures that you can always run payroll, even if you have a lot of employees. Most popular payroll software will have this feature. It’s crucial to ensure that your employees are always paid on time. Second, it allows you to run payroll more often if needed. This can be helpful if you have a lot of employees or if you need to make changes to your payroll system.

4. Paychex Flex

This comprehensive payroll and human resources solution helps businesses manage their payroll, benefits, and HR processes. It’s designed to help businesses of all sizes scale their operations, and it offers a wide range of features that is optimisable to suit your business needs.

One of the benefits of using Paychex Flex is that they offer automatic federal, state, and local tax filing for your business. This can save you a lot of time and hassle, as you don’t have to worry about filing your taxes manually. Paychex also offers several other features, including next-day direct deposit, online pay stubs, and time and attendance tracking.

5. Paycor

Small businesses often cannot afford an in-house HR department, and this is where payroll software comes in. Payroll software can help small businesses manage their payroll and HR processes, which can help to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Many payroll software options offer automatic tax filing and direct deposit, saving small businesses time and money.

Paycor can help businesses with several HR processes, including recruitment, onboarding, and performance management. Additionally, it offers a wide range of features that can be customisable to fit your specific needs.

6. ADP

One of the most important things to consider when choosing payroll software is whether or not it offers seamless add-ons and integrations. This is important because it can make your life much easier if you need to use multiple applications to manage your payroll. Additionally, it can save you time and money by reducing the need for data entry.

ADP is one of the leading payroll software providers, and it offers a wide range of features and integrations. ADP integrates with accounting software and HR software options, making it quick and easy to use.

There are several things to consider when choosing payroll software for your business. However, the most important thing is choosing software that offers the features and integrations you need. Additionally, it’s important to select software that is easy to use and will save you time and money.