Payroll Systems: What to ask before choosing a payroll system and why is it important.
There has been a lot of talk swirling around about the Payroll Protection Program. This is a program that is constantly changing. If you own a business, then you most likely have employees that need paid. Whether you used this program or not there is one key element at the top of everyone’s mind right now and that is payroll. Making sure you have a proper payroll system in place is important to your business structure.
Whether or not you took advantage of the Payroll Protection Program, it is important to have your payroll in an easily accessible and trackable system. There are many options when deciding on a payroll system, so before you start researching think about what you are looking for.
- Do you need assistance with payroll taxes?
- How soon do you need to be able to pay your employees?
- What is the turnaround time between processing payroll and employees receiving payment?
- Does it connect to your current accounting software?
- How many employees will you be putting in the system?
- Do they offer any other services that could be helpful to your overall business?
- Does it seem user friendly?
- How difficult is it to edit or add employee information?
All of these questions are helpful to answer before you start looking at options, so you don’t get overwhelmed. Also, by knowing how many employees will be on your system, you can easily calculate the cost as you search.
Having a proper payroll system in place allows easy tracking and reporting for all your employee payments throughout the years. You don’t have to worry or stress about who got paid when, where and how much. Using a system like QuickBooks Online Payroll, ADP, PayChex or similar system allows you to pull previous payment information for all your employees. No more worrying about where that excel sheet is or copies of those checks. Another benefit is that a lot of payroll systems can take care of any payroll taxes that need to be taken out. Not a payroll tax expert? You don’t need to be, if you pick the correct system.
We know that payroll can be overwhelming at times. This is only a brief discussion of the topic. We discussed payroll systems in our “Let’s Be FRANK” series. Check it out if you want to hear more on this topic from Jennifer. Click here to visit our YouTube Channel and learn more!