Ready to eliminate those painful monthly payroll processes once and for all?
Managing payroll for multiple companies is a massive headache. Literally every month.
But here’s the crazy part…
Most of the things that you have to do every month could be automated.
Let’s dive into why that is…
Manual payroll is a disaster. It costs you money, leads to mistakes and opens your business up to audits and penalties. According to the IRS, ⅓ of employers make errors when filing payroll.
But don’t worry…
If you take the time to automate the right pieces of your payroll operation, you can spend less time on payroll and stop payroll mistakes from happening. It’ll also allow you to focus on growing your business.
Ready to learn how?
Table of Contents
- Payroll Automation is Essential For Scaling Businesses
- Hidden Expenses of Manual Payroll
- Payroll Tasks To Automate
- How To Pick A Payroll Automation Software
Payroll Automation is Essential For Scaling Businesses
Imagine this…
You’ve finally nailed down your company’s accounting process. Everything is documented, your team knows what to do and you feel confident about your monthly financial reporting.
Then you decide to incorporate a new entity.
Suddenly you’re managing payroll for two separate companies. Double the work, double the complexity.
New tax rates. New pay schedules. New IRS compliance guidelines.
…
Running payroll manually for more than one company is nearly impossible without hiring a full time accountant.
Thankfully automation is here to save the day.
With professional accountant payroll software you can manage payroll tasks for as many entities as you need. Software will take care of time consuming calculations and stop mistakes from happening. Freeing up you and your team to focus on more valuable tasks.
Here are just a few examples…
- Automatic tax calculations
- Direct deposit
- W-2 generation
- Compliance checks
Pretty sweet huh?
Hidden Expenses of Manual Payroll
You might be thinking, “payroll processing can’t take THAT much time, can it?”
Well…
The average small business spends over 6 hours per month on payroll related tasks.
But if you’re like most professional services firms who have to run payroll for themselves and maybe an LLC or two… those numbers get exponentially higher.
But it’s not just time that you lose.
When you do payroll manually, you’re likely to make mistakes. A lot of mistakes.
Per the IRS, 40% of small and mid-size businesses are penalized yearly due to incorrect payroll filings. That’s an average penalty of $845 per incident.
Yikes.
But here’s the other thing most people forget about…
Did you know that 50% of employees will begin looking for a new job if their payroll information is wrong twice?
If you can’t trust your payroll to be accurate, how can you trust your employees will stay loyal to your business?
Payroll Tasks To Automate
Not sure where to start?
These are the core payroll tasks that you should be automating. Every growing business needs to automate these basic functions to cut back on time and avoid costly mistakes.
Tax Calculations & Filings
One of the most complicated aspects to managing payroll for multiple entities is taxes.
Figuring out correct tax percentages, filing them on time and ensuring accuracy is daunting. Especially if you’re new to running payroll.
Tax Automation will:
- Update tax rates as changes are made to local, state and federal laws
- File your returns on time, every time
- Calculate correct withholdings for all of your companies
- Eliminate chances of being penalized
This should be the #1 priority when you’re looking to automate your payroll.
Tax issues are the number one reason why small businesses are audited by the IRS. Get this part wrong and you could be in for some serious penalties.
Employee Pay & Direct Deposit
Are you still writing checks for payroll?
Stop.
Processing paychecks manually is a nightmare. If you haven’t already started using direct deposit, there’s no time like the present.
Automated pay programs make sure that every employee is paid the correct amount on time. No exceptions.
This is especially helpful when every company you run has a different payroll schedule.
Time Tracking & Attendance
Here’s a little known payroll processing fact.
When time tracking isn’t connected to payroll, silly mistakes are introduced to your process.
If your employees fill out a timesheet that you manually enter into your payroll system, there’s a chance for error.
- Wrong overtime payments being calculated
- Hours being added when they shouldn’t
- Incorrect payroll amounts
Stop guessing and connect your time tracking system to your payroll software.
Just like that zero manual data entry is required. Eliminating the chances for mistakes to occur.
Compliance & Reporting
If you manage payroll for more than one entity, IRS compliance will feel like a full time job.
Every state has different rules, forms and regulations. Keeping up with it all is difficult, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Payroll automation software can help with:
- Tracking when tax rates and compliance guidelines change.
- Automatic generation of any reports you may need.
- Flags potential compliance issues before they happen.
- Organize payroll records for easy audit retrieval.
Automating your compliance tasks can save your business thousands in penalties. Not to mention hours of research and cross referencing.
Employee Self Service
Do you get a ton of requests from employees about their pay information?
Setting up an employee self service portal is a great way to free up some time.
These portals allow your employees to view their paystubs, tax forms and personal information on their own. If they need to make a change to an address or tax withholding, they can do that too.
No more manual updates by you or your team.
How To Pick A Payroll Automation Software
When it comes to choosing payroll software, there are some key features you’ll want to look for. Not all payroll software will cut it when your business begins scaling.
Below is a checklist of features that you should look for when picking payroll automation software.
Features payroll software should have
- Tracking payroll for multiple companies
- Automatic tax calculations
- Time Tracking Integration
- Automatic accounting integration
- Automated compliance updates
- Employee Self Service
You don’t have to pick the cheapest option. The right payroll software will pay for itself with the time it saves you.
What can you do with the hours you currently spend on payroll?
Find out what your biggest pain points in your payroll process are. That should highlight the features you need and help narrow down your software choices.
Wrapping Things Up
Scaling your business means taking on new challenges… painful monthly payroll isn’t one of them.
If you keep payroll tasks automated you’ll:
- Save tons of time. Freeing you up to do things that actually help grow your business.
- Eliminate mistakes. Say goodbye to penalties and unhappy employees.
- Sleep soundly at night. Because you know your business is compliant.
To Recap:
- Automate tax calculations
- Employee payments
- Connect time tracking
- Use compliance tools
- Give your team access to self-service portals
Payroll automation is the best thing you can do for your business if you plan on growing.
Don’t wait for the IRS to give you a reason to automate. Start today and see just how easy managing payroll can be.
