Outsourcing payroll can be a big decision for new and small business to make. While having someone else take charge of your payroll services can be a big weight off your shoulders while you’re still struggling to establish yourselves in the marketplace and generate new business, entrusting your accounts to someone else takes a certain degree of trust.
While you should certainly take time to research a payroll company thoroughly to ensure that everything is above board, outsourcing payroll could be one of the best things you do. Dealing with payroll can take up a considerable amount of your time, and can use up valuable human resources which could be better employed elsewhere. For most small businesses, the budget isn’t there to employ someone to look after the accounts full-time, so this often becomes a ‘second’ job for someone else, and perhaps for someone who isn’t trained in accounting. This can lead to errors, with payments being made late or incorrectly, and even with tax being calculated wrongly. Getting paid the right amount and on time is extremely important for your staff – after all, they’ve put the work in and not receiving payment can cause them financial hardship as well as just generally annoying them.
To avoid finding yourself in an Employment Tribunal, employ a company offering payroll services. This will give you peace of mind, as well as freeing up time which could be better spent generating profits, networking and increasing your customer base. When looking for a payroll company, ensure that they have all the relevant qualifications, including ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers), ACCA (Association of Chartered Accountants), AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). Also enquire as to what software they use and how their current customers rate them – ask for feedback or testimonials.