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Is now the right time to invest in accounting software?
Is now the right time to invest in accounting software?
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Home Page > Business > Small Business > Is now the right time to invest in accounting software?
Is now the right time to invest in accounting software?
Posted: Jun 04, 2010 |Comments: 0
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There seems to be something in the air – a definite and growing recognition amongst accountants and small businesses that investment in accounting software and IT in general is one of the best ways to increase efficiency, reduce costs and maximise productivity.
For accountancy firms, software and IT solutions are a fundamental component of their day-to-day activities. For them it’s easier to know when to upgrade or to invest in entirely new systems. But for a small business, how do you know when it’s the right time to invest in accounting software and what things should you consider before taking the plunge?
I’m doing fine with my Excel spreadsheets. Do I need accounting software?
If you run a small business with no current plans for growth and a spreadsheet works for you without impacting upon your ability to do business, we’d never try to suggest you buy something you don’t need.
However, if you are planning to grow, of if you’re finding that keeping track of your records and late paying customers on spreadsheets is becoming complicated then accounting software could be essential to managing your accounting needs.
So I’ve decided to replace my trusty spreadsheet. What next?
First and foremost, don’t buy accounting software before you have really looked hard at what you need from it. Whatever you invest in it needs to be scalable, both in terms of functionality and number of users. It should enable you to invest in what you need now but be able to grow with your business.
It’s not easy to know exactly what the future holds, but there are certain factors to consider before investing. What follows is by no means an exhaustive checklist, but it should give you food for thought.
1. How quickly is your customer base growing?
With a very small business it’s fairly straightforward to track invoices and payments. But as your business grows and the number of customers increases, accounting software will help you to better manage this growth. You should also consider the location of your customers. As your customer base grows you may need the ability to invoice your customers in other currencies.
2. Do you plan to expand?
As your customer base increases, you may need to relocate to larger premises or even open additional premises in order to better deliver your goods or services. This in itself can open up more opportunities to increase customer numbers.
You need to anticipate the increased complexity expansion brings to your business and ensure your systems and processes are robust enough to cope. If you do have multiple offices then you will also want to be able to access your financial data from any location.
3. Will you take on employees?
If you intend to employ more staff you will probably expect at least some of them to be making use of your accounting software. So you need to ensure that the software you invest in it can cope with multi-user and, perhaps, multi-level access as you will not want to grant full access to all your users.
4. Will you need customisation?
Some accountancy software operates ‘straight out of the box’. It has functionality you may or may not need according to your requirements, and there is little flexibility outside of these confines.
This can be fine for many small businesses, but if you have requirements that are specific to your own business, particularly as your business grows, you need to ensure the accountancy software can be customised to meet them. Systems like Fusion Accounts not only provide customisable elements to meet the needs of a business, it can effortlessly cope with the requirements of multi-currency sales –so for your business, the sky’s the limit!
If you can effectively manage the financial aspects of your business now and accommodate changes in the future, you have a far greater chance of success in business. To learn more about how Fusion Accounts can help, why not call us?
Fusion Accounts
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Is Hiring A Payroll Service Provider Right For Your Business?
Outsourcing particular business tasks can enable you to free up resources and energy to focus on your core competencies. Payroll is an important function and in all likelihood it makes sense to outsource payroll administration rather than hire resources in-house and dedicate them solely to the function. Payroll companies help you organize your payroll, adhere to policies and procedures, and get employees paid on time.
To stay on top of your tax obligations is reason enough for your company to consider using a payroll provider. Payroll administration warrants attention to detail and even the smallest indiscretion can attract heavy penalties from the tax authority of your country. In the US, the IRS has a history of levying heavy fines on small businesses for even the smallest transgression. Recently released statistics show that one out of every three small businesses is penalized in some way for not complying with tax laws.
Why should you outsource payroll processing?
If you company is large enough, you may choose to conduct payroll functions in-house but be prepared to hire at least a couple of employees dedicated to this function. You will also have to allocate resources to continuously train your payroll staff in use of accounting software and to keep up with the frequently shifting state and federal tax laws. Also if you are a growing company that is continuously adding new employees, teams and locations, managing payroll is going to be quite a challenge. Do you really want to get distracted from the core-functions of your business by administering payroll yourself?
Payroll service providers are experts in what they do and have economies of scale since they administer payroll for many other companies. More than likely, they will deliver payroll services to your company cheaper and more efficiently that what you can do yourself.
What Services Do Payroll Companies Provide?
Payroll companies provide various services. The following are the most common:
* Calculating pay checks for each employee
* Addressing tax obligations on a local, state, and federal level
* Printing and delivering checks
* Providing management reports
* Tracking employee benefits information
* Automatic check signatures
* Providing direct deposit
* Processing W-2 forms
* Processing 401k and mutual fund plans
* Addressing tax needs for your company and providing tax preparation
How to choose a Payroll Service?
Ask for quotes from several companies before making a final decision. An easy way to request quotes from multiple providers is to go to a B2B marketplace. Keep the following in mind as you decide on the provider.
* Can they provide accurate payroll service without any mistakes in employee’s pay or providing tax information to the government? Ask for history of efficiency.
* An occasional mistake is acceptable but how quickly can they correct it. If the payroll service provider is overstretched, they may not have the resources to quickly provide the remedy.
* Is the payroll providers system and software compatible with your own operating systems? Would it be possible to transfer data to and from your business easily?
* Are the references flawless? Excellent customer service to business owners and its employees is important.
* How many clients is the payroll provider serving? Large number of clients may indicate a successful service but attrition in the past few months may indicate deteriorating quality. Does the provider have adequate resources to serve your business?
* Is the pricing competitive? Some companies may bait you with low basic fees and charge heavily for extras. Ask for an all inclusive package to compare prices.
Once you decide on a payroll provider, scrutinize the contract very carefully for any hidden fees or charges that may kick in after a few months of service.
Check the first few pay checks very carefully for any mistakes. It is better to uncover the issues early enough before they get compounded and more difficult to fix.
Hiring a payroll provider is an important decision for your business. It is tough to easily switch a payroll provider if you make the wrong decision. Make sure you adequately research all possibilities before making a final decision.
Daljeet Sidhu is co-founder at TradeSeam, the world’s first Small Business Network and B2B Marketplace. Visit our B2B marketplace to compare price quotes for goods and services for your business including price quotes from multiple Payroll Service vendors.
The Right Certified Payroll Software Is A Worry Reducer
Certified payroll software automates the record-keeping for certain federal construction projects. If you look at the U. S. Department of Labor Form WH-347, it isn’t a complex form. If a contractor works on certain federal and federally funded projects, completing this form is required. The problem is the record keeping must be in a certain form and the wages and benefits must meet federal guidelines. The record keeping is a barrier that keeps some companies from bidding on certain jobs.
What you have to do is submit a weekly record of all wages paid to employees during the preceding week. The information must be submitted for each employee working on a project. Then a company official must “certify” that the payroll is correct. The wages and fringe benefits must meet the guidelines set forth by law. So each employee must be paid a wage for his or her craft or trade that meets the requirements. It’s the Davis-Bacon and related Acts that require the contractor or subcontractor to pay a wage and fringe benefit that’s at least equal to whatever rate has been set by the Department of Labor.
The form is submitted for a project each week. Each employee working on that project for that week is identified. Then the employee craft is listed. The wage paid the worker and the breakdown of benefits paid is itemized. Then the totals are shown of wages and benefits paid. Then the payroll is signed by a company official. That’s the “certified” part. It’s certified to be actual amounts paid and accurate.
The form you fill out isn’t the problem. The problem is keeping the records that contain the information that goes on the form. Plus making sure the wages and benefits really do meet the required guidelines. Specialized software is the way to keep all this information accurate and up-to-date. Just make sure that whatever software you choose will work with other accounting software. Otherwise you might get stuck having to enter some data twice and that’s no good. For the major accounting programs like QuickBooks, most software will be compatible. Make sure before you buy.
Also make sure you stay up-to-date on any changes in the requirements. Those changes might include wage rate changes as well as fringe benefit changes too. How does the software you consider get updates to reflect changes? Also make sure you understand how the system handles revisions and corrections since there will be some of those too. Finally, remember there are state requirements for payrolls too. So the payroll software must also provide outputs that meet the varying state requirements also.
Accounting for payroll is often complex and always critical to business success. The requirements for certified payrolls make record-keeping most important. It isn’t that the certified payroll requirements are complex. It’s mostly that the records just must be in the correct format and the payroll software must be compatible with the other accounting systems. The right software simplifies payroll record-keeping and government compliance.
Reduce stress every week with the right certified payroll software . To get more free payroll ideas go to http://AccountingSoftwareTrends.com .
Choosing the Right Payroll Software for your Company
With the growth of an organisation, the payroll process becomes more complicated and tedious. If you do not use payroll software, you would end up wasting a lot of time doing paper work. By deploying the right payroll program, payroll processes become easier and quick. Processes that usually take several days can be carried out in minutes with the help of software. This is why payroll software has become the need of the hour.
But you should be careful while choosing payroll software for your company. The software should have the feature to facilitate direct deposit of salaries to the bank accounts of employees. You should also be able to make the payments electronically. This saves you from a lot of hassles and you can save money and time.
The software should ideally have an automated time clock. The time clock allows automatic entry and exit time recording and you can be sure that there are no errors and duplicate entries. It should allow filing of tax electronically.
You should also be able to set different pay rates for different employees. For instance, in the accounts department, the salary structure of an accounts head would be different from accounts executives. The software should calculate salaries based on the profile of the employees. This saves you from a lot of hassles as it reduces the number of pay codes used to record an employee’s pay. With the help of the payroll software, you should also be able to generate custom reports.
Buying the right kind of payroll software definitely proves to be a good investment. Before buying the software make sure you do proper research and read as many reviews as possible. This will help you in deciding which system is right for your organisation.
Aussiepay is a leading payroll services provider that offers flexible and accurate payroll software to suit your business requirements. It provides effective online payroll services making payroll easy to manage and cost-effective for all businesses. It also offers an innovative solution with online payslips and leave management which reduces the administrative burden.
Henry Richard works with Aussiepay, a leading innovative company dealing in payroll software and payroll systems. The company offers tailored payroll solutions such as outsourcing of payroll services in Australia and payroll software to Small to Medium Businesses. To know more, visit www.aussiepay.com.au.
Henry Richard works with Aussiepay, a leading innovative company dealing in payroll software and payroll systems. The company offers tailored payroll solutions such as outsourcing of payroll services in Australia and payroll software to Small to Medium Businesses. To know more, visit www.aussiepay.com.au.
How to Select the Right Check Printing Software?
How to Select the Right Check Printing Software?
Check printing software can save time and money. Several check printing software are available that enable you to print professinal looking check from local laser printer. These printing software offer options for most check printing software that is suitable for corporate, small business and teller line environments equivocally. They also act as cost effective solutions for all types of financial institutions for secure, fast and convenient production of professional looking documents.
To find your best solution, the key steps are:
Step 1: Shortlist Your Requirements
You first need to decide what kind of check printing software would be suitable for you.
If you just need basic printing function, a stand-alone application is a good solution. Such software will allow you format your own checks, change logo, change labels, change labels position and print your check on preprint or blank computer check.
I recommend: Try ezCheckPring Pro, which is very user friendly, flexible and will use your own scanned signatures.
If you need to print regular payroll checks or checks for re-occurring payments, then you need should opt for more complex accounting software with built in printing feature.
I recommend: Try ezPaycheck, Peachtree and QuickBooks.
Step 2: Decide Upon Your Budget
You need to decide how much you intend to spend on this check printing system. Most stand-alone check printing software cost you less than $50. But payroll software with printing feature may cost up to several hundred dollars depending on features. QuickBooks Payroll Standard is $199, Peachtree Pro Accounting 2008 is $169 and ezPaycheck 2007 is $89.
I recommend: contact Halfpricesoft.com for its recently released free version check printing software, ezCheckPrinting Lite. For general users, its basic check designing and printing features should satisfy your requirements.
Step 3: Compare Different Options Available
Once you shortlist your favorite options that suit your requirement then it is a good idea to compare all the features offered by each software. This would help you to narrow down your list to two –three good software.
Step 4: Trial Version
Download the trial versions or ask your local vendor to give you the CDs to test software. You should be pretty familiar with the software before you make any serious purchase. Simple jobs like creating a check design should be as simple as possible.
Step 5: Make a Purchase
Once you decide upon your favorite software and get familiar with it, you can think about making a purchase.
Tips:
Check if this software support multiple accounts.
Try before you buy – Choose software with most comfortable graphical interface. It should be easy to navigate and handle.
About halfpricesoft.com Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of innovative 1099, W2 and Payroll Software solutions for accountants and small to medium size businesses. And its popular business and personal Check printing software can save user both time and money. http://www.halfpricesoft.com
Choose the Right Business Payroll Software
Payroll Software is simple and secure and helps busy managers to complete their payroll commitments with a fast and accurate solution. You can select modules to roster your employees, then capture their actual times worked with a timeclock or timesheet entry, make any employee personal information changes which can all be completed via the web.
We have years of experience in payroll and time and attendance systems, and are committed to ensuring a smooth transition to Payroll Software.We provide a proven conversion project plan that identifies changes and improvements from your existing system
Payroll Software will keep your information in our secure location and is accurate and accessible from the web. By streamlining your payroll function by using our Time and Attendance solution your company will save money with lower management costs, automated pay processing and a lower cost per employee to manage your payroll.
Our integrated Time and Attendance, Payroll and Employee Management Solution will allow you to calculate times accurately according to your own award rules. Employees will be paid with a fast and timely service reducing pressures normally experienced in the payroll function. Protection of employees throughout your organization is now available with extensive Access Control Features.
SME Solutions helps organisations improve functions that manage people, payroll and time.
Our integrated software products include:
• Time and Attendance software and clocks
• Payroll solutions and services
• Access Control and Employee Security
• Employee Scheduling
• Shop Floor and Job Costing
• Enterprise Resource Planning interfaces including SAP
SME Solutions management have extensive industry experience in the time and attendance, data collection, web development and payroll markets. In addition, SME Solutions uses a variety of technologies including proximity, biometric, client server, web enabled collection methods and Microsoft SQL databases.
SME Solutions is a national Australian owned company and our management have extensive experience in the payroll, time and attendance software and data collection industry.SME Solutions gives organisations immediate benefits with our Time recording software and products such as time clock and electronic bundy clocks to cater your organisational employee time attendance needs.
Employee Management Using Right Type of Payroll Software
There are many different types of payroll software that you can buy to help you manage the payroll of your company. These payroll software packages are even further broken down into the specifics of your company. For instance, if you have a company that is a part of the entertainment industry you’ll want to have a payroll system that keeps track of the information that is unique to your industry. You’ll need payroll software that will keep track of union information, meal penalties, and credits. The software that you use will calculate time sheets according to industry standards, including hours worked, any advances, or other adjustments. From these timesheets you’ll be able to see exactly how much each employee is paid. From there it’s up to you to pay your employees.
If you have a large company, or you just don’t feel confident, you can hire a payroll service to calculate all your payroll information for you. This may cost you a bit more than if you do the work yourself using payroll software, however if your company is large enough you may find that the hours spent inputting payroll information simply takes you too long to do yourself. Both options are viable for you and your company and will give you the accurate payroll results that you need to correctly pay your employees and to keep the precise records that you need to keep.
One thing to keep in mind when you’re using payroll software: if you’re going to have the software installed on more than one computer you’re going to have to make sure that you have more than one license for the software. This may cost you a bit more in the initial startups costs but in the long run could be more beneficial if you want to be able to enter payroll information on more than one computer.
James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest.
Read more at www.payroll-central.com
Doing Payroll Becomes a Breeze with the Right Payroll Software or Outsourced Payroll Service
Unless you’re an accountant, you didn’t get into business to spend all your time doing payroll. You need to spend your time running your. Yet payroll activities are critical to your business. After all, a paid employee is a happy employee and your business runs better when employees are happy.
If you’re tired of spending countless hours tabulating work hours and calculating payroll, there are a couple of options. The first option is to hire an accountant or payroll services firm to handle payroll for you. The other option is purchasing software that speeds up the payroll process. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each of these two options.
- Cost
Cost is usually a significant consideration for small and mid-size businesses, especially in an economy like we have now. Accountants and payroll services can easily cost you $100 a month and often much more. The lower the cost the more work you’re likely to do yourself.
Software runs the gamut from less than $100 a year to several hundred or even thousands of dollars. In most cases, the more you pay the more features you get. But do you need all those features? As a small business, probably not. Make sure you have a chance to try any software before committing to buying it. A good example of this is ezPaycheck from Halfpricesoft.com, which allows you to try the full version of the product free for 30 days without cost or obligation.
- Security
Payroll data needs to be secure. Small firms and solo-accountants are not likely to have the same level of security as large firms and computer systems may be vulnerable to hackers or data losses. If you’re considering hiring an accountant or small firm, make sure you ask about their security and back-up systems.
Assuming you have adequate security measures for your computer system, including firewalls, secure data back-ups and 128-bit password encryption, using in-house software is a reasonably secure way to handle payroll. You’ll know exactly who has access to your records and no data needs to be transmitted across the Internet.
- Time involvement and ease of use
It may seem that hiring an accountant or payroll service would require the least amount of time, but remember that you will still have to keep the accountant or service updated with employee work hours.
Software can also save you significant amounts of time by automating payroll activities.
Unfortunately, financial software is notorious for being difficult to learn. Look for payroll software that is specifically designed for end-users who are not accountants. A good example of this is ezPaycheck payroll software from Halfpricesoft.com.
- Only you can decide
Every business is unique and while payroll software is often an efficient, cost-saving payroll solution for most small and mid-size businesses, you may find that you enjoy the freedom and expertise of hiring an accountant or payroll service. Only you can decide which is right for your business.
About halfpricesoft.com Halfpricesoft.com is a leading software provider of easy-to-use 1099, W2,Payroll Software and bar code printing solutions for small to medium size businesses. And its easy-to-use software can save users both money and time. http://www.halfpricesoft.com
Choose the Right Small Business Payroll Software
Running a payroll for larger organisations with full time accounting staff is easy. Full time professionals are employed or the payroll function may be outsourced to a payroll bureau. For the small business the payroll task often falls to the proprietor demanding even more time to familiarise with current payroll legislation and a not insignificant amount of administration time that could be better spent making profits than number crunching. For small business organisations with five to ten employees calculating the income tax and national insurance contributions in producing the weekly payroll can easily take an hour or more each week. An hour that could be better spent earning profits or at the very least having an extra hour of free time each week. Free time that small business owner’s value at a premium since the majority of small business owners either work or think about work from dawn to dusk 7 days a week. A payroll software package to satisfy the PAYE requirements can be just one part of making that small business more efficient.
Small businesses that fail to operate a sound payroll system can produce a negative effect on the employees. Employees expect to be paid and provided the amount is a competitive rate would only rarely have an effect on staff relations. However operating a payroll system that does not provide each employee with a payslip is like telling your employee he has received a personal letter that was opened for him and discarded as not important. To the employee a payslip is very important. Every employer has a legal responsibility to provide employees with payslips and a P60 End of Year Employees Certificate. A payroll software solution satisfies employee’s essential needs and fulfills the legal requirements. Failure to provide employees with payslips can only reduce the respect hat employee has for his employer. Every employee must receive a payslip that shows the amount of income tax and national insurance deducted from the gross pay. Employers must also calculate the employer’s national insurance contribution. Employers not using a payroll software package such as available from DIY Accounting Payroll Software must design their own payslip to give to employees to satisfy legal requirements.
Running a PAYE system and operating a payroll in the UK can be a burdensome task to comply with all the relevant legislation. Employers operating a PAYE system without the use of payroll software need to be familiar with evolving requirements of HMCE through their website and the extensive payroll notes contained on the CD-Rom which is sent out annually. To fully appreciate all the technicalities and complete all the correct documents such as the P11 Deductions Working sheet is time consuming. It doesn’t have to be a problem. Payroll Software can automate this knowledge and functions and is available at insignificant cost. DIY Accounting Payroll Software package is available for up to 20 employees at a cost of £15 to £25. That is a payroll software package that could save a small business over an hour a week, for twenty employees more like two hours, for less than 50p per week. All small business owners should at least consider suitable efficient payroll software.
Many payroll software packages are written using databases and can put many small business owners off using them due to both the cost and the fear of the unknown complexity of using such a payroll package. Many payroll software packages written on a database provide an excellent solution but have a tendency to be extremely politically correct and cover all potential rules and regulations and consequently become more complex to operate as they can demand at least a minimum knowledge of the payroll system. There are other PAYE solutions. The DIY Accounting Payroll Software is written on excel spreadsheets requiring no payroll experience and a minimum of entries to produce all the essential calculations of income tax and employees and employers national insurance. In addition excel copies of the time consuming P11 Deductions working sheet, P60 Employees Certificate and the P35 Annual Employers Return are all automated to save the small business valuable administration time. A payroll software solution written on excel can also be used with an open office spreadsheet package but not least all the entries are visible and therefore transparent. Errors and mistakes can be easily corrected simply by changing the numbers on the payroll ensuring the payroll is produced both quickly and accurately. Payroll Software is an effective tool that should receive serious consideration by all small business proprietors.
Payroll Software also has the advantage because it can be simple and fast to use of avoiding late payments to the revenue and the consequent unwanted letters and potential fines this can invoke. By having all the information required for the monthly or quarterly revenue payments late penalties can be avoided and by producing the Annual Employers return on time small business owners can submit their returns online and receive a tax free online filing bonus. The current online foiling bonus being £150 and substantially more than the payroll software might have cost. And it’s Tax Free. As they say in Yorkshire. “If thar you ever gets owt for nowt, Tec it”
Terry Cartwright is a qualified accountant in the UK designing accounting and payroll software packages for small to medium sized business through his website DIY Accounting, Payroll specifically produced for up to 20 employees providing simple Payroll Software written on excel spreadsheets.
