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Employee Payroll Software

Is it Right for Your Business?

Employee payroll software can save you hours in manual processing and calculations. But is it necessary for your business at this time?

When you employ staff you have a legal requirement to maintain up to date and accurate employee records. Payroll software can help you to calculate and manage your staff's entitlements. This frees up more time for you to concentrate on the more rewarding aspects of your business.

Your Responsibilities As An Employer

As an employer you have responsibilities to ensure that all staff:

are commenced under the correct award or workplace agreement

are started on the correct salary or hourly rate

have the correct amount of tax deducted from their salary wages

receive their pay on time and to the correct bank account etc

are receiving the correct amount of sick leave and holiday entitlements etc as they fall due

have any leave or absence correctly recorded

receive all bonuses and allowances when and as they fall due, and

that any requested deductions are taken from their pay when due

How Do I Record And Keep Track Of All Of These Details?

You must start off on the right foot from the very beginning. Employee payroll software can help you to maintain accurate records for all of your staffs entitlements. You can track hours worked, overtime paid, bonuses and entitlements, leave taken and accrued, sick leave balances and much more.

MYOB

One of the more common employee payroll software programmes is MYOB (Mind Your Own Business). Although MYOB is an accounting package is does have a great payroll component that simplifies the entire payroll process.

QUICKBOOKS

This is another popular program. Although quickbooks is a bookkeeping programme it does allow you to track salary wages and also superannuation payments made to your staff.

There is a lot of debate about the good and bad of both of these programs. I have used them both. I found that for a smaller business with a handful of employees then the quickbooks program was ideal. The accounting system was also simpler.

But for companies with a higher number of employees, inventory and a larger number of transactions then the MYOB program had more advantages.

So make your choose based on your circumstance and your long term goals. Also speak to your accountant as many accountants also have their own preferences.

If like many new businesses, you are on a tight budget, your money might be better utilised in other areas. So like all business expenses, consider it carefully and decide if it is necessary for you at the moment.

Just a quick note on bookkeeping and payroll in general. You will need to consider if payroll is something that you want to involve yourself in. If you are not experienced in payroll or accounts it might be advisable to hire a bookkeeper to do this for you.

Trying to process payroll or accounts when you are not familiar with the processes and procedures could quickly find you in a real mess!

Is employee payroll software essential for your business?

The answer will depend on many factors including;

the size of your business

how many staff you have now or plan to have in the future

whether you are compenent in using the software and in applying the award entitlements when setting up employee records

whether you have the time and inclination to develop your skills in this area or whether you will employ a bookkeeper.

the expansion or growth plans that you have for your business.

You might opt for employee payroll software straight up or consider it later on as your business evolves.

Whether you use software now or at some point in the future you will need to develop a method for recording salary wages of your employees. You could use a spreadsheet and set it up with formulas to calculate the various leave entitlements.

Alternatively you could use a manual system like they did.... in the olden days!

It really is a personal preference and you should make your decision based on what feels right for you and your business.

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