Payroll is very necessary for any organization. It helps in determining right employee salary and motivate them in performing their valuable roles at your organization. It keeps track record of the company. In simple term, it refers to giving and receiving wages to employees.
Can you handle your entire payroll work by yourself? It is my experience from working with several other small business owners and it’s a wise decision never to do so, regardless of how experienced it is. As a small business owner or a big business owner it’s even more important to have overall support of your payroll team. Here are my tips to look for in hiring a payroll company.
1. Are you picky? Look, there are different types of payroll providers. For some it’s a professional firm while for others it’s a software firm who do it very well. Also, for small business owners it can be manual or automated. Pick one and stick with it. In this way you won’t have problems and you will be confident in your decision
2. What is your risk factor? I talk with businesses every week and I feel that most companies are afraid to hire a payroll company. Most of these small business owners are afraid to change or are not sure what they want to implement or change in their current payroll practice. The result, they are risking money and time when they have to face the tax authorities when IRS does you a tax audit.
Do not make yourself an accomplice to tax authorities and IRS audits. An automated system from payroll accounting company will reduce the risk factor with the great advantage of startup servers and security.
3. Ask for proof of insurance. It’s probably not a good idea to hire any payroll company or software provider if you don’t get proof of insurance. Personal liability is huge and you will be better protected by this.
4. Do your research. Today hiring executives often visit your place and ask you what you like and you hate about your payroll company. You may be pleased with your new service provider while you’re disappointed, or unhappy. If you don’t know your competition it’s very easy to hire someone who does the same kind of business you do. You will lose more than you gain.
5. What kind of experience does the payroll provider have? You just can’t be entrust on something you don’t have any idea about its quality and reliability. Look, if you can trust it then you are ready to hire. But If the payroll system has been certified by American Institute of payroll companies (AIPC), it shows that the company has lot of experience and is well experienced.
6. Is there any hidden costs? Completely hidden costs means you will save money in paying taxes. But beware of hidden costs. Some payroll providers charge much more than what you budgeted for. It’s a factor and just make your decision like you pay taxes.
7. How can you be sure your accuracy of payroll info? You may be new to payroll, so have limited resources and you won’t be able to come up with a better plan to streamline your payroll. Statistically IRS payrollcompletely shows you an acceptable number of mistakes as an employer.
8. Is there any plan to support? Fresh graduates don’t offer any kind of plan but a lot of payroll service provider offers a plan to work on. If you need support you can hire a professional payroll firm.
Every entrepreneur has their own experience which will be same in everybody. I would recommend apayroll service company, but it should not be cost shopping as many businesses make this decision consciously.
