The selection of payroll software is not an easy thing to do. There are so many features that have been offered by several vendors of the software that it becomes really difficult for companies to choose a payroll accounting software that can salvage them from their payroll and accounting problems.
We have gathered a few essentials that you need to check for in software before buying a payroll accounting tool.
Processing the Payroll
Before you buy software, it’s important to ensure that the software can do the purpose it being bought for, which is the processing function of the payroll. Many payroll software that is available in the market offer integration capabilities, like linking the software system to applications of leave, timekeeping, overtime pay rates, etc. All of these tasks if done manually consume a lifetime, while the payroll software does it better and like a pro.
Direct Bank Disbursement
Software, like any tool, is supposed to do reduce human effort and minimize errors made by humans. The biggest issue that HR faces in any company are before the monthly salaries are disbursed and are transferred directly into the employee’s bank account. This saves a great deal of time and money as the company doesn’t have to issue paper cheques. It also ends the risks associated with cheques getting lost and fraud cases. The best part is that the funds transferred can instantly be availed as soon as they come into the account.
Tax Calculations and Filing
Payroll software takes the effort out of paperwork done for taxes and their filing. The risk of miscalculation because of it being a smart technology reduces a great deal as it is directly linked to employees’ information of the payroll as it is taken from the system only.
Moreover, filing taxes through software can ensure that all the employees have filed their taxes and there will be no tax lapse. This can help companies avoid all kinds of penalties because of late submissions.
Payroll Compliance
Payroll compliance is one other important aspect that the software needs to be efficient in. Employees hand over their minute personal details in the form of information to HR, which actually is very sensitive data. This also has their trust in them which shouldn’t be breached. In case of a leak or someone hacking into the system, this sensitive data can easily be accessed through, which is the least ideal situation for both the employee and the HR. This feature of payroll compliance needs special care, the buyer should ensure that the software complies with the ever-changing needs of compliance and is in agreement with the payroll demands.
Employee Self-Service
Self-service is another important aspect of the payroll accounting software, the purpose of getting a tool is to add ease to the process of documenting the details of accounting and payroll. Therefore, giving partial access of the software to the employees can be really beneficial for the company and should be tick marked as a feature before buying the software. This way the employees can view their attendance, their time of check-in, and check-out for further calculation of salary in the end. The employee can always change his/her time of arrival/departure if the entered timings are incorrect in the portal, the time change happens after approval from HR comes, this way both the parties know about the changes made and not one can do it on their own. This also solves the problem of employees constantly coming or calling the HR managers for a query, they can easily check it on their own portal and get their queries answered.
Accounting Integration
In the same manner, the integration of accounting is very important with the payroll software, many companies sell two different software with respective features but why not take double advantage with both in one software. This can be of service to both accounting and HR teams while having to manually see the monthly payroll details. It also reduces the chances of miscalculations and entry of incorrect data as the human error element is eliminated from it.
Payroll is just one part of the business, with this being said, more time can be spent on different critical aspects of the business than solving the issues related to the payroll of the resource.
Final Word
Besides the above-mentioned points, there are some more that need to be considered before a company gets the payroll software and makes the best use of it.