Before you enlist the payroll services of your accountant
Read our 5 things to consider first!
1. Accountants are not ‘Jack of all trades’
Accountants are accountants – They are experts in accountancy and business tax. They are not book keepers, payroll experts or business gurus! Ensure your accountant has a payroll and auto enrolment specialist employed before signing the contract!
2. Accountants love money – especially yours
Creative accounting is great when it works in your favour, so ask for a breakdown of payroll services and costs in advance – Also watch out for hidden charges that could creep out when it’s your auto enrolment staging date. yearend or P11D time in July.
3. Payroll by numbers
Accountants are generally only process payroll for organisations with a handful of employees and a few directors. Their experience may not lend itself to running payrolls for businesses that are multi-site; with complex cost center reporting or differing revenue streams. So before engaging the services of your accountant, ask them to demonstrate their expertise running payrolls similar to yours and their auto enrolment experience to date. For complete peace of mind check out their case-studies.
4. Accountants may love numbers, but they may not love yours
Payroll is periodic, repetitive, time-consuming and never-ending. Some accountants may view payroll as a loss-maker which could result in poor service delivery. Ask your accountant who your payroll contact will be, how to contact them, what hours they work, what the lead times are and demand a complete breakdown of your full payroll service.
5. Can you do it better?
It is worth comparing a few options before settling on your best strategic long-term payroll solution. For instance, if you have a few employees the HMRC Basic PAYE Tools is a free and easy to use option which could help you bring your payroll in-house. Alternatively, outsourcing payroll to a payroll specialist will provide you with a solution that can grow with your business and of course are experts in payroll and auto enrolling your staff.
Time, quality and cost – the mantra for all organisations, regardless of size or sector.
To find out more about outsourcing payroll, go to www.payrollsolutionsltd.co.uk
