Small and large-scale businesses find payroll processing a bit challenging. There’s no denying that manually typing payroll data is a living hell. On top of that, the inaccuracies in the tax filing and remaining compliant with the rules and regulations make the task more complicated.
Though outsourcing the process is a great way to ease the difficulty of this task, most entrepreneurs prefer utilizing payroll software programs to ensure their financial information stays within the organization.
Now, if you are new to the business world, you might be wondering, what is payroll software? If so, you don’t need to look further! This article will give you a vast knowledge about these very popular human resource software solutions. Read on!
What is payroll software?
It is a software application used to manage, organize, and automate employee payments. It is an on-premises or cloud-based solution that helps organizations of all sizes reduce costs and free up the HR teams from these routine tasks.
Plus, it enables you to maintain compliance with tax laws and other regulations. A robust, integrated, and well-configured payroll software allows the Human resource department to spend more time budgeting, planning, and other crucial business processes instead of maintaining the payment records.
Hence, investing in good payroll software can save you stress, time, and even your hard-earned money.
Critical components of a good payroll software
HR professionals use payroll software solutions to automate the payroll processes from start to finish. They help you optimize payroll management, maintain data accuracy, and comply with statutory requirements, and a lot more.
In simple words, they deal with the entire life cycle of payroll operations. The key components include:
- Payroll management
- Income tax filing
- Leave management with the help of employee leave planner
- Expense management
- Tax compliance
- Benefits management
- Payroll reporting
- Direct deposits
- System notifications
- Allowance management
- Time and Attendance Tracking
- Record keeping
Benefits of using Payroll software
Besides simplifying the complex, time-consuming payroll processes, these solutions offer various other benefits. Some of them are as follows:
Increases productivity
Do you know that your HR team spends over 80 hours on payroll processing every year? Yes! You read it right. To help you cut down this time, opting for payroll software is a great alternative. These software solutions are designed to reduce your accounting workload by automating various aspects of the process, including computing wages, deductions, managing tax filing, and everything in between.
Reduces risk of human error
When the tax filing is done manually, chances of incorrect data input, overriding system data, and accidental deletion of custom formulas are extremely high. Using a software solution prevents unauthorized users from toggling with your system setup but also helps you avoid such costly mistakes.
Promotes Transparency
Indeed, you are paying your employees their deserved wages consistently. Being an employer, it is your responsibility to keep your people fully informed about their earnings. Using payroll solutions means you are providing them unlimited access to all such information, increasing the visibility of monthly payrolls.
Secure data
Payroll data means the vital information of the employee that includes salary, bank account details, tax details, and more. Payroll software enhances data privacy through access controls and helps you maintain utmost data confidentiality as it only allows the payroll team to view the necessary details.
Now that you have got a brief idea about what is Payroll software, you must be wondering how to choose the right one. So here’s a few key things to keep in mind; read on!
- Choose the one that provides manual edit and review facility as well as automation
- Look for the solution that facilitates easy data transfer
- Good software will allow you to customize employee earnings
- Pick a software that has the option of setting up salary hikes, appraisals, and deductions
- Make sure the one you choose also offers a reliable exit management facility
