Early on, a company’s founder often handles all aspects of running payroll, hiring employees, and creating business plans. As the small business grows, it’s important to delegate key tasks to outsourced teams, new hires, and software programs. From making sure your employees are paid on time to improving your compliance, there are a range of reasons why payroll software is a good investment for your company.

What Does Payroll Software Do?

While each payroll company is different, a good payroll provider will often help with the following tasks. Some of these tasks may be handled by the provider, and other tasks may be dealt with by a payroll software program. It all depends on the complexity of the task. However, top payroll software can typically help with the following tasks.

• Automated Calculations: A good payroll software program will automatically calculate the worker’s pay. Then, the program can calculate and withhold taxes so that you don’t have to worry about it.
• Easy Payments to Workers: When payday arrives, the payroll software can automatically send out payments.
• Employee Self-Service Options: Employees can easily access their information and make updates, reducing the amount of administrative work your business has to do.
• Affordable Care Act (ACA) Reporting: A good payroll provider will handle payroll reporting so that you don’t have to.
• Record Keeping: Your payroll software can easily store important records, so you can access data whenever you need it.
• Compliance Updates and Requirements: When you work with a professional payroll provider, you can relax and let them handle the state, local, and federal regulations.
• Garnished Wages: Payroll software can calculate the correct wage garnishment amount if a worker’s wages must be withheld.
• Easy Integrations: With payroll software, you can access general ledger integrations. This means data can be instantly transferred between different programs, so you can avoid human error.

How Payroll Software Can Support Your Small Business Growth

Recently, Mission to Grow conducted a joint interview that considered steps small businesses should take as they grow. When you’re just starting out with just 1 to 15 workers, it can be difficult to handle all of the payroll, HR, and business management tasks a small business needs to take care of. 

During the interview, Jessica Smalls, Asure’s vice president of payroll operations, discussed how important payroll technology is if you want to grow. “My biggest piece of feedback to small business owners is to really focus hard on the data integrity of what you’re using to be able to process payroll taxes and invest in technology early on,” Smalls says. “Helping to stay compliant in streamlined processes and creating an audit trail–those are all things that make technology a really big piece of success.”

Avoid Payroll Errors

As a small business owner, you can’t afford to make major payroll mistakes. As Small says, “People do leave because people can’t get payroll right. If you think about it, it’s one of the things that we expect. We’re walking in the door, giving our all every day. The prize at the end is that compensation and the value that you feel in the work that you’ve contributed to.” 

At the very least, payroll errors lead to inconvenient, time-consuming adjustments to fix the error. They can also lead to legal fines and higher turnover, so businesses should do everything they can to create accurate payroll data.

Ensure Tax and Legal Compliance

There are many state, federal, and local regulations that impact your payroll each month. For instance, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) dictates when you must pay overtime and how much must be paid. Many states have paid leave laws that cover the accrual of sick time. These regulations can be challenging to deal with, so let trained professionals and payroll software handle compliance issues for you.

Enjoy Easy Integrations With Other Business Software

With the right payroll software, you can easily integrate payroll data with accounting and business management software. Besides being more convenient, this helps to reduce the likelihood of data entry errors. Plus, fewer data entry requirements save your company money on labor costs.

Get Automated Report Filing

From filing ACA compliance reports to turning in tax forms, the right payroll software can handle many of your legal requirements. For business owners who are just getting used to filing requirements, this advantage is especially useful.

Easier Time Keeping

Often, payroll software includes time-keeping options or integrations with time-keeping programs. As a result, you can easily update workers’ labor hours, ensuring accurate payments each month.

Focus on Running Your Business

Most importantly, using payroll software frees up your time to focus on other things. You’ll eventually need to hire a payroll specialist or set up payroll software as your business grows. By doing this early on, you can remove unnecessary distractions and concentrate on the things that matter the most to you.

Plus, payroll software saves your business money on labor costs. By letting a computer handle the heavy lifting, you can reduce the amount of hours spent on running payroll, filing compliance reports, and tracking hours each month.

Prepare for Future Growth and Scalability

Eventually, there will be a day when you need to hire additional workers to meet the needs of your customers. When that happens, you don’t want to suddenly adopt new payroll, HR, time-tracking, and accounting software overnight. By gradually incorporating the best technology into your business, you can position your company for future growth and easy scalability.

Handle Wage Garnishments

As an employer, you’re legally required to garnish wages if you receive a court order to do so. There are special calculations that you must perform to determine the exact amount you are legally required to withhold. If you miscalculate this amount, you can end up on the hook for the employee’s entire garnishment. With payroll software, the software handles all of the calculations, so you don’t have to worry about human errors.

Access Professional Advice and Support

In just 2023, there were over 75 economically significant rules finalized in the United States. Staying on top of constant compliance updates is challenging for payroll experts. For small business owners who are in the early stages of growth, trying to navigate these regulations can feel impossibly daunting. By working with a professional payroll company, you can access top-notch support and advice.

Take Your Company’s Growth to the Next Level With the Right Payroll Software 

If you have 1 to 15 employees at your company, there are a few things you need to prepare your company for growth. Adopting the latest payroll technology and becoming legally compliant will set your company up for future success.

At Asure, we help businesses at every stage of their development. To learn how we can support your payroll needs, reach out to our team of small business payroll and HR experts today.