Eight keys to a profitable, hassle-free payroll practice
Payroll can be a highly profitable service where accountants can make thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars every year. Thanks to cloud-based payroll processing, accountants can now automate and profit from an offering that once was available only to large service bureaus. With our Payroll Relief solution, AccountantsWorld has helped thousands of accountants deliver payroll services to their clients. Based on our experience, we’ve detailed eight elements to create a highly successful and profitable payroll service for your practice.
Many accountants don’t see payroll as profitable, and yet the big payroll service bureaus continually make huge profits. Why is that? At AccountantsWorld, we’ve provided payroll solutions and support to thousands of accountants to help them capitalize on this enormous opportunity with great success. We believe almost all accounting firms can profit from payroll – if they leverage breakthroughs in technology and select the right business model.
Let’s take a closer look at how to make more money from payroll.
Based upon our experience in delivering payroll services, we have identified eight elements for creating a successful, highly profitable payroll service for your practice:
Element 1: Accountant-Centric Design
A payroll system designed exclusively for accountants and payroll professionals has a different business model than a system designed for end users. Systems designed for accountants give you the following benefits not available in a system designed for businesses and end users.
- A management console that provides an overview of all clients' payrolls and key information, such as the status of the client’s payroll, upcoming forms due, and tax due dates. The console highlights items that require immediate attention in red. These powerful Payroll Management Center features are available only in accountant-centric solutions and ensure the accountant is on top of all client payrolls all the time.
- A dashboard for a bird’s-eye view of each employer’s payroll, with errors standing out. This Dashboard is the “home base” for the employer, with a breakdown of all payroll tasks at the client level. It’s a high-level view of the employer’s specific payroll activity, including taxes and forms due, taxes paid, forms filed, and payroll reminders and status. In a nutshell, the Dashboard shows past, present, and future payroll activity for the client, cost of payroll by month, and gross pay by month graphs.
- Easy administration of client sign-up, email reminder setup, and a “what’s new link” to keep you up to date on application enhancements and payroll guidance.
- Configurations of services to best meet the needs of your individual clients. One solution doesn’t fit all. You can give clients full access or limited access to the system, based on their comfort level with technology and processes.
- Minimization of client errors through supervision and monitoring of client functions.
- Collaboration between you and your client. Both share the same data and use the same “core” application. You can delegate many tasks such as data entry and check printing to your clients.
Element 2: Automation
You want a system that takes advantage of today’s technology to automate compliance filing and payroll taxes. A system so automated that it requires little or no intervention by the accountant.
Today's most advanced systems do everything from federal and state calculations required to generate a payroll, to processing direct deposits, electronic payments, and employer liabilities—while offering detailed reports to review the payroll in progress. The system should perform all these tasks automatically:
- Payroll processing for large employers
- Complete payroll computation for federal, all 50 states, and all localities
- Direct deposit of employee/contractor paychecks
- Electronic payment of federal and state taxes and child support
- E-filing of quarterly and yearly federal and state tax forms
- Complete year-end processing including W-2’s, W-3’s, and 1099’s
- Batch processing of W-2 and check printing
You can even eliminate the need for printing checks in your office by either e-mailing them to your clients using encrypted email, or by saving them in a secure Cloud Cabinet for clients to print from their office.