Guide to payroll software for small business owners

Nicholos Poma September 16, 2008

Many large companies rely heavily upon the services of accounting firms. Much of the Corporation's monetary functions, including payroll, are outsourced to other companies. However, these services can actually be quite pricey which then leaves us to examine the question, what I as a small business can to do in order to efficiently manage my payroll without going broke in the process?

In general, a small company might be considered as one thousand or less employees. Payroll can be very difficult and as your workforce grows it can become almost impossible. Imagine running payroll for a company that has a thousand employees. There are differing pay rates, different taxation, differing deduction for such things as medical insurance and 401Ks, and there might be issues with wage garnishments.

As you can clearly see, payroll is a nightmare and it would not be likely that anyone could possibly keep track of all of the variables without making many critical mistakes. This is where accounting software comes into play. The initial investment into the payroll accounting software would be negligible and would likely pay for itself within a year or less. Payroll accounting software is the best option for any small company.

Once the software is installed and your designated employee or employees are trained in its use, the software will generally run itself. The only time your employee would need to interact with the payroll software is when there is a need to update or remove data. Many Payroll accounting software suites require a user to manually input data into the software.

However, there are ingenious systems which are integrated with computer systems, or even computerized time clocks which do all of the work based upon when your employees clock, or log in. One of the best and well known accounting payroll software packages is the intuit suite of software, Intuit is highly regarded with many business and are known nationwide. Some of its software cost as little as about ten dollars month and you simply cannot beat that for a top of the line payroll software package.

Nevertheless, there are free alternatives, now I must warn you that if it is free you will likely get what you pay for, but there is one worth mentioning. TimeTrex is a payroll and time management software package which is opensource, which means free. It not only calculates payroll, tax deductions but can also handle direct deposits and create printed pay stubs. This is one of the best free software packages on the market and is sure to bring your company more efficiency in your accounting department and with that comes profitability.

Sources
Intuit
http://payroll.intuit.com

TimeTrex
http://www.timetrex.com/payroll.php