More capacity, more time, more flexibility: Payroll as a cloud service

Payroll processing has never exactly been the belle of the ball. Businesses disliked it because it’s onerous, while accountants loathe it because payroll has proven difficult to monetise. Not to mention, the work is complex and there are bountiful opportunities to mess it up.

But now, payroll is finally having a moment. Cloud portals have altered the landscape, unlocking new productivity and profits for businesses and accountants. Moving beyond the confines of the desktop and connecting payroll software to the cloud opens all sorts of new, exciting prospects.

The benefits of cloud allows constant and iterative improvements because software companies can offer added benefits and additional layers of access via the web, rather than through more traditional, unsecured methods like sending attachments via email. This formula for progress holds true for cloud payroll accessibility. Synching your payroll data to the cloud enables new features, fully supported by a remote access infrastructure for your clients that’s always improving the payroll process.

As for your clients and their employees, a cloud portal can act as an in-house HR system, streamlining many internal payroll administrative duties. For employees, there is just one login to view employee documents and a company noticeboard. Employers can upload documents such as employment contracts, staff handbooks, privacy policies, training manuals. The employer can decide whether the employee should have access to view the document or not, using it as a central location for everything to do with each individual employee.

Cloud integration updates your information in real time which is easily accessible at any time via any device with internet access. Whether it’s just checking something after hours, or enabling flexible online access to payroll information creates freedom. Cloud payroll portals are making it easier and cheaper to provide payroll services at scale for all of your clients. Drudge work is automated, it’s more collaborative, and a simple, intuitive online interface speeds up your work.

But the potential profits from online payroll platforms aren’t just about payroll itself. Time is money, as the old saying goes. Less work filling in boxes means more time spent on lucrative work such as advisory services, consulting and new business development. All throughout the accounting profession, we’ve seen that when firms cut the time spent on traditional services like bookkeeping, tax preparation and now payroll, they can then take on additional clients and projects, using the same number of staff.

More capacity, more time, more flexibility, more collaboration, more profits: the benefits of cloud automation and remote self-service portals will seep into every corner of your practice.

Book a BrightPay Connect Demo today to increase your profits from your payroll service.

Posted byKaren BennettinBrightPay Connect

Three day easement for FPS to continue

HMRC have confirmed they are continuing the three day easement for filing of Full Payment Submissions that was introduced in 2015. Employers are required to file their PAYE information to HMRC on or before each payment date, which is the statutory filing date, unless the circumstances set out in the 'sending an FPS after payday guidance' are met. The three day easement is not an extension to the statutory filing date. No late filing penalties will be charged for late filing up to three days after the statutory filing date.

Employers can get a penalty in the following circumstances:

• The Full Payment Submission was late
• Failure to send:
1. Expected number of FPS
2. An Employer Payment Summary when there were no payments made to any employees in a tax month

HMRC had advised they will not charge a penalty if:

• The FPS is late but all reported payments on the FPS are within the three day period of the employees’ pay date. However, employers who consistently are filing their returns for up to three days after the payment date may be contacted by HMRC or considered for a penalty.
• The employer is a new employer and the first FPS is sent within thirty days of paying an employee
• It is the first time the employer has failed to send an RTI on time in the tax year (does not apply to employers with an annual scheme)

Posted byDebbie ClarkeinHMRC

Payroll transformed: How client cloud platforms supercharge your bureau

Accounting and payroll processing is best left to the experts. That’s always been true - and it remains true. The steady hand of a seasoned accountant or payroll professional is a powerful commodity that can’t be replaced by software.

But as much as things have stayed the same, other things have changed, too. The relationship between client and professional is no longer one-directional. What software has created is a new collaborative framework in which the payroll professional can thrive.

Payroll services can - and should - be a team effort. Gone are the days of payroll bureaus continuously slogging through manual processes, and the frustration of clients who need to approach their payroll services provider with every minor tweak.

In its place is software with cloud integration that envelops the day-to-day tasks like annual leave management, payslip distribution and backing up your payroll. That’s more time to focus on the essentials and provide better service.

Software can never replace the core professionalism of a payroll professional, but it can supplement it in many ingenious ways. Through self-service, through apps, through cloud backup: payroll software is about making your life easier.

You do the hard work, you get the credit, while your software hums along quietly in the background, automating and simplifying the repetitive aspects of the job and keeping you compliant.

Download our free guide where we discuss six exciting ways client cloud platforms have transformed payroll services. Not in the distant or even medium-term future: now. Here’s how cloud integration can help you today.

Posted byRachel HynesinBrightPay ConnectPayroll Software

Save the trees: Instant access to payroll data without the paper trail

We don’t get paychecks anymore, do we? The concept has been banished to TV shows set in the 1960s, where we see a down-on-their-luck salesman contemplate their paper cheque with sad resignation.

Outside of these cultural portrayals, we’ve all moved along to bank transfers. And yet, there’s still one hangover from the era of manual, paper led payroll: the payslip. Many of us, despite receiving our pay electronically, will receive a paper payslip detailing precisely how much we’ve earned and the taxes we’ve paid. Often these slips will clutter on the employee’s desk, unsecured and aimless.

But how much can you innovate with the old fashioned payslip, anyhow? Quite a bit, actually. This resource heavy, old school process can be taken entirely online. All employee payslips can be securely stored and instantly accessible on BrightPay Connect.

From here, individual employees can also access their HR documents such as their contract of employment through a personal self-service portal as and when they need it. That’s less legwork for you and a simple, well-organised process for the employee.

This can completely replace the more labour intensive process you have now. Payslips can be set up by the user to be automatically available on BrightPay Connect with an email notification to employees, eliminating the need to email them or print it out to hand out, one-by-one manually.

But, of course, employers should still have the choice to do it their way. The business can always email, download or print payslips from BrightPay Payroll. Whichever way the client would prefer is fine, but it remains seamless for you, the accountant.

It’s all about what’s most comfortable. With 24/7 access to employee payslips and other payroll reports, missing payslips and confusion will be consigned to the past. No more manual processes, no more unnecessary legwork -- just the information when you need it, in one location, accessible from anywhere for the accountant, employer and employee.

And with BrightPay Connect, the self-service process empowers the employee beyond payslips. The self-service portal is a powerful, multi-purpose cloud tool.

Employees can access their own personal leave calendar, view remaining holiday days, view sick leave taken, request annual leave, view and change their contact information, access payslips and other payroll and employment-related documents. Clients can even give managers access to approve leave for their department and restrict access the other sensitive payroll information such as employee salaries. It’s payroll software with integrated cloud automation that’s about so much more than just pay.

Book a BrightPay Connect demo today to see just how much time cloud automation and integration can save you.

Posted byKaren BennettinBrightPay Connect