At Beyond, we support not just business owners but also their teams. For many small business owners, their employees are like their family. They want to care for them the best way possible, and so do we.
One way we aim to help you care for your team is through our Payroll Management Services.
In this article, we will discuss what’s included in our Payroll Management Service, what is not, and how it can benefit you.
What our service is not
While many bookkeeping firms offer full-service payroll, we do not.
Here’s why:
- Complexity – Payroll processing can involve intricate tax calculations, deductions, and compliance with constantly changing regulations.
- Specialization – Some clients have specialized payroll needs, such as prevailing wage rates and wage fringe benefits.
- Lack of Transparency – Since our firm is not in your office day to day, any last-minute changes to payroll could be missed, resulting in payroll errors and slower corrections.
For all the reasons above, our firm does not elect to run payroll on behalf of our clients. However, we do not leave our clients without any payroll resources.
We recommend that our clients enter their payroll using a reputable payroll processor. (Gusto is one of our favorites!) Payroll processors can handle the complexity of payroll compliance, often have services that address specialized needs, and can handle payroll changes seamlessly.
So if you are working with a payroll processor, why do you need our payroll management service? It’s a valuable enhancement to your current payroll process.
Payroll monitoring
Most payroll providers follow a similar method:
- You input your payroll information, review it, and approve it.
- The payroll provider withdraws the funds needed for payroll from your bank account, pays your employees, and remits your federal and state payroll taxes.
- The payroll details are uploaded to your accounting system.
- The payroll provider takes care of your federal and state payroll tax filings.
However, there can be a breakdown in one or more of these steps.
Once you have entered and approved your payroll, we will monitor the payroll process from there.
Once your payroll provider has uploaded the payroll to your accounting, we take care of the following steps:
- We verify that the payroll information has been recorded in your accounting system accurately.
- We enter all payroll cash withdrawals from your bank account into your books.
- We review any employee reimbursements to ensure they are expensed properly.
- We verify that the cash withdrawn from your bank agrees with the payroll reports for each payroll run.
- If you use classes or tracking codes for your payroll, we will verify that the allocations are posted correctly.
In addition to monitoring payroll, we monitor any integration issues between your payroll software and your accounting system. We also handle annual adjustments to your payroll tax settings, such as updating annual state unemployment insurance rates.
Quarterly wage reconciliations
For small businesses that operate in the United States, there are quarterly payroll filing requirements for both federal and state agencies. Most payroll providers will file payroll tax returns for you. However, we take your quarterly payroll process a step further.
Each quarter, we verify that the total wages reported by your payroll processor agree with what is expensed in your accounting records. This step helps us spot any errors that could have occurred. For example, perhaps a payroll run was not uploaded into your accounting software. Or maybe there are payroll taxes incorrectly recorded as wages in your books.
In addition to verifying wages each quarter, we download and securely save your payroll tax returns. Anytime you need to retrieve that information at a later date, we can easily provide you with a copy.
Benefits support
Our payroll management service includes making sure your employee benefits are set up correctly from the start. We assist our clients when setting up new benefits and reviewing existing benefits.
Open Enrollment can be a frustrating time for any business with employee benefits. We proactively reach out to our clients when we know their Open Enrollment period is about to start. We can provide recommendations on the best method to handle the process. Often we find that working with your payroll provider automates much of this.
Once the new benefit rates are determined, we verify that any bills associated with employee benefits are set up in your accounting system correctly. For example, if an S-Corp has 2% shareholders on the payroll, we ensure that any medical benefits are correctly reported as part of their compensation. If you have multiple departments with employee benefits, we can allocate the bill in your accounting system to split those costs by department.
While we do not offer a full payroll service, our payroll management processes can enhance and support your current payroll tasks in-house. Many of our clients have expressed feeling confident in handling their payroll knowing that we are providing them with additional support. Are you looking to build confidence in your payroll process? Learn how outsourcing your payroll to a provider may help!