5 frustrating things about running payroll yourself

If you run a business, you know that every month you will have to stop doing the fun stuff that you’re passionate about and do the payroll, ‘Yeah, I get to do the payroll this Friday!’ is what many a business owner will cheer!

Unless you love payroll (and run a payroll business like we do), odds are you didn’t start your business in order to manage and run one, but it’s a necessary evil that keeps that has to be done legally.

So what we thought we would do is comply a list together of the five most annoying things and publish it just as you’re about to tackle the mammoth job of processing it, just to remind you why we are here!  So here is the list, you may be able to relate to some of them.

1 – PAYE FINES

Last year, the government earned over £700 million in fines thanks to PAYE and payroll errors (you can also check out our blog about the top ten mistakes and how to avoid them to cut down on some of them costs).  Whether due to lateness or incorrect calculations, getting a fine from the government has a serious impact on a business and could potentially close down a small one.

2 – WHEN THE ONE PAYROLL EXPERT IN THE COMPANY IS ILL OR GONE ON HOLIDAY

Learning how to properly manage and process a smooth pay run is complex and time consuming. Small businesses often only have one person to do the payroll. When that vital person is off sick at a crucial payroll time, paying staff becomes very challenging and the whole payroll world can come crashing down.

This is why outsourcing has its benefits, we can take your payroll of your hands and give you the benefit of an experienced payroll department for the fraction of the cost (from £1.50 per employee) where no one will ever be off sick!

3 – DATA ENTRY

Not only is data entry tedious and unrewarding, little mistakes can lead to big problems. One mistake when inputting an employee’s bank details can lead to you accidentally paying someone else, one incorrect input of an invoice can be hours or reconciling and not knowing why.

4 – KEEPING UP WITH THE CHANGES

Constant legislation and compliance changes, plus HMRC guidelines happen regularly, more so during the government’s budget announcements, and the regular payroll year end updates. We have seen some of the biggest changes in payroll in the past few years, including auto-enrolment, RTI and the introduction of the new living wage.  These challenges businesses face in meeting theses deadlines and complying with new legal duties are a very time consuming task.

 5 – PAYROLL IS NEVER UNIFORM

Every month there is something that has changed from last month’s pay run.  Shelia has worked extra hours this weekend as it’s the little one’s birthday or yourself as a business have seen a massive drive in sales. The idea of a payroll that follows a “set and forget” policy just won’t work, especially now with the introduction of Auto Enrolment, as you will now have to constantly assess your employees each pay period.

Take the sting out of payroll by outsourcing all these little annoyances to the professionals, to us! With your payroll safe in the hands of a company you can trust, you can get back to the business of, well, running your business and doing what you love to do.  Leave the payroll to us www.chrysalispayrollandaccounts.co.uk