With changes in the wind across the accounting and payroll sectors, business owners have much to prepare for leading into 2019. Fortunately there are software and service solution providers ready to make life easier.
Why automation matters
For business owners tempted to manually DIY their way through the new payday filing regime, Lisa Martin, executive director of accounting solutions specialist GoFi8ure, sounds a warning. If you’re paying staff weekly, it would require you to log onto the IRD site four times a month.
Things get tricky when a business owner decides to wing it, Martin says. They might go online at 10pm on a Monday night, get the PAYE calculator, work out the net pay and pay their staff. Then have just two days to get it checked.
Better to go on an automated payroll system and avoid all the stress, she says – provided you’re talking to a bookkeeper, accountant or tax agent, and despite the fact that the IRD is encouraging people to deal direct.
Martin implores business owners to never use Excel spreadsheets to manage payroll, when there are so many affordable cloud-based (SaaS) payroll software packages out there. And get the provider to set it up, she says, so balances such as accrued leave are carried forward correctly.
The recent Bunnings case relating to miscalculated leave payments is a great reason why you should get it right.
“Start now with new software, don’t leave it to April 2019,” urges Martin. “It’s all about the planning and processes, especially considering it is someone else’s money!
“There are loads of bookkeepers standing at the ready to help you get off spreadsheets and into the 21st century.”