Payroll & Accounts Dept

GoneShootin

To all SME owners (30 staff and less), how do you run your payroll and accounting depts? Do you

- Have an in-house accountant at accountancy rates, or do you
- Have someone in a more clerical role, pushing paper to an external accountant for vat returns etc. Or have you
- Outsourced the entire dept to an external payroll company?

Looking for some feedback! Have a situation at the moment and I'm not sure we are getting the most bang for our buck.

ssbob

GoneShootin wrote: »

To all SME owners (30 staff and less), how do you run your payroll and accounting depts? Do you

- Have an in-house accountant at accountancy rates, or do you
- Have someone in a more clerical role, pushing paper to an external accountant for vat returns etc. Or have you
- Outsourced the entire dept to an external payroll company?

Looking for some feedback! Have a situation at the moment and I'm not sure we are getting the most bang for our buck.

Hows things what type of business do you have? I can give you advice on costs as I provide bookeeping and payroll services to SME's. PM me if you like.

srsly78

1 employee, others are contractors. Excel spreadsheet -> Calcs based on www.taxcalc.eu.

GoneShootin

How many people on your payroll srsly78?

srsly78

1 full-time employee as I said above. Other short-term employees I pay as contractors - so they handle their own tax affairs.

Payroll very simple if you just got 1 Director. VAT is more of an annoyance Even with a few more staff it's not that bad if you are handy with Excel. Just go to www.taxcalc.eu, enter figures, and copy/paste the computed output. The figures have been 100% correct so far (signed off on by my accountant).

I do pay an accountant to do my annual return.

DubTony

I used Thesaurus payroll software. 15 employees. Took about 20 minutes a week after the hours had been added up. Accountants charge way too much for this service. My brother used to pay €300 a month for 5 salaried employees. :eek:
At one time I had an electronic time clock connected to the same computer as the payroll software. Three clicks and the employees hours were imported to payroll and the wages were done.
There are lots of solutions out there that work out cheaper than paying professionals.

VAT was done based on the info that came from the POS system. Purchases were entered in an accounts package daily (about 10 minutes). Simple calculation at return time.

Full accounts were done by an outside accountant.

ssbob

DubTony wrote: »

I used Thesaurus payroll software. 15 employees. Took about 20 minutes a week after the hours had been added up. Accountants charge way too much for this service. My brother used to pay €300 a month for 5 salaried employees. :eek:
At one time I had an electronic time clock connected to the same computer as the payroll software. Three clicks and the employees hours were imported to payroll and the wages were done.
There are lots of solutions out there that work out cheaper than paying professionals.

VAT was done based on the info that came from the POS system. Purchases were entered in an accounts package daily (about 10 minutes). Simple calculation at return time.

Full accounts were done by an outside accountant.

Hi DubTony,

While I agree that some people charge way too much for this kind of service, you have to realise that you are also paying for the expertise in employment law and the contiuous updating of these.

For example when the levies changed around, how much did your theasauraus update cost? Do you also submit all P30 returns etc and year end returns?

Zamboni

ssbob wrote: »

Hi DubTony,

While I agree that some people charge way too much for this kind of service, you have to realise that you are also paying for the expertise in employment law and the contiuous updating of these.

It is hardly rocket science.
If someone is smart enough to run a business they are smart enough to do PAYE/VAT returns.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Zamboni wrote: »

It is hardly rocket science.
If someone is smart enough to run a business they are smart enough to do PAYE/VAT returns.

Maybe but it's a bit of hassle. I use a payroll bureau for payroll, then have a book keeper in to do the VAT return for a couple of hours every two months.

DubTony

ssbob wrote: »

Hi DubTony,

While I agree that some people charge way too much for this kind of service, you have to realise that you are also paying for the expertise in employment law and the contiuous updating of these.

For example when the levies changed around, how much did your theasauraus update cost? Do you also submit all P30 returns etc and year end returns?

All updates within the year were free. P30's take about 20 seconds. Filling out the return took longer. P35 was the same. And my accountant knew nothing (worthwhile) about employment law

ssbob

DubTony wrote: »

All updates within the year were free. P30's take about 20 seconds. Filling out the return took longer. P35 was the same. And my accountant knew nothing (worthwhile) about employment law

Fair enough argument so DubTony:)

DubTony

I'll just add that the Thesaurus payroll software is excellent. I've never used another one so can't make a comparison. It's easy to set up, very intuitive to use, and prints reports in seconds. I haven't used it for a couple of years (I'm between businesses :rolleyes:) but if I remember correctly I think it's fully compatible with the Revenue Online Service these days so doing returns is even easier.
In 9 years of use I called them twice for support and both times the girl who answered the phone told me what to do - in seconds. I will definitely use it in the future. It's €140 a year with full support and they allow you to Try Before You Buy. A full featured free download is good for full payroll for about 4 weeks. If you choose to keep it just pay them and they'll send an activation code and a disc (in case you need one). In fact I think if you pay over the phone they'll give you the code on the spot. These guys really do make it easy to do business with them.
And the bonus is - (and I ain't no cliquey bastard) - they're Irish.

www.thesaurus.ie

Now Mr. Thesaurus - PM me so I can tell you where to send the cheque.

smcgiff

DubTony,

Thesaurus is one of the better ones for the smaller business, but they don't (or didn't up to a year ago) have an integrated P35 that could upload to the Revenue. Really strange they didn't have this and a reason why I know one person stopped using them - they switched to Quickpay.

dbran

Hi

I use Payback here in the practice. Costs €130, they are Irish, unlimited company, unlimited employees, email payslips etc. Very user friendly interface.

Regarding paying for payroll services, if you have the time to do it and understand how the Paye system works then it is easy enough. Otherwise if you dont have the time or patience then outsource it.

People are different. What may seem simple to some people is an enormous hassle to somebody else.

Just my 2c anyway:).

Kind Regards

dbran