{"id":7804,"date":"2022-01-27T13:04:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T18:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/?p=7804"},"modified":"2026-02-26T04:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:54:49","slug":"payroll-services-practice-provide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/payroll-services-practice-provide\/","title":{"rendered":"Payroll services: 7 reasons why your practice should provide them"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/category\/technology-innovation\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Technology &amp; Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPayroll services: 7 reasons why your practice should provide them\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2022-01-27T13:04:16-05:00\">January 27, 2022<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"Payroll services: 7 reasons why your practice should provide them\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/payroll-services-practice-provide\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/author\/sallypercy\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/11\/Sally-Percy.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Sally Percy<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Many small businesses choose to save time and money by outsourcing their payroll services to external providers such as accountancy firms and payroll bureaus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read this article to find out why your practice should consider offering them to clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-are-payroll-services\">What are payroll services?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Payroll services covers a number of employment-related activities undertaken by businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They include processing the payroll and providing payslips and T4 forms to staff, completing payroll year end submissions, calculating tax, CPP and EI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-payroll-processing-gets-outsourced\">Why payroll processing gets outsourced<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPayroll processing can be time-consuming and it requires a lot of checks before submission to ensure that the correct information is submitted and employee wages are correct,\u201d explains Mariah Tompkins, director of accounting firm WKM Accountancy Services<u>.<\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy outsourcing payroll, in-house teams regain a lot of time that can then be used for other important business activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outsourcing also enables businesses to access knowledgeable payroll professionals \u2013 which is an important consideration given the complexity involved with administering payroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn-house staff might not have all the relevant expertise to cope with all the regulatory changes and announcements needed in a small business,\u201d explains Geoff Matthews, owner and partner of an accountancy firm Matthews Business Associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn that case, it can be better for payroll to be run by outside experts who are aware of the current laws, rules and regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-seven-reasons-to-offer-payroll-services\">Seven reasons to offer payroll services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Accountancy firms that offer payroll services to their clients benefit in a number of important ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what are the key reasons why your practice should offer payroll services to your clients? Here are seven worth considering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-you-ll-be-able-to-add-more-value-to-your-clients-businesses\">1. You\u2019ll be able to add more value to your clients\u2019 businesses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If your accountancy practice can be a one-stop shop, it can provide a full service that covers everything your clients need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can also help them to comply with CRA filing requirements and statutory legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-you-can-generate-more-revenue-for-your-practice\">2. You can generate more revenue for your practice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Payroll services can be a significant additional income stream that clients pay for on a regular monthly basis, making them particularly valuable during times of economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can also open the door to new clients who may not have considered using your practice before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-you-ll-be-in-a-better-position-to-offer-advice\">3. You\u2019ll be in a better position to offer advice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>By offering payroll services, you\u2019ll better understand your clients\u2019 businesses, which will help you to develop a closer working relationship with them and possibly enable you to sell additional services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-you-can-develop-a-lucrative-niche\">4. You can develop a lucrative niche<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Some accountants run payroll services for businesses in specialist sectors, such as agriculture and hospitality, which have specific requirements that may include zero-hours contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-you-can-simplify-year-end-accounting-processes\">5. You can simplify year-end accounting processes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If your accountancy firm manages your clients\u2019 payroll in-house, payroll data will be instantly available at the tax and financial year end, as well as for audit purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-you-ll-enhance-the-brand-value-of-your-firm\">6. You\u2019ll enhance the brand value of your firm<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Clients are more likely to believe they will get a higher level of service from accountancy practices that administer payroll in addition to offering accounting and tax services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-you-ll-be-helping-your-clients\">7. You\u2019ll be helping your clients<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>By removing a significant administrative burden, you\u2019ll be enabling your clients to focus on growing their businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-should-you-start-with-offering-payroll-services\">Where should you start with offering payroll services?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important to undertake thorough due diligence and research before offering payroll services to your clients, so you can tailor your offering and price it accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, you\u2019ll want to establish what kinds of requirements your clients tend to have, such as the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Do they run large or small payrolls?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do their staff use timesheets?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do they offer additional benefits such as health insurance and company cars?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Will your clients want you to provide them with add-on services such as payroll reporting?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The complexity \u2013 and time \u2013 involved with running a payroll can vary according to these factors and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of your market research, you should ask professional contacts within your network about their own experiences of running payroll services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, find out what kinds of services your competitors are offering \u2013 both other accountancy practices and dedicated payroll bureaus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-running-your-payroll-services\">Running your payroll services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, you\u2019ll need to think about who will run your payroll services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t already have the expertise in-house, you\u2019ll either need to hire a payroll professional to support you or upskill an existing team member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A number of training courses exist, including those run by the CRA. As well as knowledgeable staff, you\u2019ll also need someone to oversee payroll at a leadership level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMake sure you have a partner in your practice who is responsible for payroll and understands what is done on a day-to-day basis,\u201d advises payroll consultant Kate Upcraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s much more complicated than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Someone senior needs to make sure that they and the payroll team keep up to date with changes in legislation \u2013 employment law as well as tax, EI and CPP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-technology-to-use\">Technology to use<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you have an idea of what your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/sage-business-cloud\/payroll\/\">payroll services offering<\/a> will look like, the next step is to invest in the technology to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a wide range of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/sage-business-cloud\/payroll\/\">payroll software<\/a> options on the market. When choosing the package that\u2019s right for you, look for efficient and reliable software that has the features you need to run your payroll services cost-effectively and deliver on the expectations of your clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For business continuity purposes, it\u2019s also essential to use a cloud-based package, so your practice staff can be based in any location when they are running your clients\u2019 payroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion-on-payroll-services\">Conclusion on payroll services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Efficient payroll is crucial to the smooth running of all businesses. For that reason, it\u2019s a big commitment that needs to be undertaken with accuracy and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you offer payroll services, you are fulfilling an important responsibility on behalf of your clients. \u201cPayroll isn\u2019t just about paying people,\u201d notes Upcraft. \u201cIt\u2019s so much more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t pay people properly, they won\u2019t go to work. They expect to be paid on time and accurately \u2013 every week or every month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important for accountancy practices to at least consider the benefits of offering payroll services \u2013 not least because of the opportunity cost of not doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe consequence of not offering payroll services is that the client may approach another accountant who does and that accountant might convince them to hand over other parts of their business,\u201d says Shoaib Aslam, CEO and founder of&nbsp; accountancy practice Pearl Accountants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although payroll services can be time-intensive to deliver, and they do require accountancy practices to invest in both staff and technology, they can nevertheless be key to enabling practices to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOffering payroll as a service has given us a significant opportunity to grow our business by providing us with an additional revenue stream,\u201d adds Tompkins. \u201cIt has also made our day-to day-work for our existing client base much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"cta-content__title\">Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-8949a954-88b2-43bb-8b8a-77c53eb34350\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Accountancy practices that offer payroll services can add value to their clients and generate higher revenues. Learn how yours can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":689,"featured_media":8251,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"business_type":[3],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[],"imagine_tag":[61],"coauthors":[378],"class_list":["post-7804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-innovation","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-ca","author_name":"Sally Percy","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1267191201_updated.jpg","imagine_tags":{"61":"Payroll software"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Canada English","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14421,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7804\/revisions\/14421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/8251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}