{"id":5331,"date":"2018-08-28T17:35:20","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sagestaging.wpengine.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=5208"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:32:28","slug":"payroll-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/payroll-system\/","title":{"rendered":"How to choose a payroll system for your business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoney Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to choose a payroll system for your business\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Ashley\t\t\t\tAshley Thompson<\/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

From the moment a company starts hiring employees, it must adopt a solid and comprehensive payroll system<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing an integrated and complete payroll<\/a> system may not be at the forefront of your mind as an entrepreneur keen to explore business opportunities but this step is essential to avoid future problems related to growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all a matter of building on solid foundations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also important to remind any budding entrepreneur that employing people<\/a> carries a number of legal obligations, such as operating PAYE (pay as you earn) as part of payroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAYE is HMRC\u2019s system to collect income tax and National Insurance<\/a> from employment. This means there are also deductions to be made and reported to HMRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you don\u2019t have to be an expert to run a payroll system, it’s important to choose a system that matches your businesses. In view of that, here are five things to consider when choosing a payroll system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Security<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Often overlooked in favour of other features, security has to be one of the primary concerns of a solid payroll system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure you are familiar with the security policy of the system provider while looking out for features such as encryption and customer support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paying the nation<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Want to know how to pay your employees with ease while keeping up with the latest payroll legislation? Request a call back and learn more.<\/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\tFind out more<\/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\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Consider how you pay your employees<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you pay your employees via direct deposit or do you issue cheques? Many payroll systems integrate with banks but there may be a cost associated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Keeping records<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you run payroll for your company, it is essential that you keep records of salaries and deductions<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is therefore important that regardless of the system you choose, it should have the capacity to hold these records making them accessible at the click of a button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Think about automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As demand increases for businesses to perform complex, labour-intensive tasks, automation can offer a way to save time and increase overall efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to automate as many manual processes as possible while eliminating any possible source of error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technological advancements and the influential role cloud computing<\/a> is playing have accelerated the evolution of business processes from re-engineering to automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Be two steps ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A good payroll system needs to accommodate rapid expansion. Ask yourself, can the business cope with hiring extra employees? Or, will the extra admin be too much of a burden?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why it is important to consider features such as modularity and ease of expansion when selecting an integrated payroll system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloud-based payroll systems<\/a> provide real-time reporting<\/a> as well as frequent updates to cover the latest changes in legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An integrated payroll system brings a level of overall clarity to the business as well as improved compliance, particularly if compared to locally hosted systems that will take longer to adapt to any changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The guide to people and payroll<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Want to motivate your employees, manage the run-up to payday and improve your payroll processes? Get you free guide and use it to get your people and payroll processes working effectively.<\/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\tGet your free guide<\/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\"The\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Sage Advice newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Join more than 500,000 UK readers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, 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\tSubscribe now<\/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\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the moment a company starts hiring employees it must adopt a solid and comprehensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":5533,"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":[6],"tags":[41,37],"business_type":[4],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[73,74],"imagine_tag":[92,109],"coauthors":[354],"class_list":["post-5331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-matters","tag-hr-process","tag-payroll","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-gb","author_name":"Ashley Thompson","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/11\/206250_25487_1200x600.jpg","imagine_tags":{"92":"HR and Payroll","109":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice UK","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/5533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}