Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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Reviews For Your Firm PAYROLL SYSTEMS BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS t (FOFSBM /BWJHBUJPO &BTF; PG 6TF t %FTJHOFE GPS "DDPVOUJOH 1SPGFTTJPOBMT t $PODVSSFOU 6TFST t 4DBMBCJMJUZ OVNCFS PG QBZSPMMT IBOEMFE t .VMUJQMF 1SJDJOH 0QUJPOT t .VMUJ $MJFOU .BOBHFNFOU t 1BZSPMM 5BY 5BCMFT GPS BMM TUBUFT KVSJTEJDUJPOT NVOJDJQBMJUJFT t "GUFS UIF 'BDU 1BZSPMM t .VMUJ 4UBUF 5BYFT t %JSFDU %FQPTJU REPORTING & MONITORING t $PNQMJBODF %VF %BUF 5SBDLJOH .POJUPSJOH t 2VBSUFSMZ "OOVBM 'PSNT GPS BMM 4UBUFT t & mMJOH 1BZNFOU t $VTUPNJ[BCMF 3FQPSUT t %BTICPBSET GPS &NQMPZFF; .BOBHFNFOU t 8PSLFST $PNQ 5SBDLJOH INTEGRATION/IMPORT/ EXPORT t *OUFHSBUJPO X QSPHSBNT t *OUFHSBUJPO X FYUFSOBM QSPHSBNT (- FYQPSU FUD t #VJMU JO 5JNFTIFFU .BOBHFNFOU t 5JNF $MPDL *NQPSU t 8FC UJNFTIFFU QIPOF UJNF SFQPSUJOH TVQQPSU t %BUB JNQPSU FYQPSU GPSNBUT TVQQPSUFE HELP/SUPPORT t #VJMU JO 4VQQPSU 'FBUVSFT t 4ZTUFN VQEBUFT CFTU JG EPXOMPBEBCMF PS BVUPNBUJD EPXOMPBE t 4VQQPSU XFCTJUF EPDVNFOUBUJPO t 5FNQMBUFT GPS DSFBUJOH FNQMPZFS JOTUSVD UJPOT UP FNQMPZFFT t -JWF 4VQQPSU JODMVEFT QIPOF t -JWF 4VQQPSU EBZT IPVST MPDBUJPO t %FEJDBUFE BDDPVOU SFQ BTTJHOFE CLIENT SELF-SERVICE FEATURES t &NQMPZFF; 4FMG 4FSWJDF 1PSUBMT t $MJFOU 1PSUBMT GPS %BUB &OUSZ; 3FQPSUJOH t 'JSN #SBOEFE t 1BZDIFDL 4UVC 8 1PSUBM %FMJWFSZ Steven M. Phelan, CPA Steven is currently a tax manager at North Bay Associates, a family group office based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He also owns a small tax and accounting practice as a side business. Prior to this, he spent 12 years in public accounting practice, with a primary focus on tax and technology consulting. He is active within the CPA profession and is a frequent speaker at various seminars and conferences throughout Oklahoma. T 11 Payroll Systems for Professional Firms ax legislation over the past few years has affected many tax types and payroll tax has been no exception. Legislation put into effect in January 2012 con- tinued that trend. Payroll tax affects an overwhelming majority of the workers in the United States and the current tax uncertainties remain a huge issue. Tax and accounting professionals are well posi- tioned to provide the planning, guidance and compli- ance necessary for the current and potential changes. Te soſtware reviewed in this section will help provide tax and accounting professionals the tools required during this time of uncertainty. Most products reviewed here are designed with professionals in mind and offer a mixture of tools to enhance payroll service offerings. Additionally, all the products offer core processing features that are strong enough to handle the most complicated payroll needs. Several payroll processing methods are available and allow tax and accounting professionals to choose the one best suited to their respective service offerings. Tese methods also allow the accountant to assume different levels of responsibility for the payroll, from end-to-end processing to quarterly compliance, as well as collaboration with clients on payroll issues. Commonly requested features, such as time keeping functions and direct deposit are present in nearly all products. Each payroll solution is also highly automated to reduce error rates and time spent processing payroll. One area of strength within each payroll solution is the amount of help and support included. Te help and support systems in place generally offer strong assistance features to ease the issues and burdens that come with payroll compliance. Moreover, each vendor commonly includes these help and support offerings with the annual licensing costs. Payroll vendors have adapted to the changing consumer market and many are offering next gen- eration services to clients and sometimes employees. Nearly all vendors provide some level of employee self-service portal which helps reduce the administra- tive burden of providing paper copies of paystubs to employees. With the overwhelming presence of mobile devices today, payroll vendors are also in the process of implementing mobile applications, providing access to reports, processing payrolls and some data entry functions. Tere are a handful of differentiators among the payroll solutions with one of the largest being aſter- the-fact payroll. Not all payroll vendors incorporate MORE ONLINE: See these reviews PLUS coverage of payroll systems from Cougar Mountain Software, Paychex and Pensoft at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10773671 Intuit Online Payroll for Accounting Professionals 2012 OVERALL RATING BEST FIRM FIT Accounting professionals mainly reliant on the QuickBooks accounting soſtware platform but need a higher level of outsourced payroll support STRENGTHS r Internet-based solution to allow anytime payroll processing r Provide platform for col- laborating with clients on various payroll tasks r Much improved mobile applications r Predictable pricing to help ensure profitability POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS r No HR functions or 10 October 2012 t www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com add-in modules available r Concurrent file access not allowed r No aſter-the-fact payroll capabilities SUMMARY & PRICING Online Pay roll for Accounting Professionals provides accounting profes- sionals a web-based plat- form to process payroll virtually anywhere with an Internet connection. A unique aspect of the service allows the client to collaborate directly with the accounting profes- sional through various levels of user rights. Tis allows the client to be as involved or uninvolved as necessary. With the new improvements to the mobile application and addition of job costing capabilities, Online Payroll for Accounting Profes- sionals presents a solid solution for accounting professionals. All pricing is fixed per client and is on a tiered pricing structure deter- mined by number of cli- ents using the service. Priced at $19.99 per month, per client , accounting professionals may process up to five separate clients, each with up to five employees. Based on the number of clients processed, monthly pricing may be as low as $10.99 per client. Pricing for employees in excess of five within each company is priced at $0.50 per month. All pricing includes unlimited payroll runs, direct deposit, all noted integrations and electronic tax payments and filings. BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS REPORTING & MONITORING INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT HELP/SUPPORT CLIENT SELF-SERVICE FEATURES Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10773696 888-236-9501 www.accountant.intuit.com/payroll this module into their payroll solutions and those that do tend to treat after-the fact payroll as an extension as opposed to a dedicated module. Tis greatly decreases the feature's usefulness in most instances. Human resource functions are not generally included for solutions designed for the desktop while Internet-based solutions tend to include rudimentary capabilities with available add-ons for full featured HR management. All the solutions will import some level of data through Microsoſt Excel and CSV file formats. Payroll solutions that are not part of a suite of products are usually limited to a fixed number of products for integration. With the next generation service offerings being improved upon and the help and support options provided, tax and accounting professionals have the opportunity to be well positioned in the payroll service area. Payroll solutions available today can aid in creating new revenue streams and profitability for tax and accounting professionals. Accountants offering payroll services are also in a position to gain additional work through frequently interacting with current clients' most valuable assets, their employees. ●