october2021 - 13

FROM THE TRENCHES
outsourced is a point for another
discussion. However, there are so
many payroll options, they will not
all be listed in this article, but rather
maintained on the K2 websites at the
cloud section of CPAFirmTechnology.
com or the human resources section
of AccountingSoftwareWorld.com.
If you are running a Client
Accounting Services (CAS) practice,
payroll is one of the essential recurring
revenue streams that you can
create. Consultants that sell practices
note that a firm with recurring
revenue in a payroll operation can
obtain 3.5-4.5x revenue during a
sale, while most firms today are
doing well to sell at .8-1.25x revenue.
SO, WHAT DO WE
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
PAYROLL SYSTEMS?
Everyone has one. The question is
how much involvement you want
in payroll. For the last 30-40 years,
most CPA firms outsourced payroll
to ADP, Paychex, or Ceridian. These
very capable companies built large
payroll and HR operations on the
backs of their hard work, software,
referrals from CPAs, and the efforts
of their sales and support teams. All
three are frequently recommended
and deserve referrals. Each could
have a column, or a book, written
about their capabilities.
The most accountant-friendly
and reasonably priced payroll
system in the U.S. market is
AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief.
This system is only available to
professional accountants to use
for their clients. It is never sold
directly to end-users. The system
is highly efficient for data entry,
when required, and it handles the
entire payroll process end-to-end
as effectively and efficiently as any
system in the market.
The ACH capability could be sold
separately if the AccountantsWorld
management team was interested
in capitalizing on the FinTech stock
boom. But they are focused only on
helping accounting professionals
help their clients. As an additional
benefit, Payroll Relief is one of the
lowest cost solutions, too. Their
12-page brochure explains many
of the features. However, the best
thing to do is participate in one of
their 30-minute webinars or request
a detailed demonstration. As part
of an evaluation and selection
process with a client recently, I was
fortunate to participate in a five hour
demonstration of Payroll Relief's
capabilities including handling
agricultural clients and 943 forms.
Every question about a feature
needed was correctly answered
affirmatively. Larger competitors
had already proved they could not
do what was needed by this client.
While AccountantsWorld is not
perfect, they work to get things
right and better every day. Many
of my clients have converted from
Intuit payroll in the past year. They
are more motivated to do so right
now because of the forced conversion
going into 2022 AND the new
licensing policy that went into effect
in September 2021.
After reviewing payroll systems
that could be effectively used with
QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Xero,
and other CAS solutions, the most
impressive new products were
OnPay and Rippling. At least 20 good
payroll products could be used as
an effective CAS payroll solution,
but our favorite remained Payroll
Relief. Even though the K2 websites
for payroll named earlier are vetted
options for payroll, this list may help
get you started on evaluating your
payroll alternatives:
■ AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief
■ ADP Full Service Payroll
■ ADP HR Services
■ ADP RUN
■ Apex Human Capital Management
■ Ascentis
■ Bamboo HR
■ EmpowerHR (Fusion 5)
■ Gusto
■ Ignite InfoBright CD (Columnar
Database, NuViewHR)
■ Insperity
■ Intuit Core
■ Intuit Elite
■ Intuit Premium
■ iSolved
■ Justworks
■ Namely
■ OnPay
■ Patriot Payroll
■ Paychex Enterprise Payroll Services
and Software
■ Paychex Flex
■ Paychex HR Solutions and Services
■ Paychex SurePayroll
■ Paycom
■ Paycor
■ Payroll Vault
■ Rippling
■ Sage Business Cloud People
■ Thomson Reuters Accounting CS
Payroll
■ Thomson Reuters MyPay Solutions
■ Trakstar
■ Trinet
■ UKG (Kronos) Optimum
■ UKG (Kronos) UltiPro
■ Wave Payroll
■ Workday Human Capital
Management
■ Xero (Gusto)
■ Zoho Books Payroll (SurePayroll
in US)
As noted earlier, each one of
these products deserves a separate
column to discuss the features,
approach, and applicability to your
client base. Above all, most important
is your clients' needs. You see,
these payroll systems touch your
clients and their employees directly.
The payroll portal is the essence of
their client experience with your
firm. While you may never have the
resources or desire to develop a payroll
product, the software publisher
that provides payroll, PEO, and HR
software focuses on this every day.
Clients and their employees should
have a seamless client experience.
AND WHAT SHOULD
YOUR CLIENT
EXPERIENCE BE
WITH YOUR PAYROLL
OFFERING?
Are you simply trying to get rid of
payroll since it is essentially an
annoyance and risky? Or do you
see payroll as a way to build a deep
relationship with the client, understanding
payroll is one of the client's
larger cost items and most valuable
resources? Payroll can be a strategic
asset or an overhead expense for
you and your clients. Employees of
clients can be referral sources based
on their client experience OR they
could be detractors.
What client experience do you
want for payroll? Get a paycheck
efficiently in the great barter of
capitalism trading labor for money?
Or do you want to leverage human
capital as effectively as possible while
accurately providing compensation,
compliance with all taxes, and various
benefits, including healthcare and
retirement? Wise advisory-thinking
accounting professionals want
relationships with their clients and
their employees, and to not be treated
as disposable contractors. Would
you like your professional services
thought of as an overhead expense
that needs to be cut at every possible
turn? Short-cutting your payroll
service to your clients is throwing
away an opportunity to leverage your
relationship.
On the other hand, providing
relief to payroll headaches could be
one of your most effective, profitable
recurring services. Or you can choose
to have payroll be a commodity that
is shopped on the open market. Do
you want to supply a commodity,
compliance, or advisory service? It
is your choice. ■
OCTOBER 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
13
http://www.AccountingSoftwareWorld.com http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
october2021

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