Accountants and Advisors: Here are the Payroll Features You Need to Keep Clients Satisfied

As an accountant, consultant, or business advisor, your small business clients rely on you not only to prepare tax filings and accounting reports, but to also provide real-world solutions to help them optimize business operations.

By pairing an all-in-one platform that incorporates payroll, benefits administration, and HR tools with the financial services you’re already providing, you’ll be able to meet the needs of your clients in a more holistic way. There is no better way to decisively demonstrate that you’re a trusted advisor whose services are crucial to their success.

Thankfully, you don’t have to create your own complex app to provide clients with an all-in-one payroll and employee benefits platform that incorporates tools to streamline key HR processes, such as onboarding. In this post, we'll explore some of the payroll features you should look for in a third-party solution.

Integrate with Existing Business Software

Any software tool you add to your practice or recommend to clients should integrate with the existing business software that you (or they) are already using. After all, clients look to you to help simplify the financial aspects of their businesses, not to complicate things. For that reason, it’s important to opt for a payroll solution that easily syncs with tools like QuickBooks and Xero, while adding functionality and value.

When your business software talks directly to your payroll system, that leads to saving time and avoiding data entry errors.

What does this mean for you and your clients? When your business software talks directly to your payroll system, that leads to saving time and avoiding data entry errors. You’ll be able to help your clients streamline operations via a comprehensive HR platform that talks directly to the accounting software they’re already using.

Simplified Accounting Reports and Filings

Not only do you want a tool that can simplify payroll processing and related transactions, you'll also want one that's designed with the accounting and financial reporting needs of small businesses in mind. Look for a solution that calculates, files, and remits payroll taxes, even adjusting for bonus and commission payments, as well as other supplemental payments. This makes it quick and easy to pull compensation and payroll data any time it’s needed.

Look for a solution that calculates, files, and remits payroll taxes, even adjusting for bonus and commission payments, as well as other supplemental payments.

Some solutions, like Justworks, offer even more in the way of accounting reports than just payroll data. Your clients can pay contractors and vendors via the platform, so it’s easy to pull a variety of accounting reports that small businesses need. It’s also simple to download a report of owners’ draw payments, which provides the information needed to prepare Form 1065 (Schedule K-1) that must be provided annually to business owners or partners.

Simplified Direct Deposit and Off-cycle Payments

The payroll-related advantages of these third-party solutions don’t stop with simplified access to accountant reports. Your clients will also benefit from the ability to make direct deposit payments to employees, contractors, and vendors. A modern, cloud-based solution can help to simplify the practicalities of the all-important process of getting paychecks to workers and reimbursing them for expenses. Look for tools with features like:

• Direct deposit - Setting up direct deposit makes it possible for even very small businesses to get payments to employees regardless of whether they are working remotely or in an office location.

• Off-cycle payments - The direct deposit capabilities should make it easy to properly pay all employees with bonsues and commissions, whether they are part time, full-time, hourly, or exempt, as well as contractors and vendors.

Powerful Time Tracking Solution

If your clients need to accurately capture compensable time and calculate billable hours, factor time tracking software into your equation. Some payroll solutions, including Justworks, offer these features. With the Justworks Time Tracking integration, even small businesses can benefit from powerful time tracking software that includes features like geolocation tracking, shift management, and project tracking.

Access to Health Insurance and Key Benefits

As a business advisor, you look at every area of clients’ operations to determine where they can use the most support. Health insurance is an area that small businesses tend to struggle with, as they’re generally not able to negotiate coverage options that measure up to those offered by the larger companies they compete with for talent.

If this is an issue for your clients, consider a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) like Justworks. With a PEO, your clients will be able to provide employees with access to the same high-quality group health insurance plans and other employee benefits as large companies. No longer will your clients have to worry about losing out on employees because they don’t have the ability to offer big company benefits.

As a business advisor, you look at every area of clients’ operations to determine where they can use the most support.

No single aspect of running a business exists in a vacuum: health insurance and benefits attract and retain employees, which in turn allows your clients to take on more work to drive more business and revenue through the door. When you’re able to make that happen for your clients, they’ll surely know that you’re a trusted advisor they can’t do without.

Expense Management Support

Whether you are an accountant, a consultant, or a business advisor, clients expect you to be able to provide strategic guidance across all areas of their businesses. Your clients want a full picture of their cash out, which means gaining an understanding of all business expenses, including employee expenses and other costs. Justworks makes it possible for you to provide this to clients, along with industry-standard employee benefits and the HR tools they need to operate successfully today and grow in the future.

Building Value and the Bottom Line

What’s the bottom line for your practice? You’ll be able to help your clients gain competitive advantage by providing them with access to key HR services and an all-in-one payroll platform, all without having to add a team of human resources experts or software developers to your team.

The Justworks platform is backed up by full-service 24/7 support, so your clients and their employees will be able to get their questions answered any time of the day or night without direct input from you. Not only will you be able to provide clients with value-added services that can help them grow their businesses, you’ll also be positioning yourself as an invaluable resource while adding a revenue stream to your practice.