Payroll Improvement Guide 1
Payroll Business Improvement Guide
Australian Employers
Over 100 tactics
Second Edition - 10 May ’18
Australia 1300 288 224 [email protected]
New Zealand 0800 288 224 [email protected]
International +61 2 9929 8700 [email protected]
www.attachesoftware.com www.attachesoftware.com/payroll
Payroll Improvement Guide 1
7 May
Payroll Efficiency
Payroll ready reckoner
Note: the potential business improvement strategies outlined in this
document have been professionally prepared but are theoretical. No
representation is made that any business will achieve such benefits by
using Attaché systems. In practice it depends entirely on the individual
business and their circumstances. This is why we created this document -
to help you be the judge of what may or may not benefit your business with
the comfort of our money back guarantee.
Payroll Improvement Guide 3
Payroll Improvement Guide
Single Touch Payroll (STP) is an opportunity to improve payroll efficiency, in particular, getting rid of ‘workarounds’. This guide has over 100 improvement tactics. The benefits should cover the small cost many times over.
If you haven’t already done so, watch Marianne’s ‘Turbo-charge your payroll’ video. It also lets you download the free STP checklist – invaluable no matter what payroll you may use: www.attachesoftware.com/payroll
STP starts 1 July 2018 if you have 20 or more staff. Every payroll needs an upgrade. STP does not run on old systems so it’s also an opportunity for a ‘technology refresh’ that could improve your business performance & value well into the next decade.
It may be best to put your new STP payroll on a standalone PC or server. Over time migrating your other systems across. This ‘one-step-at-a-time’ approach also avoids the risk of ‘blowing-up’ your business with rushed-installs.
Attaché is the top provider of medium systems – for those with $2m>$100m revenue / 10>1000 staff. While small firms may put everything in the cloud, 70% of medium & large businesses favour hybrid systems (like Attaché). Proven in-house software with cloud online services, it embraces new technology with less risk & more success. We fill the gap between small systems like Xero & large ones like Myob Advanced. 500,000 employees get an Attaché pay advice.
Reasons given for installing our payroll include:
Device independent online access from any State or Country
Multiple types of leave accruals & handling of Flexitime
Flexibility of allowances to pay outside salary & wages
Can pay Aust, NZ, PNG, Islands staff from one system
Integration with high performance rostering systems
Staff access to 42 months of pay advice history
Staff access to their leave entitlements & requirements
Custom reports, unlimited capacity for everything
Handles salary sacrifice & packaging requirements
Fast processing - reduced from days to hours per month
Export of super payments to the various funds included
Needed the flexible pay rates & pay frequencies
Casuals - easy to set up in a group with pre-set rates, allowances
Staff can enter their details before starting & receive other documentation
The features & cost were much better than outsourcing
Wanted our payroll data kept in house & local support
Other payrolls couldn’t handle our cost centre reporting
Needed a robust payroll that integrated with our ERP system
Knowledgeable consultants - helped us correct errors we were making – like
members of our staff & only minutes away
Welcome to our Payroll Improvement Guide – allow 30 minutes to digest it.
Mike Rich, Co-founder Attaché Software & NFP M-Institute
Payroll Improvement Guide 4
12 Strategies to improve your payroll
Each identifies ways to achieve this - 90% are in the Attaché STP upgrade.
1. Educating staff
The better educated, the more value you’ll get from your payroll systems.
1 Your staff induction process should explain your payroll functions with
samples to support your discussion.
2 When things like tax rates change hold a staff meeting e.g. explain how
they will appear on their pay advices.
3 Explain the benefits of employee portals e.g. the ability to access the
past 42 months pay advices, leave management.
4 Use the Payroll Ready Reckoner to show improved productivity is the
key to increased pay & bonuses, not cost of living adjustments.
2. Payroll dashboards
Medium payroll systems offer embedded dashboards – Attaché has over 100. If you still use spreadsheets, be aware 90% contain errors.
1 Dashboards provide visual management of your biggest expense &
asset. You can see things at a glance without having to run reports.
2 For security, access rights govern what is displayed and to whom.
3 You can drill down into an employee’s masterfile & pay details without
having to navigate menus.
4 Each dashboard can have up to 5 on-screen reports (called gadgets) so
there’s far more detail at your finger-tips, if and when needed.
5 Attaché provides 5 standard dashboards, with the ability to add
gadgets from a library or customise your own.
Payroll home: To Do List, negative leave, anniversaries.
Employee details: personal information, full pay and contact history.
Leave analysis: including entitlements, leave taken & upcoming.
Exception reports: pay totals, details & alerts before pay processing.
My Payroll: a library of gadgets in your own dashboard.
6 You have fast search e.g. on part of a name, code or phone number.
7 To-Do Lists e.g. calendar reminders for regular events & follow-ups.
8 You can view gadgets as lists, calendars & graphs plus add totals &
search boxes to suit your needs.
The first five strategies
are the same in each
guide to facilitate
discussion between
your managers.
Payroll Improvement Guide 5
9 You can select data sequences & filters like all employees with 20+
days leave owing.
10 Details can be emailed to others saving paper & time.
11 You can monitor staff e.g. workers compensation claims, warnings.
12 You can create any number of contact types for quick referencing &
reporting.
13 You can create tasks, highlight what’s outstanding, attaching files.
14 You can keep track employee contacts e.g. pay reviews, increases.
3. Customer & supplier relationship management
Most Attaché users have an integrated payroll & accounting system enabling their CRM & Supplier to be part of your employee internal controls.
1 Mandatory recording in the CRM system of any situation required
under your employment or customer agreements e.g. family or friends of
staff who are customers; past unethical behavior like unauthorised staff
gifts; authorisation of pricing agreements & credit notes.
2 Mandatory recording in the Supplier system of any situation required
under your employment or supplier agreements – similar to the above.
3 Record multiple contact details for both (e.g. sales, purchasing, senior
management) so you can escalate any concerning employee-related
matter & make a note of the conversation.
4 You can use templates to create emails to send to customers, such as
explaining your employee code of conduct or announcing new staff.
4. Automating % tracking pay advice delivery Paper pay advices cost $5 each to create, deliver & many get lost. Then came email but the volume of spam & laziness means few get opened or filed. Distributing pay advices by these old ways is very inefficient.
1 Self-service portals (like MyPay) are the now the easiest & most secure
way to send, receive & store your pay advices.
2 MyPay is one of our new online services in our STP upgrade. See
strategy 8 for more details.
3 MyPay holds your employee pay advices in a password protected, spam
& phishing free single server ‘tamper-proof’ environment.
4 Provides 24 x 7 access to 42 months of pay advice history. No need to
ask for past copies. Can also print & save them elsewhere, if want.
5 The delivery is automated – just like sending to a printer. No need to
create PDFs. And your PC is not held up while being sent.
Payroll Improvement Guide 6
6 Each pay advice is tracked to record when delivered & opened so you
have proof of delivery. No more excuses like “I didn’t get it.”
7 A plan English exception report lists any pay advices that weren’t
delivered or not opened i.e. no complicated ISP error messages.
8 MyPay makes Fair Work compliance easy e.g. staff must receive:
Pay advice within 1 working day of being paid even if on leave
Electronic pay advices must go to a secure & confidential address
All staff should be able to access & print their pay advice in private
9 MyPay can handle inclusions with the pay advice e.g. staff newsletter.
10 Payment summaries (still valid until 30/6/2019) can also be
electronically delivered, tracked, stored, saved & printed via MyPay
5. Reducing the reliance on paper
Attaché’s move to the paperless office saw it receive the Best Green Business Award. Paper-based payroll systems are also inefficient & not secure.
1 Electronic filing enables payroll enquiries to be handled instantly. Far
more efficient than any paper-based systems.
2 Less filing cabinets means more space for your staff.
3 You can scan documents like employment agreements & medical
certificates.
4 ExpressLink lets you electronically file & send reports.
5 Access rights make electronic filing more secure & documents are not
left on desks, misfiled, etc.
6 Remote access allows your pay officer to process the payroll from home
if necessary.
7 The ATO accepts electronic records provided the system is secure with
controls over processing & backups. Pay records must be kept for 7
years & be able to be retrieved by tax officers at any time.
Payroll Improvement Guide 7
6. Improving payroll processing
Medium systems (like Attaché) make processing easier with few errors e.g. from 3 days to 3 hours; $600,000 payroll reduction without any loss of staff.
1 Attaché payroll users typically fit one of these groups:
Modest staff numbers (like 10 – 200) e.g. wholesaler / distributor
with $2m - $100m revenue. 90% use both our accounting & payroll
suites. Our powerful sales order processing often a deciding factor.
High staff numbers (like 200 – 1000+) e.g. aged care, grocery chains,
clubs, NFP. The ability to integrate with rostering & industry specific
POS for departmental analysis often a deciding factor.
Large ERP system (dictated by overseas parent) or vertical software
users (like construction). The ability of the Attaché payroll to
integrate with their general ledger systems often a deciding factor.
2 They want security, advanced features & support from an established
local payroll software provider e.g.
Menu access rights: restrict access to payroll functions.
Shortcuts: fast access to regularly-used functions & reports.
Multi-tasking: while in payroll can handle a customer enquiry.
Customisable: e.g. font sizes, reports, pay advices to your needs.
Multiple pay periods: e.g. month, bi- monthly, fortnight, week.
3 Employee groups so one change updates the entire group:
Don’t have to enter pay details for every employee every pay run
Groups could include award rate, award plus 5%, plus 10%.
4 Can create shifts to ensure the correct pay rates & allowances are
automatically handled each pay run e.g. meals.
5 Leave entitlements can be checked during timesheet entry.
6 Record & report start & finish leave taken dates.
7 Standard pays to reduce data-entry time & errors for employees whose
pay details don’t change from pay period to pay period.
8 Auto pays: you only need to key in an employee’s changes from their
standard pay e.g. overtime, sick leave.
9 Automatically decrease normal (ordinary) hours worked when entering
leave hours for employees.
10 Enter one-off pay rate changes & bonuses during time sheet entry.
11 Add comments to pay transactions that will print on the pay advice.
12 Faster reconciliations e.g. display total hours worked, or the total
hours paid.
Payroll Improvement Guide 8
13 Enter hours as a decimal or minutes of an hour.
14 Open the calendar on any date field to select the correct dates.
15 Open the calculator on any amount field to do quick calculations.
16 Enter start / stop times for the hours worked by an employee.
17 Enter first / last dates for leave taken by an employee.
18 Maintain flexi-time and / or rostered days off accruals.
19 Display warnings e.g. exceed leave hours, base hours not reached or
exceeded.
20 Enter adjustment pays e.g. updating opening balances for employees
when first implementing the payroll, pay reversals.
21 Standard messages enabling you to add notes or comments to
employee pays.
22 Easy data archiving ensures an up-to-date copy of the payroll is secure
before any major processing or changes are made.
23 Voluntary tax can be deducted above the standard the tax scales.
24 Add employee notes e.g. personal or medical details.
25 URL links enable documents to be stored for immediate access e.g.
employment agreements, licenses, leave applications, medical
certificates.
26 Check & uncheck to enter changes before updating the files.
27 Leave liability reporting as per the country the payroll is used in.
27 General ledger postings reports list all the pay runs financial
transactions. This can be automatically interfaced to Attaché Accounts
or the report can provide the basis of a journal to be entered or exported
to other systems via .csv files.
29 Secure data processing e.g. the Attaché STP / ATO Connector, online
cloud services, employee data files are all highly secure. We operate a
‘hybrid system’ where no data is spread across multiple networks, our
portals are in a single server ‘tamper-proof’envirnment; employee
masterfile details are all stored on-premise with local backup.
30 The database used by Attaché is also fast & secure. It’s embedded into
our Payroll & Accounting software so you don’t have to purchase any
extra licences or deal with another support group. It’s used by a number
of major international financial organisations where security, speed &
reliability are paramount.
Payroll Improvement Guide 9
7. Unlimited capacity
Medium systems (like Attaché) offer virtually unlimited capacity & it doesn’t negatively impact performance.
1 One licence fee covers unlimited employees, companies, countries &
data (excluding payroll bureaux).
Can have multiple named users with varying access rights.
Includes one concurrent user – extra ones pay a reduced fee.
2 Multiple leave calculation methods e.g. hours worked, date, pay.
3 Multiple companies: different colours can identify which one you are.
4 Unlimited income types e.g. ordinary hours, overtime, sick leave, etc.
5 Unlimited allowances & deductions with multiple calculation methods
e.g. % of pay, fixed or variable values, quantity by value.
6 The flexibility of our allowances enables the payment of staff by a raft
of ways other than just salary & wages.
7 Unlimited number of employee superannuation contributions for
permanent and casual employees, including minimum thresholds for
casuals under 18 years of age.
8 18 user-definable fields to record things like pay classifications,
driver’s license details, certifications with expiry/renew dates.
9 Unlimited leave tables for annual, sick, personal, long service & other
leave.
10 Employees can have multiple bank accounts.
11 Open bank accounts enable use by any employee e.g. social club.
12 Manage payment schedules by start & stop dates, total amount,
instalments & frequency to automatically control deductions &
allowances e.g.
Higher duties allowance can be paid for a period of time.
Garnishee or loan repayments to a nominated bank account.
15 Unlimited cost centres to split an employee’s wages over multiple
divisions.
16 Can have multiple pay locations & pay points to group employees for
reporting.
17 Can have multiple employment status for wage analysis e.g. full time,
part time, casual, contract.
Payroll Improvement Guide 10
8. Online services – included in STP upgrade
The Attaché STP upgrade has been ‘turbo-charged’ with new features that are now part of the 50c per pay advice online service fee. Economies of scale mean for those previously on the 45c pay advice delivery fee, your out-of-pocket costs should now decrease. Reliance on paper systems has also gone.
1 The online services are device independent & can be accessed from
anywhere e.g. overseas, inter-state.
2 MyPay – this is a secure online inbox that stores 42 months of pay
advice history for each employee. (more details in strategy 4).
Staff receiving pay advices via our old delivery service can register
for MyPay & get instant access to their previous pay advices &
payment summaries. Already over 250,000 registered users.
It costs employers about $220 to discuss, find & resend a lost pay
advice so MyPay is far more efficient for everyone.
3 Express Leave – removes paperwork, reduces errors & queries. Gives
employers & staff an easier way to manage leave requests 24/7 via their
mobile device or desktop.
Staff can view their entitlements, leave history & receive email
notification that their leave request has been approved or declined
Once approved they are automatically sent to your payroll for
processing – far more efficient for everyone
4 Employee Portal – they can now maintain their own details (e.g. next
of kin, address, phone) 24/7 from their mobile device or desktop. Again,
it’s far more efficient for everyone. It also includes:
Organisation chart – provides photos & reporting lines.
Employee directory - contact details stored & updated in one place.
Employee onboarding - lets new staff complete their details before
they start e.g. Tax File declaration, Super Choice, bank details.
5 Timesheets – allows staff & contractors to enter hours worked from
anywhere, anytime, 24/7 from any mobile device or desktop.
Multiple weeks or non-standard hours can be entered e.g. overtime.
Express Leave entered is pre-populated into timesheets.
Notes can also be added with any supporting documentation.
Email confirmation of timesheet approval & payroll processing.
6 ClickSuper – SuperStream compliant, it streamlines the payment of
employee superannuation contributions into various funds.
7 Single Touch Payroll – includes the secure connector from the Attaché
payroll through to the ATO to report after every pay run.
Payroll Improvement Guide 11
9. Country specific requirements
Attaché meets the requirements of Australia, NZ, PNG & other South Pacific countries within the one set of our software. Australian features include:
1 Fair Work pay advice requirements & guidelines can all be met e.g.
Employer’s name & ABN
Employee’s name, annual pay, job title & pay classification
Date of payment, pay period (start and end dates)
Gross & net amount of payment.
Any loadings, allowances, bonuses, incentives, penalty rates or other
separately identifiable entitlements paid can be displayed
2 Fair Work Information Statement can be received via the employee
portal when new staff enter their details before starting.
3 FBT Benefits reporting (exempt & non-exempt).
4 Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) in Attaché Suppliers module.
5 Single Touch Payroll connector to the ATO.
6 V12 payment summaries & Magnetic Media file for non STP
compliant employers - valid until 30/6/2019 if under 20 employees.
7 Electronically lodge TFN declarations with the ATO Business Portal.
8 PAYG, working holiday makers tax, HELP (Higher Education Loan
Program) & SFSS (Student Financial Supplement Scheme).
9 Ordinary time earnings for Super Guarantee calcualtions includes
normal (ordinary) income types & allowances.
10 Super Alternative File Format & ClickSuper – included in the Attaché
online service fee so no need to engage a 3rd party clearing house.
10. Payroll audit features
Medium payrolls (like Attaché) include many audit features. Fraud is costing businesses 6% of sales - payroll thief makes up a big chunk of this.
1 If your payroll lets you to delete data to address speed or other issues,
you destroy your auditor’s ability to easily search past payroll records.
2 Setting a maximum pay per employee for each pay frequency will alert
you if there is an unexpected increase in gross pay.
3 Check the payroll payments report against the net wages on the
payroll totals report & against the actual payments drawn from the bank
account.
4 Integrate the payroll to the general ledger after each pay run to easily
check for budget variances in the wages accounts.
5 Track changes for all additions & modifications to employee
masterfiles & payroll transactions.
Payroll Improvement Guide 12
6 Use auto tax calculations during timesheet entry to ensure the correct
amount of tax is withheld for each employee.
7 Turn on confirm new masterfiles to prevent operators from
accidentally or otherwise adding unwanted or invalid masterfiles.
8 Select to display annual leave warning messages for leave that goes
into negative before it is paid.
9 Review the superannuation report to ensure the correct amount of
super guarantee is contributed to the corresponding employee.
10 Payment summaries & magnetic media (valid until 30/6/19) let the
system create them to ensure they aren’t tampered with & set password
levels to ensure they can’t be modified by unauthorised personnel.
11. Rostering, time & attendance etc.
For larger employers (typically 100+ staff) Attaché integrates with the leading suppliers of such systems to offer a ‘best-of-breed’ solution.
2 The Attaché dashboards (strategy 2) can provide a number of Human
Resource (HR) and Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) features e.g.
Record, categorise & report on incidents
Record & be reminded of pay review dates
Record & be reminded of training information
Record & be reminded of license / qualification expiries
3 Rostering is a big one – the improved efficiency can be huge e.g.
Retail - 150 staff reported 8% payroll savings
Hospitality - 900 staff reported 10% payroll savings
Aged care - $600,000 payroll savings (with no job losses)
4. Popular payroll add-on providers who we integrate with include:
TimeTarget: www.timetarget.com
WorkForce / EmpLive: www.wfsaustralia.com
Deputy: www.deputy.com
Payroll Improvement Guide 13
12. Some interesting points
Attaché targets medium businesses: $2m> $100m revenue / 10 >1000 staff. Less than 5% of businesses but a staggering 30% of all revenue & jobs.
1 We provide everything a typical medium business needs e.g. payroll,
financial reporting, multi-level pricing, sales order processing, back
orders, multiple stock locations, cash forecasting, CRM.
2 All embedded in one highly scalable software suite:
1 to 100 users
More secure, less risk
One software system to learn
Updates & communication far easier
One database, easier reporting & back up
One provider – not multiple unrelated vendors
Committed local support i.e. one-throat-to-choke
Concurrent users & multi-company = lower license fees
3 Attaché also enables the import / export of data to specialist software
system e.g. construction, manufacturing, advanced warehouse
management, salesforce automation, POS, web stores.
4 While small businesses may put everything in the cloud, 70% of
medium & large businesses are moving to hybrid systems (like
Attaché). Proven in-house software with cloud online services.
Embraces new technology with less risk & more success.
5 Attaché is the top Australian provider of medium payroll systems:
500,000 employees get our pay advices. We are also a locally owned
medium business – we know this market as we live in it.
If your revenue is over $2m, alarm bells should be ringing if:
Few employees are registered for MyGov & linked to ATO
Your payroll is not on a ‘STP-Ready’ list
You don’t have an STP checklist
Your IT systems are old
A team effort is essential
General Manager: Monitor the STP rollout
Pay Officer: Ensure your payroll is set up efficiently
Every Manager: Connect to MyGov / ATO, then assist your staff
Payroll Improvement Guide 14
Notes:
Next step
Talk to your Attaché consultant or call us on the number shown on the front page.
© Attaché Software Australia Pty Limited.
Note: This business improvement guide was created to help you be the judge
of whether your business systems are in need of review. Although it has been
professionally prepared no representation is made as to the potential business
improvements benefits resulting from the use of Attaché systems. In practise
any benefits depend entirely on the individual business and its circumstances
and should be independently verified before being relied upon.