Who Does Payroll in a Company and What is Payroll Outsourcing?

Processing payroll is a necessary part of any business that has employees. Making sure that your payroll is correct and follows all wage payment laws is essential to keeping employees satisfied and staying in compliance. Because of the important nature of payroll, you want to make sure the right people are handling it. But who is the right person?

Who Does Payroll in a Company: HR or Accounting?

There is some debate over whether payroll is an HR or accounting department responsibility. Payroll involves the use of sensitive employee information that is generally only disclosed with an HR professional, which could make payroll an HR responsibility. On the other hand, payroll involves complicated pay calculations and software that are best handled by professionals in the accounting area. So, what is the right answer? The short of it is that there is no right answer.

Depending on the structure of your company, it might make more sense to put the responsibility of payroll either with your HR department or your accounting department. Recently more and more companies are choosing to put the payroll responsibility in both HR’s and accounting’s hands. This requires a lot of collaboration and clear responsibility divides so both departments know exactly what aspects of payroll they’re in charge of.

What is Payroll Outsourcing?

Payroll outsourcing  is when you contract with an outside company to process payroll. Outsourced payroll providers have in-depth knowledge of HR and financial laws that allow them to execute payroll correctly without putting any sensitive employee data at risk.

Payroll Outsourcing vs In-House Payroll Processing

Outsourcing your payroll comes with many advantages that you lose out on when processing your payroll in-house. For example, at Helpside we offer time and attendance software, W-2 filings, payroll audits, direct deposit, garnishment administration, verifications of employment, on-demand pay options, and access to our payroll experts to answer your questions. Additionally, working with a payroll outsourcing company can allow you to efficiently process payroll for a fraction of the price you would pay for in-house payroll processing. Do you have any questions about payroll for your company? Reach out to Helpside at service@helpside.com and one of our experts can help answer your questions.