| 1. Price: | | | | deductions and bonuses |
| Price will depend on several factors, including how | | | | - it prepares transaction entries, MIS reports, |
| many employees you have, how often are they | | | | return forms, master entries, and utilities |
| are paid, and which state you pay taxes to. Some | | | | - it performs many other functions if you are |
| states' tax procedures are more trouble than | | | | willing to upgrade from a basic package |
| others, and this will affect the price of your | | | | Nevertheless, it will not operate itself. Data must |
| software package. | | | | be input correctly, and you must learn how to use |
| 2. You need it more than the bigger companies | | | | it properly (or train someone else to). |
| do. | | | | 4. How it saves you money: |
| Medium sized businesses usually subcontract their | | | | - losses from mistakes |
| payroll work to major accounting firms, and these | | | | - fewer employees are needed since you won't |
| are too expensive for most small businesses. Yet | | | | be doing it manually anymore |
| doing it all by hand often results in repeated and | | | | - fewer headaches means fewer aspirin expenses |
| costly mistakes. What's more, because the use of | | | | (: |
| software is so common these days, the US | | | | 5. Flexibility |
| government far less forgiving of mistakes than it | | | | Don't get caught in the "little kid in a candy store" |
| was 20 years ago. Fortunately, it is now possible | | | | trap - that is, don't buy a software package with |
| to buy payroll accounting software designed | | | | unnecessary features. Do, however, use your |
| specifically with small businesses in mind (for our | | | | imagination when it comes to that key word |
| purposes, "small business" means any business | | | | "unnecessary" - today's business needs may not |
| with less than 500 employees). | | | | be tomorrow's business needs. If you do get |
| 3. What payroll accounting software does: | | | | caught someday without the functions you need, |
| - it tracks the issuance of weekly, monthly, | | | | frequent upgrades are available with most |
| quarterly and annual paychecks | | | | packages, and some of them are free. |
| - it calculates wages, salaries, withholdings, taxes, | | | | |