Payroll services: A solution for CPAs

A fully managed payroll service is just that – it’s fully managed, which means it’s taken care of by experts. With the right payroll service partner, you can set up a system and let the experts handle the day-to-day processes.  

You’ll still have ultimate oversight on the payroll sign-off process and interfacing with your client. However, by outsourcing, you can significantly expand the scope of your firm without adding to your staff’s existing workload or hiring and training new employees.  

Global or corporate payroll services (AKA payroll service providers) live and breathe payroll, which means they can confidently calculate accurate payroll wherever your client’s employees happen to be based.  

By relying on external expertise, you can ensure compliance with the latest tax laws and regulations. Automated tax filing and payment services are taken care of, minimizing the risk of penalties or reputational damage.  

And this is all achieved without putting pressure on your internal team to keep up with every new and upcoming piece of payroll legislation. 

CPA firms are, understandably, eager to focus their time on the kind of services that only they can provide. After all, this is typically where the big-ticket projects and client work can be found.  

By outsourcing to a payroll service, you can establish a lucrative new revenue stream while continuing to focus on core activities and advisory roles. Essentially, you can build your firm in the foreground while steadily growing your income in the background.  

If you’re a CPA firm already providing payroll services in-house, a fully or part managed outsourced service can free up your staff’s precious time. This allows them to focus on billable work and support long-term growth (which can help off-set the upfront financial investment in outsourcing). 

Payroll means sensitive employee information and as any good accountant will tell you, you need to be careful with confidential data.  

By entrusting payroll processes to the right outsource partner, your client’s data is safer than you might think. For example, managed payroll solutions from IRIS use enhanced security measures, protecting data from cyber-threats with 24/7 monitoring.  

Beyond the security measures, a great payroll provider will also offer support – both with initial set-up and throughout your partnership. IRIS provides you with a dedicated, named payroll specialist who can offer ongoing support. 

Using a reliable, high-quality payroll service not only helps you to establish new revenue streams, it can also help boost your firm’s image and reputation. 

Payroll services may not be glamorous, but they’re in high demand – and this kind of forward-thinking is what can get you noticed by top new talent.  

Not only will ambitious new CPAs be drawn in by your growth mindset, as they can see you’re going places, and they want in, but they can rest assured they are not going to be buried in payroll admin! 

Partnering with an external service provider doesn’t have to mean having to deal with a whole new system (and trying to make it work with your existing one).  

Many payroll service providers can integrate with your existing tax and accounting software, eliminating the need for data entry duplication.  

Plus, once you’ve partnered with a provider, CPAs can easily scale up payroll services without the need for additional internal resources. If you identify a gap in the market or want to zero in on a particular sector, you’ve always got the payroll expertise to back it up. 

If you’re a CPA firm supporting clients out of state or internationally, an outsourced payroll service can be a great choice. 

Whether your clients are based further away or they employ people out of state or globally, you don’t need to think twice about offering payroll support. 

As payroll experts, outsourced payroll services can help CPAs provide reliable, compliant support – which firms can position as an added-value service.