Payroll Improvement Guide 1

Payroll Business Improvement Guide

Australian Employers

Over 100 tactics

Second Edition - 10 May ’18

Australia 1300 288 224 info@attachesoftware.com

New Zealand 0800 288 224 info@attache.co.nz

International +61 2 9929 8700 info@attachesoftware.com

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.