Where Do Payroll Experts Fit Into Your Financial Team?

When it comes to building your company's financial team, it can be difficult to know exactly what types of professionals you need—especially if you operate a small business and have traditionally done your own financial management.

That said, it’s crucial to delegate those tasks to experts who can monitor and advise on your finances and payroll as it changes. The right partners will bring new insights and tools that can smooth out cash flow and cut wasteful expenses, allowing you to focus on what you do best: selling product and serving customers.

What roles might you want to consider as you build out your company’s financial team?

Bookkeepers & Accountants

These are often one of the first financial team members hired by small businesses as their financial needs grow. Depending on the company, one person may handle both bookkeeping and accounting roles, or they may be split up into separate roles.

Bookkeepers are traditionally responsible for recording day-to-day transactions, including payments, purchases and receipts. Accountants, meanwhile, focus on the bigger picture, reporting and analyzing that data for their clients through financial statements like the profit & loss statement (P&L) and balance sheet.

There are no licensing or certification requirements for bookkeepers, although there are certifications available from groups such as the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB). Accountants must have a college degree, and many are licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), which is required for more advanced audit and reporting functions.

Payroll Experts

Payroll service providers like Future Systems Inc. are commonly contracted by small businesses once they exceed a handful of employees. These experts can automate payroll calculations, handle direct deposit requests, process year-end taxes and more, taking most HR administration off a business owner’s plate.

The complexity of payroll operations, which encompass tax, wage and hour laws, make it one of the most outsourced financial roles in business today. Two out of three business owners recently surveyed by tax software provider Intuit said they do not want to handle their own payroll, and Accounting Today reports that small businesses are increasingly outsourcing their payroll processing before hiring an accounting firm.

Future Systems can also help with other HR duties, such as employee scheduling, time-off requests, benefits administration, background checks and more. That makes it an attractive package for businesses needing help with employee administration, but not big enough to warrant a dedicated HR professional or department.

Tax & Financial Advisors

While many accountants handle general tax issues for their small business clients, larger companies may also work with a dedicated tax and financial advisory for specialty services such as retirement account management, tax strategy, mergers or the auditing of financial documents.

These experts are typically more strategy focused, and may not be involved in your company’s day-to-day operations. Some advisory firms may offer basic accounting services but others will not, meaning you will need to retain another accountant for cash flow management.

Bankers

Every business owner should have a local banking relationship, if only for managing business deposits and withdrawals. A good banker can also bring flexibility to your financial position by helping you shuffle funds or securing financing as your company grows. Get to know your local banking team so you have a relationship built before you find your cash flow tightening or a business opportunity passes you by.

Having the right professionals on your financial team can help your business run more smoothly and improve your financial management. Future Systems can help with the payroll, HR and timekeeping pieces of the puzzle—reach out to one of our friendly experts today for a free consultation about how we can make your business more efficient.