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Payroll In-house vs Outsourced

Should I process payroll in-house or should I outsource? This is an important question with cost and liability considerations. You may be surprised to find that in-house payroll processing is not only less expensive, but with the right payroll processing software can be secure and hassle free.

The payroll service market is a $10 billion dollar industry and growing, with numerous companies and packages. According to recent studies, the cost of outsourcing payroll is close to $100 per employee a year for small to medium-size business. This includes services such as direct deposit and W-2 filing. Most payroll services charge per check, with basic level packages advertised as $2 - $8 per employee. An in-house payroll solution, like Cougar Mountain Software's Payroll (CMS Professional Payroll), can substantially save you money by lowering the costs to as little as $0.15 per check.

What about the time and expertise required for an in-house solution? With basic training payroll for 25 employees, you can enter and process payroll from start to finish in less than one hour with CMS Professional Payroll. This includes process checks and direct deposits. At $20 per hour x 26 pay periods per year, this comes out to $520 per year of labor. Even with a low-end payroll service, this is a 60% cost savings considering all processing expenses and labor! A company with 25 employees would typically save $2000 a year. Imagine the savings for a company with 100 employees, or 1000.

 

What about tax liability and withholdings? Tax laws change regularly. Keeping up with tax tables and withholdings can be a daunting task if done on your own. The beauty of CMS Professional Payroll solution is all state and federal tax table updates and tax forms are included with their annual Software Assurance service. The CMS Professional software also supports any type and number of withholdings.

Business owners are rightfully concerned with the thought of in-house payroll management. Cougar Mountain Software has built a cost effective, easy-to-use, and secure payroll solution for SMBs. In this struggling economy, the most effecient companies who keep overhead expenses to a minimum are the ones rising to the top. For more information about CMS Professional, visit http://www.cougarmtn.com/accounting/Payroll_Software.


Primary features of CMS Professional Payroll include

  • Any compensation types (i.e., hourly, salary, hourly/salary, per-diem, multi-state, contract, or piece work)
  • Automatic direct deposit (from company account to employee)
  • Paychecks (use Cougar Mountain Printing+Forms for official checks)
  • W-2s and 1099s, with option for electronic W-2 submissions using Aatrix
  • Any standard and user-defined deductions and garnishments
  • Built-in and user-defined security for controlled access to payroll and employee records
  • Several Payroll reports