Accounting Software such as Xero, Quickbooks and Kashflow

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Cloud packages are becoming more and more popular with many small to medium-sized businesses.

If you are looking to move to an accounts package then contact us before making your choice. We can help you to understand the needs of your business and support can you with set up implementation to avoid costly mistakes. We can provide ongoing support as required.
 

Payroll software have become an increasingly popular way to manage wages within small, medium, and big businesses. Cloud based payroll solutions are especially prevalent now, especially among small to medium sized businesses. There are a lot of difficult packages out there though, so choosing can be difficult. This list will hopefully give you a better idea of the pros and cons of each software suite, so you can be sure you are making the right choice for your business.

There are a number of benefits of using cloud based payroll solutions including cutting costs and increasing the resilience and reliability of your payroll system. All of this means a lot less stress for you, so you can spend time on what really matters to your business. So, without further ado, here’s a list of the best payroll applications on the market today.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks is an account software suite that’s designed to suite a wide range of businesses. With Quickbooks you get the choice of both on-site and cloud-based solution, so you can pick whatever suits your business best. At its very heart it’s designed to help simplify taxes, payroll, and deductions, so you can spend more time on more important things.

Quickbooks offers a number of different plans for their cloud-based solution, so you can choose one that’s tailored to your business needs. These plans range from Self-employed to Plus and range in price depending on the functionality and scalability. These plans involve a monthly payment.

In terms of desktop plans, you’ll most likely be buying the software outright instead of paying a monthly fee. Their desktop plans run from the Pro version all the way up to Enterprise Platinum. Again the price varies based on the functionality and scalability.

Xero

Unlike Quickbooks, Xero only offers a cloud-based payroll solution. This may not be an issue for you if you’ve decided that hosting your payroll software in the cloud is the best answer for your business though. It’s primarily designed to be online accounting software for small businesses, but it does also have a payroll component.

Xero is great if all you need is an easy-to-use solution that will allow you to automate your payroll rather than doing it manually. It’s really affordable and, best of all, it has no hidden fees.

Xero has slightly fewer options than Quickbooks which is understandable considering it only caters to small businesses. You can go for the starter package, standard package, or premium package. As with Quickbooks, each plan differs in terms of scalability and functionality.

Kashflow

Like Quickbooks, Kashflow offers both a cloud-based and locally installed solution, so it’s a little bit more flexible that way. Again, it caters mainly for small businesses, but does have some features that might be useful to a medium or large businesses as well. Like all the other software suites lister here, Kashflow is primarily an accounting application, so it’s unsurprising that in order to get the payroll feature you have to pay for their most expensive package, the Business and Payroll package. Their other two packages, Starter and Business, don’t have any payroll functionality. This puts it at a bit of a disadvantage when compared to Xero and Quickbooks, but it’s still a solid package.

 

Pros and cons of Using Cloud-Based Payroll Applications

You’ll probably be hearing the phrase ‘the cloud’ more and more frequently in reference to businesses and applications. All it means is that, instead of physically installing an application on a PC in your office, you access the application over the internet. The application will be hosted on a server somewhere by the company that provide it.

Cloud-based applications are becoming increasingly common, and recently a number of cloud-based payroll solutions have been released. But how can they benefit your business? Is it worth the investment, or should you just stick to your existing solutions? Hopefully, this article will clear up a few of these burning questions by giving you the pros and cons of using a cloud-based solution.

Pro 1: Cost reductions

This is obviously one of the main reasons why you’d invest in a cloud-based payroll solution. You’ll often find that cloud-based solutions are just inherently cheaper because they require less time to implement and fewer resources. The company won’t have to send someone out to install the software on your company’s PC’s, for example.

However, before you get too excited, it’s important to realise that the cost of a cloud-based payroll solution (much like any cloud-based solution) is that the cost will vary drastically depending on a whole host of factors. One of the most obvious factors is the size of your business. However, it’s a good rule of thumb that any cloud solution will be cheaper for your business.

Pro 2: Reduced stress

Another benefit of having your payroll software in the cloud is that any issues that happen with it won’t be your responsibility. In the past, you may have had to pay to train an IT technician so that they could fix any issues that may arise. If they couldn’t fix it, you’d probably have to call out a technician from the company that provided of the software. All of this takes up a lot of time and can cause a lot of stress.

Luckily, if the software is hosted off-site, there’s no responsibility on you to fix any issues that may occur with it. Companies who provide cloud-based software will realise that making sure that their software is available 24/7 is integral to maintaining their client base, so they’ll be quick to fix any issues that do arise and will probably also have a DR policy in place in order to reduce downtime. All of this means a cloud based solution can be far less stressful.

Con 1: Security issues

Interestingly, although having a cloud-based solution can reduce stress in terms of downtime, it also has its downsides. One major downside is that there could be security worries. You have to trust that the company providing the software is serious about protecting your information and, in a world where cybercrime is on the rise, this is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee. That said, like with the issue of downtime, a lot of companies know that guaranteeing security is very important when it comes to maintaining a client base. It’s for this reason that they take security incredibly seriously.

Con 2: Customisation issues

One of the benefits of having a payroll solution that’s physically installed on PCs in your company is that there’s far more room for customisation. Before the installation process, a technician may consult you about your needs and install a solution that’s perfect for your business. Although cloud solutions do often offer different subscriptions, they do tend to be one-size-fits-all. This will be fine for most businesses, but if you have some particularly niche needs, a cloud-based solution may not be the one for you.