Still Doing Your Own Payroll? – Financially Simple Reasons to Stop

As a business owner, large or small, one of the biggest jobs you have in advancing your business is taking care of your employees. One of the ways you do that is by making sure paychecks end up in their hands or bank accounts when they are supposed to. For many small business owners, all too often that means you are relying on yourself to do the work of a bookkeeper. If that’s you, it’s time to stop doing your own payroll and hire someone… here’s why.

Recently a client that is a dentist called me for my thoughts on doing just this. He began to explain how the extra time he spent on payroll was getting to him and he just wasn’t sure he could do it anymore. So he wanted my advice on what I thought he should do.

First of all, I never recommend that someone do their own payroll. It just is not the wisest business decision you can make. As a business owner, paying someone else to do your payroll is money well spent. Payroll is one of those things where you are dealing with the Department of Labor (DOL). The last thing you want is them breathing down your neck. Just don’t do it.

Over the years, I have found that many of my entrepreneurial doctor clients try to do this on their own. If you’re a dentist, keep teeth gleaming, don’t worry about check writing. As an optometrist focus on sharpening other’s vision, not crunching numbers. Veterinarians are there to maintain an animal’s health, not reconcile balances. So do what you know how to do and hire a professional to keep your payroll in check. It makes more sense to get things off of your plate so you can focus on doing the job that you know how to do and are really good at.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up on a day when you’re overworked and rush in to deal with payroll for your employees. I once heard someone say, “Don’t let someone that is worth $25 an hour do $8 an hour work.” In this case, the dentist that makes $100 per hour is doing the job of someone making $25 an hour. Don’t waste time on developing a skill set that is below your pay grade. It will not save you in the long run.

When it comes to payroll, there are choices. One option is to have someone in your office take over handling it. You could purchase accounting software, like Quickbooks, that does most of the work for your internal employee. Many come with payroll features.

Perhaps you are like this dentist, and you don’t want someone in the office knowing how much others make. If that is you, then hire a bookkeeper. Our office has an offsite bookkeeper. Of course, our company is rather small and only has about five or six paychecks going out of each cycle, but she is the one in charge of that. She handles all of our books. It is her job to process our payroll and give me a report after each cycle.

Still, yet, another option is outsourcing it to your accountant to do the job. Many CPAs offer payroll services. If that doesn’t seem like a good fit for you, then maybe you hire an actual payroll service, like ADP. There are quite a few out there. Do some research and find one you are comfortable using. Be certain they are a reputable company.

So get it out of your head that allowing someone else to do payroll is going to cost you too much. That is simply not true. We use a software company and bookkeeper for a combined fee of about $150 a month. That’s it. My company spends about $1800 a year on payroll, and it frees our team up to give clients our very best. If you’re thinking about doing your own payroll, DON’T!! If you’re already doing your own payroll, STOP!!

You don’t want the DOL in your business. Keep yourself out of the muck. Instead, reward yourself with time and get rid of the headache by hiring someone. Not to mention, you are much more apt to give your clients a little more attention when you are not overworked. Win-win!

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