Discussing the efficiency of the payroll and expense management system, we must first understand what it actually means. Payroll management is the process by which a company’s workforce’ financial records are managed and maintained. These include details on employee’s salary, incentives, deductions, bonus, and net pay.
The system used by a business to process, pay and audit their organizational expenditures is referred to as expense management. Sole traders can also use an expense management system for monitoring and regulating their spendings.
Broadly speaking these are two separate processes that are interdependent and cojoining.
What comprises the best payroll and expense management system
An organization’s expense and payroll software should be such that it improves compliance. Efficient management of these deliverables is the pain points of any organization especially when they are in the blooming phase. If hiring the right set of people is essential then ensuring that these people are provided with the best human experience is equally important.
With numerous technological advancements, no company or individual (read HR) would want to exclude themselves from this development. Thus, having the best payroll and expense management system is necessary.
As far as the comprising of the best payroll and expense management system is concerned, they are as follows:
- Automated – No matter what size is the workforce of an organization is, it should have an automated system to manage its payroll and expenses. The dynamic workflows that an automated solution entails is another plus point in the management of finances.
- Real-time visibility and transparency – The payroll and expenses of any organization should have real-time visibility and transparency and at the same time, it should be secure. Data-thefts are a universal issue and this makes it all the more important to secure critical employee data.
- Time and cost-saving – When thinking of an HCM solution every organization worries about the expense that it will have to incur. This worry overshadows the benefits of an automated and time-saving system. However, for the information of such organizations, it must be noted that there are multiple organizations that offer cost-efficient payroll and expense management solutions.
- Increase compliance and productivity – An efficient payroll an expense management system should increase the efficiency and productivity of the organization. It should also be able to regulate compliances such that the standard government rules are followed religiously.
- Build employee trust and morale – When the payroll of employees is processed on time and in an error-free manner it builds their trust and boosts their morale. It also provides the encouragement to perform better. On the part of HR, it reduces the amount of time they spend on manual labour and gives them the opportunity to explore other areas to build efficacy.
Limitations of payroll and expense management system
No matter how convenient software is it will always have its pros and cons. We have written at length on the pros of the payroll and expense management system, now lets dive deep into the cons that it entails.
The payroll and expense management system’s limitations include:
- Information access and control – When the critical employee and client details are available over the internet then the issue of access and control misuse becomes a concern. For this, organizations must ensure that they opt for such a solution which gives them authority to put limitations on the access and control level.
- Managing dynamic workflows – The multiple dynamic workflows created by admins for approvals, requests and much more can be daunting to manage. Hence, proper and informed management and a track on these workflows are essential to be maintained.
- Integration with banks – Every organization demands a payroll system having integration with banks. However, on the part of HCM solutions’ organizations, it can be difficult to find and partner with a bank that allows integration. For this reason, organizations must be patient enough to understand the demands and requirements of both parties and thus decide.
Benefits of an efficient payroll and expense management system
As aforementioned the benefits of having an efficient payroll and expense management solution are numerous some of which are mentioned below:
- Storing personal records – Organizations can store their personal information and employee and client information on the system.
- Integration with attendance and leave management – The payroll and expense management system is mostly integrated with attendance and leave management solution. This makes it easy to fetch data, process payroll and track expenses.
- Easy generation of salary slips – A lot of organizations that offer HCM solutions enables the easy generation and download of their payslips. This can mostly be done in a few clicks.
- Cloud-based – Nowadays payroll management solutions are cloud-based which offer minimal or zero scopes of data-theft or breach of security.
- Affiliates employee self-service – The facility of employee self-service that is enabled with these solutions help the workforce to easily raise requests and tickets of concern on the unified HCM platform.
- User-friendly dashboard for admins and employees – The dashboard user interfaces are easy to use and navigate for both admins and employees.
- In accordance with government regulations and laws – The payroll and expense management systems are made in accordance with government rules and regulations and are regularly updated on the same.
- Automated computation of salary – Organizations offering HCM solutions has the integration of salary and TDS computation calculators for easy generation of salary structure.
- Cost-efficient – Payroll and expense management solutions are very cost-efficient and in fact, they also help to keep a tab on organizational expenses. So, the talks that a big budget is required to buy the solutions is a myth.
- Expense management – Expense management solutions offer an easy tracking facility for the expenses of the organization and help keep a tab on them.
- Track and maintenance of organizational finances – Through the payroll and expense management modules organizations can easily track and maintain records on their expenses.
It is an undeniable fact that the payroll and expense management module is a boon to any organization. T It would not be wrong to say that the benefits of the best expense and payroll management system cannot be overlooked, despite there being some loopholes. Every organization, no matter the size, must try incorporating such solutions to enhance the productivity of their employees especially HR in working.