eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Payroll isnt just for accountants and payroll services anymore. There are numerous Web-based and desktop solutions for small-business types looking to take on this most complex, most regulated element of accounting. Auto Payroll is one of the newest, but not one of the best.
Click here to read the full review of Auto Payroll v. 1.2.
2
Payroll isnt just for accountants and payroll services anymore. There are numerous Web-based and desktop solutions for small-business types looking to take on this most complex, most regulated element of accounting. Auto Payroll is one of the newest, but not one of the best. It includes many of the tools, records, and documents you need to spit out paychecks and stay compliant, but it hasnt yet gotten this multistep process perfectly fine-tuned. Its time-clock/time-sheet integration is a plus, yet it lacks key things such as custom fields and a central bank register.
All setup tasks occur in the Administrator module; employees can be assigned lower-level passwords and allowed to enter and edit time-sheet information in another module, which is a very handy feature. One of Auto Payrolls deficits appears immediately: the lack of a setup wizard. A handful of options, such as physical paycheck setup, are found in a setup menu, but youll have to click your way through the icons in the left vertical pane to ready the application. This pane is a simple, effective way to present the apps abilities, but its no substitute for a setup wizard when youre just getting started.
Fortunately, Auto Payroll does offer a thorough framework for the arduous task of setting up your company and its employees. You use predefined fields, buttons, and drop-down lists to enter and manage information about company attributes and tax-reporting numbers, pay periods, benefits, and holidays. As you create records for each employee, youll find handy safeguards built in, such as a warning in the payment history if theres inaccurate withholding.
Theres no setup involved for your nonpayroll income and expenses because, unfortunately, theres no central account register to track what you enter. Also missing is a reminder feature, which can help you keep payroll and tax payments on track.