Working with a payroll administrator in Kenya lifts the load off your shoulders so you can concentrate on other equally important aspects of your business that define your baseline.
Doing it wrong can have dire consequences not only to your company’s future but even to your business associations as no partner would want to associate with a non-compliant business.
Processing payroll requires experience and understanding of several areas including tax laws, statutory deductions, and much more.
The best payroll administrators in Kenya would be the firm whose personnel and client portfolio demonstrate skill, experience, and expertise in everything payroll.
Below, we examine what factors and considerations need to be evaluated before settling on a payroll administrator in Kenya for your business.
Who is a payroll administrator in Kenya?
A payroll administrator is a consultant or consultant company that offers payroll processing services including payroll calculations, payroll tax statements, end-year tax, benefits, etc. on behalf of your company or business.
Some full-service payroll administrators also process deposits and withdrawals for employees, new-hire reporting, and process withholding and garnishment payments.
Payroll administrators may decide to use their payroll software or procure third-party software to process your payroll. Using software is more efficient, accurate, and faster.
A payroll administrator in Kenya is definitely a professional firm and handles your payroll administration with expertise, allowing you to focus on more activities that influence your profit line.
Types of Payroll administrator options
Besides hiring a payroll administrator in Kenya, other options may deliver nearly similar results if handled properly. These include:
In-house
For large corporations with many employees, using an in-house accounting department to process payroll may be a good option if the costs of maintaining such a team are affordable to the company.
An in-house team will be more acquainted with the ins and outs of your business thus providing a more available option.
Bookkeepers
For SMEs, a bookkeeper would suffice and will keep your accounting books in a good position, managing the financial data and everything that goes with it. The bookkeeper can be in-house or outsourced.
Online payroll software
This would make sense for solopreneurs who wish to manage their accounting and payroll processes using software operated from the cloud and accessible from any remote location.
The downside to this is that it requires more of your time and has dire consequences when the cloud service is suddenly offline.
The major advantage is that it’s likely to save you more coins.
Offline, installable payroll Software
Just like the online software, the offline software requires inputting the payroll data, program the rates for tax, etc., and keep processing payroll yourself every end of the month/week.
Some offline payroll software in Kenya have automated options that you just click through and the software does all the work for you. You must keep tracking and monitoring the results of your payroll software every time you run payroll.
Factors to consider when choosing the best payroll administrator in Kenya
As expected, not all payroll administrator services in Kenya are the same or offer the same level of service. That said, you need to shift through each service proposal against a variety of key factors to identify the best.
Below are some of the considerations.
Payroll System features
Obviously, payroll software ought to process payroll and handle all tax obligations. However, this is not all. You should consider additional features such as multiple payment options, paper checks, prepaid debit cards, and direct deposits.
You may also find if the software can handle multiple wage rates, PTO management, garnishment payments, detailed payroll reports, and much more. These are very important to have as additional features.
Ease of use
Whatever form of service the payroll administrator in Kenya is offering, it has to be easy to use. You don’t want a service that takes you 3X longer to use than your manual processes.
If they have procured software and installed it on your premises, the user interface should be easy to understand with key features easily reachable.
Costs
Every business would want to save some coins on any service they are procuring without compromising on quality. Determine whether the billing cycle works for you if you need a contract to start the service and if the packages are flexible to accommodate growth.
Determine also if there are other hidden costs.
The reputation of the payroll administrator in Kenya
Businesses thrive on reputation. The better reputation you have in the eyes of your past and current clients, the better for you.
Determine if the payroll administrator Kenya has a good, verifiable reputation. You can look up reviews online and on social media platforms, Google business pages, etc.
Ease of Integrations
Your payroll solutions will need to integrate with other systems like HR software and Time attendance software. These integrations can be built into the software at development or added via API connections.
Support
This is probably one of the most critical considerations. You need help when you need it. Go for providers with either dedicated support personnel to your business or have very high/premium support services that are almost instant.
Uptime (in case of cloud usage)
If you’ve procured a payroll administrator whose services are offered in the cloud, you need to be sure their service has a 99.9% uptime promise.
You don’t want to find yourself in the middle of a payroll processing session and then boom, the service is offline.
Also, outages that are due to maintenance must be communicated well in advance and not during active payroll processing times like the end of the month.
Availability of Employee portal (self-service)
The best scenario is that you find a payroll administrator in Kenya service that allows employees to log in to their portals and view their deductions, payslips, tax forms, etc.
Extra services
As payroll doesn’t run on its own without relying on some form of data about employees and such, it’s best if the service has extras like HR solutions, benefits, etc. that are readily available for you if you need such.
Consider Taxmart Kenya as your Payroll administrator in Kenya
As part of our assurance service, Taxmart Kenya’s payroll administration service is offered to companies just like yours and is offered by our team of experts who understand everything about payroll administration in Kenya.
Our team has your businesses’ interests at heart and would want to walk the journey with you so you can handle the rest of other important business assignments. Talk to us today via our contact page or call directly at +254 727 434 740
