BrightPay and Relate Software join forces to create an accounting and payroll software champion

We are delighted to announce that BrightPay has joined forces with Relate Software, a leader in post-accounting, practice management, and bookkeeping software. The partnership will aim to create a software champion serving payroll and accounting bureau and SMEs across Ireland and the UK.

BrightPay is a modern payroll and HR software which takes care of every aspect of running your payroll, from entering employee and payment details to creating payslips and sending real-time payroll submissions. The software has been designed from the ground up to be clear and simple, and yet no compromise has been made on its payroll features.

Likewise, Relate is dedicated to building innovative and focused products designed specifically for the accounting profession. Its offering includes Surf products, a cloud native product suite of bookkeeping, post-accounting, and practice management software. Relate is an industry-leader in Ireland and has been building software for over 25 years.

By partnering with Relate and combining products and strengths from both businesses, we can provide a greater offering to our customers, with scope and backing for further innovation and development. This is an exciting moment in BrightPay’s journey to delivering a one stop solution for businesses and accountancy firms. Together we will aim to provide a best-in-class software suite with a clear value proposition to drive efficiency and reduce errors, all with increased flexibility from working with a cloud offering.

For more information, please see the press release and customer FAQs.

Posted byÁine CourtneyinNews

The hidden ways HR can benefit from managing payroll internally

Every business must have payroll in some form or another. It is arguably one of the most important HR responsibilities for any employer. You must process payslips and payments correctly on time, every time. Payroll mistakes can leave you at risk of hefty fines, and so traditionally, payroll has been one of the most outsourced processes in the business world. However, managing payroll in-house is fast replacing the tendency to outsource the role, as cloud automation continues to simplify and streamline a once difficult task.

Naturally, one of the biggest advantages of processing your payroll in-house is the level of control you’ll have over the entire process. This means you can be more flexible with last-minute changes to timesheets or quickly correcting errors. It also may be more cost-effective to run payroll in-house as the cost of payroll software becomes ever more affordable. Businesses can save money by bringing their payroll in-house compared to outsourcing to a third party.

An in-house payroll process means you can keep all your employees’ information private. Some employers feel more at ease by controlling who can see salaries, benefits, bonuses and other sensitive employee data. Interestingly, the number of global companies with a fully outsourced payroll function dropped by 7% in just two years. It’s clear that attitudes towards outsourced payroll are rapidly changing in favour of an in-house operation.

So, what about other benefits that are not so obvious? Fortunately for HR professionals, cloud innovation can have a big impact on workflows, especially when it comes to the crossover between HR and payroll tasks. Read on to find out four ways your HR department can benefit from managing payroll in-house.

1. Fewer calls and emails to HR: Employees can be invited to their own secure online self-service portal that can be downloaded via an app on their smartphone or tablet device. Historical payslips and payroll documents are accessible 24/7 by the employee, instantly reducing a huge volume of time-consuming requests to HR. Gone are the days of employees requesting a history of past or lost payslips, for example, when they are applying for a loan or mortgage.
2. Effective employee management: BrightPay Connect offers employers a central online location to keep employee records safe and secure. Not only are payslips and payroll documents automatically available, but other HR and company documents can also be uploaded. Employment contracts, company handbooks, training documents and company newsletters can all be uploaded for easy distribution, again reducing the volume of related queries to HR. Documents with restricted access can be added, for example, appraisal and disciplinary documents to aid in ongoing performance evaluation.
3. Easier annual leave management: The cumbersome nature of managing annual leave is made much easier with BrightPay Connect. With the employee self-service portal, employees can view their annual leave entitlement and leave balance remaining. They can also request annual leave through their self-service portal. This can reduce the high volume of tedious paper-trails and email traffic to HR. Payroll and HR managers can easily approve leave requests through the online employer dashboard. Approved leave then automatically synchronises back to the payroll software on your PC and is instantly updated on the company-wide online calendar, and so HR can easily track leave and plan staff cover.
4. Happier employee culture: Research consistently shows that when employees feel empowered at work, it has the knock-on effect of stronger job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the business. BrightPay Connect’s employee smartphone and tablet app can empower employees by giving them access to view and manage their data online, providing a source of independence, power and control. That convenience adds up to creating a happy and productive workforce culture, the highest aspiration for any HR management team.

If your business is curious about how an in-house payroll solution can make your payroll process easier, book a demo today to discover how BrightPay can streamline and automate many of the day-to-day payroll and HR processes.

Related articles:

• The key to managing the annual leave backlog
• Ransomware: How to protect your payroll data
• BrightPay Connect Calendar Updates

Seamless integration at your fingertips

BrightPay recently announced that new journal integrations were added to the payroll software. These integrations allow customers of AccountsIQ, Quickbooks Online, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, and Xero to send their payroll journal directly from BrightPay to their accounting software at the click of a button. In BrightPay, your payroll journal file is customised to the individual accounting software provider, with compatible files and built-in nominal ledger mapping. Using the integrated system means you can save time, reduce mistakes, and improve your payroll workflow.

How important is an integrated accounts and payroll system?

An integrated accounting and payroll system can simplify how you work and allows you to have the best of both worlds. You can have your payroll software with its easy-to-use interface and full functionality without having to spend unnecessary time exporting payroll data to your accounting software. With the journal API (Application Programme Interface) integrations you can:

Save time:

If you are responsible for carrying out payroll duties and sending this data to your accounting package each pay period, you are familiar with the amount of time it can take. By using the API you can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend on this task. Instead of exporting and importing the figures manually, the payroll journal is sent directly to your accounting software and the figures are automatically added to the general ledger.

Reduce costly mistakes:

Double entry of figures can result in costly mistakes that end up taking time to identify and correct. The API integration means that this data is transferred straight from BrightPay payroll software directly to the journal, avoiding any chance of errors occurring.

Improve efficiency:

The purpose of an API integration is to allow two systems to communicate with one another in order to improve business processes and enhance productivity. With the payroll journal integration you can benefit from a quicker and more efficient workflow. The payroll information can be set up to be sent to the relevant ledgers. For example, you can post wages and salaries cost from the payroll to the nominal ledger account in your accounting software called ‘Wages and Salaries’. If you want to create any exceptions to this, you can. For example, you can separate out the costs of directors’ salaries to be mapped into a separate nominal account.

How does the BrightPay journal integration work?

The set-up of the API for the different accounting software is very similar. Using the API for AccountsIQ as an example:

• First, sign into your AccountsIQ account in BrightPay.
• The nominal ledger accounts will be retrieved.
• Map each payroll data item to the relevant nominal account.
• The payroll journal can include records for payslips across multiple pay frequencies.
• A nominal account can be used for multiple items.
• Specify any circumstances for which amounts should be mapped to an alternate nominal account code.

If you are using a different accounting software, you can discover how to set it up by clicking the following links: Xero, Quickbooks, and Sage Business Cloud Accounting.

Learn more:

If you’re interested in learning how BrightPay can improve your payroll services and save you time, schedule a 15-minute demo with a member of our team today.

Related Articles:

• Introducing BrightPay’s New Accounting API Features
• Going paperless: how an employee app can help
• BrightPay Connect: Two Factor Authentication Explained

Posted byÁine CourtneyinAccounts SoftwarePayroll Software

Highlighting employee-led sustainability efforts

Earlier this year Thesaurus Software, operator of BrightPay Payroll Software, moved into our new energy-efficient offices in Duleek, Co. Meath. Employees of Thesaurus Software have formed the 'Green Team', a company-wide committee tasked with identifying and implementing opportunities that can improve the sustainability of our company.

From the start the Green Team have demonstrated their enthusiasm for environmental sustainability and passion for sharing their knowledge. This is highlighted below in a number of projects they’ve undertaken:

Making the Garden Bloom:

While the initial focus was on the new purpose-built offices, the Green Team soon turned their attention to the green spaces outside. Inspired by their Earth Week guest, Dr. Emma Reeves, a Senior Ecologist at the Forest, Environmental Research, & Services (FERS), the group was particularly keen to plant native, bee-friendly plants and trees that would help pollinators and further benefit biodiversity. The first planting phase has been completed with the group planning the layout of the garden and planting shrubs, flowers, and trees. In September, the second phase will begin, with the team planting Spring bulbs including hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils.

Single-Use Plastics Awareness Campaign:

On the 3rd of July, the Single-Use Plastics Directive came into effect for all EU member states. In Ireland, this means that certain single-use plastics such as straws and coffee cups have been banned from the Irish market. Supporting this initiative, the Green Team created an awareness campaign highlighting the use of plastic in the beauty industry and introduced a single-use plastics ban in the office. With 10 of the most commonly found single-use plastic items representing 70% of all marine litter, this is an important and useful step all employees can take.

Future projects:

The Green Team’s future plans are focused on tackling pollution and engaging with more employees at Thesaurus Software. In September, the company will take part in a clean-up at a local beach and will also develop a new project highlighting the unsustainable nature of fast fashion and what options are available to address it.

If you’re interested in keeping up to date with Thesaurus Software’s journey, sign up to our sustainability newsletter for future updates.

BrightPay Customer Update: September 2021

Welcome to BrightPay's September update. Our most important news this month include:

• Sick pay comes to Ireland: How does this affect employers and payroll processors?

• Webinar on-demand: Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) Guest Speaker: Revenue

Posted byHolly McHughinCustomer Update