Smaller accounting firms don’t need BACS to offer payroll payments

BACS registration is complex and unobtainable for many small accountants. Using a third-party BACS service is cumbersome and removes some level of control. And yet, most accountancy firms that offer payroll services will have had their clients ask to make the payments on their behalf. Understandably, most clients are looking for an all-in-one solution to which they can outsource the whole process without having to get involved in making payments. Does this sound familiar? Using the Caxton Payroll Payments solution, your firm can now offer payroll payments (and all others) to your clients. Using Faster Payments, you can access the BACS system efficiently, with low costs and in a way that will give a better service to your clients. Why you may want to offer a payment service Small businesses have an expectation that services will be more like personal banking and financial transactions. They are attracted by all-in-one services that mirror this level of convenience and allow them to manage their business efficiently. Often, clients really just want the problem to go away. They don’t want to have to think about payroll – least of all the processing and payments. All they want to do is to pay you, and for you to help keep their business running smoothly. If you say that you can process their payroll but they will have to organise the payments, that makes your service less attractive. If you can instead offer a full service from timesheet to payment then you are in the box seats from a service point of view. It is always worth thinking about your own profitability too. If you offer a payments service but outsource to a BACS Approved Bureau (BAB) or another payroll provider then there is a cost, both monetary and in terms of time. If you have your own connection to the network, your costs are likely to be lower, meaning that you are going to improve your margins. And because you can offer more services to more clients, your turnover. Why your service can be even better Unless offering additional service falls into one of the ‘reasons to say no’ to clients, your new payroll payment functionality may even be a better offer than they could get from a BAB. For example, if you were to go down the BACS route, the system requires you to transmit your payment files a full three days in advance of the recipient getting it. Your alternative, Faster Payments, instead mirror the same type of bank-to-bank transfers that clients do on their own personal bank account – but done using a flexible business interface. You can make payments singly or up to thousands at once, 24/7/365. That means you give your clients a full 3 extra days to get their payroll detail to you than an alternative option. Now that’s good service. Ready to give your clients a better service? Caxton is a payments and financial Software as a Service fintech. Using Faster Payments through Caxton, you can still access the BACS system efficiently, with low costs and in a way that will provide a better service to your clients. The interface is simple to learn and easy to use – and a Faster Payment is almost instant, giving you and your clients more time each month to prepare payroll. Book a no-obligation demonstration and see how you can add this service to your firm. Or download our eBook ‘One Key Contingency Strategy to Make Sure Salaries are Paid on Time’.