5 Questions to Consider Before Beginning a Payroll Implementation

Planning a payroll implementation? Here are some items to consider!

Who should be involved?

After you have decided to change payroll providers and have chosen a partner that best fits your needs, the next step is to decide who needs to be involved. Consider these questions to help make those decisions:

·         Who will be importing and preparing your payroll?

·         Will supervisors or managers need to be involved in the process at all?

·         How many people do you want to have trained on the new system?

Once you've answered these questions, you'll know who will need to be included in each stage of the process. 

How long will the implementation take?

Depending on the size of your company an implementation can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks, from the first kick-off call to when your payroll goes live with the first check date. Be sure to work with your payroll partner to give yourself enough time to get everything set up and running smoothly. You will want to create a realistic timeline that both parties are committed to.

What Information needs to be gathered beforehand?

If you have been processing payroll you've probably noticed that there is much more to payroll than just tracking each employee’s hours! Make a list of everything that is needed to process your company’s payroll. A few examples are garnishments and levy information as well as scheduled earning and deduction information.   

Will there need to be any new hardware installed?

Many times if you are changing your payroll provider you may also upgrade your time keeping system. If so, make a check list and timeline of what needs to be done and how long it should take to complete those tasks.

Who will be trained and how much training is needed?

Decide who will need to be trained on your new process for payroll and if supervisors or managers will need training on any new devices that will be implemented. Consider how your process will change, who will be involved, and what those roles will be. Then allocate time needed to train them. Also, make sure that the payroll provider you select is willing to dedicate time to the training as you need it! 

The Author: Amber Borland, FPC

Implementation Specialist - Payroll

abgncs.com/payroll

aborland@abg-mn.com

Disclaimer: This blog is of an informative nature and should not be taken as advice. Please work with the appropriate parties for those services. 

Our Payroll Team is Industry Certified and Ready to Serve

It is very important to us at Alliance Benefit Group North Central States, Inc. (ABGNCS) to stand by our core focus, “We take the worry away.”  For our employees to deliver on this promise, we believe it’s important to be knowledge leaders within the industries we serve. A key contribution to our knowledge base is our commitment to having our employees become certified within those industries.  

For our Payroll Department an important designation is the Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC). Our Payroll Account Managers are proud to have these three characters displayed behind their names. As a payroll provider, this training helps us be prepared to fully support the payroll process from start to finish. 

What does FPC stand for?

FPC stands for Fundamental Payroll Certification, a professional certification administered through the American Payroll Association (APA).

What is the purpose of the FPC designation?

The FPC is a way for payroll professionals, consultants, analysts and sales representatives to demonstrate their knowledge of basic payroll concepts and systems to establish credibility.

Topics covered on this Exam:

1.      Core Payroll Concepts

2.      Compliance/Research and Resources

3.      Calculations

4.      Payroll Processes, Supporting Systems, and Administration

5.      Payroll Administration and Management

6.      Audits

7.      Accounting

We currently have three employees with the FPC. ABGNCS is proud to have this designation as part of our organization and supports that the rest of our Payroll Team working towards this certification.

These efforts help us keep up with the ever-changing payroll rules and regulations. We’re ready to help answer any questions you may have about your payroll systems. 

The Author: Sarah J. Barnick, FPC

Account Manager - Payroll

abgncs.com/payroll

sbarnick@abg-mn.com

Disclaimer: This blog is of an informative and educational nature, and should not be considered legal, financial or operational advice. Please contact the appropriate parties for those services. Thank you.

Identifying Full-Time Employees in Accordance With the Affordable Care Act

Effective January 1, 2015 the Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a penalty on large employers that do not offer minimum health insurance coverage to all full-time employees and their dependents. 

So, how do you determine who is a full-time employee? A full-time employee is an employee who was employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week. 

To determine an employee’s hours of service, an employer must count:

• Each hour for which the employee is paid, or entitled to payment, for the performance of duties for the employer; and
• Each hour for which an employee is paid, or entitled to payment, by the employer on account of a period of time during which no duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, jury duty, military leave or leave of absence.

Alliance Benefit Group North Central States, Inc. offers reports that are designed to calculate the number of full-time equivalent employees to help employers be in compliance with the ACA. This calculation is based on employee status, pay frequency and hours pulled from payroll for a selected period of time.

The Affordable Care Act does not require businesses to provide health benefits to their workers, but larger employers face penalties if they don’t make affordable coverage available. Enforcement of these penalties will begin in 2015, so if you would like to start receiving these reports or would like to learn more about them, please contact your Payroll Administrator.

The Author: Joan Wichmann

Payroll Manager

abgncs.com/payroll

JWichmann@abg-mn.com

Disclaimer: This blog is of an informative and educational nature, and should not be considered legal, financial or operational advice. Please contact the appropriate parties for those services. Thank you.

Timely Retirement Plan Deposits are the Key to Meeting Safe Harbor Guidelines

Are you depositing your employee deferral and loan payments into your retirement  plan on a timely basis?

What do you mean timely? 

The Department of Labor (DOL) safe harbor guidelines define “timely” as within 7 business days of withholding these payments from employees’ paychecks. These safe harbor guidelines apply only to plans with fewer than 100 participants on the first day of the plan year. 

The DOL has not specifically addressed plans with more than 100 participants. A couple of examples we have seen them use during an audit is to review the timeframe in which deposits are normally made or to review how fast a plan sponsor is able to remit other types of payments, such as federal tax withholdings. This is often only a couple days after the payroll date.

Salary deferral contributions and loan payments that are not deposited within the safe harbor guidelines are considered late deposits. The employer must make up earnings on the late deposits, file Form 5330 with the IRS along with payment of an excise tax, and report the late deposits on Form 5500 (which can be a trigger to cause a DOL audit for the plan). 

How can this mistake be avoided?

Coordinate with your payroll provider to set up procedures to ensure that the deposits are made timely.

Are there any other options? 

Employers who believe that they will not always be able to deposit salary deferrals and loan payments to a plan investment account within 7 business days should consider opening a plan checking account. Salary deferrals and loan payments should be deposited to the plan checking account immediately following each pay date and then transferred to the investment account at a later date. Keep in mind that employee funds should not be held in a plan checking account for an extended period of time but should be transmitted to the investment account as soon as possible.

If you have any further questions, please contact your plan’s Account Manager at 1-800-898-9344. 

The Author: Angie Krueger, CPA/QKA

Account Supervisor - Retirement

abgncs.com

akrueger@abg-mn.com

Disclaimer: This blog is of an informative and educational nature, and should not be considered legal, financial or operational advice. Please contact the appropriate parties for those services. Thank you.

Don't Miss the Signs Telling You It's Time for an HRIS System

Do you have a hundred spreadsheets all saved in different places that track various pieces of HR related information?  Do you have a hard time combing through all of those to find what you're looking for?  Do you currently do a paper benefit enrollment, and feel slightly to highly annoyed by keeping track of all of that pulp?  Are you still taking paper applications?  If so, you're experiencing the signs that it's time to invest in a human resource information system (HRIS).  

Each year web based HRIS systems are becoming more and more affordable and user friendly.  Along with these developments, the capabilities are constantly growing and improving.  The options can start to become overwhelming.  Before you dive in, we find it's a good idea to evaluate what's important to you.  Here are a couple of questions to consider when determining which HRIS system to go with.  

1. Do you need Time and Attendance software?  Over the past several years more HRIS systems have gone from integrating with time and attendance systems to having one included.  This makes it easier on the end user because everything is housed in one location!
2. What do you want out of the Employee Self Service?(Commonly referred to ESS)  More and more companies are leaning towards offering employee self service for their employees.  There are a lot of options when it comes to self service, such as viewing online pay stubs, making demographic changes, time off requests, and the list goes on.  Before you start to look at HRIS system, it is a good idea to make a wish list for what you would like out of the ESS.
3. Would you like to use your HRIS for applicant tracking?  There are a lot of software systems out there that are primarily for applicant tracking, but one thing to take into consideration is that if you use your HRIS system also as an applicant tracking system, it streamlines the hiring process because everything is housed in one system!  
4. Do you want it to work with your payroll software?  There are stand alone HRIS systems but one thing to consider is if you would like it to talk to your payroll software.  If the two systems can communicate this will cut down on data entry either for the HR department or the payroll department!  Everyone could use a little more time in their day right!   

All the possibilities are exciting but can also make your head spin. If you want to talk through your needs, we're here to help.  If you have any questions or want to know where to start, please feel free to contact me. 

The Author: Alysha Frie, FPC

Payroll Sales Consultant

abgncs.com

afrie@abg-mn.com