subject: Do Your Own Payroll with Computer Checks [print this page] Do Your Own Payroll with Computer Checks Do Your Own Payroll with Computer Checks
Have you calculated the amount of money your company spends yearly in outsourcing payroll? For many small businesses, this amount is a significant chunk of change. At the same time, however, your company cannot afford a full-time employee to do accounting and bookkeeping. If you want to cut back on expenses but still balance your books and give checks to your employees every week, what are your options?
As bookkeeping, in general, has become more computerized than written over the past 20 years, your payroll can follow. If submitting weekly hours and pay for all employees is your business's role with a payroll company, such a task can be done in house. If your books are already balanced and records already updated for all employees, don't send this information anywhere else. Instead, use a computer program to print out checks that link to your company's bank account.
Printing computer checks for all employees saves money over time, and creating a set of checks to match and align with your business is a simple task. First, when choosing the right set of business checks for your own company, decide how you want them to appear. A check with an attached stub displaying all hours earned, hourly or salary pay, and any taxes or benefits taken out is a common format. A business, however, may want a three-to-a-page design to simply print out the checks for all employees efficiently and will include a separate stub.
In addition to working with your current business bank account, computer checks are congruent with standard accounting and bookkeeping programs. If your business uses Quicken, QuickBooks, Peachtree, or Microsoft Money, a set of computer checks likely works with it. All you need to do, after calculating each person's weekly hours, pay, and deductions, is print out the checks, add the stubs, and put them into envelopes.
Have you thought about the appearance of the checks given to your employees? Although payroll checks are typically a solid color, usually blue, green, or off-white, think about customizing your set of checks to make them represent your business. If your company is known for certain colors, use them for the checks, or consider adding a customized logo. No matter if the checks are given to employees or third-party vendors, they can clearly represent your company with a customized design. When such computer checks are being designed, include an image file of your company's logo, and the printer putting together a set can incorporate this image into the background of each one.
