New Online Payroll Solution Offers Full Integration With GL, Accounting

“Simply put, Payroll in Xero is an absolute game changer to the efficiency of my firm, saving our practice 45 hours a week, easily,” said said Steve Chaney, CPA, Managing Partner, Chaney & Associates. “Bringing together the two formerly disparate systems of accounting and payroll allows for the most efficient collaboration possible between accountants and small businesses, eliminating struggles of the past.” 

“With Xero, I don’t have to worry about mundane tasks like importing and exporting data,” he added. “Instead, I can focus on the fun stuff: face-to-face meetings, being a strategic resource and helping my clients become the businesses they set out to be.”

Payroll in Xero provides a full feature set that can help improve operational efficiencies for accounting professionals and small businesses, while also integrating into the larger accounting platform so data is automatically uploaded into the general ledger. This eliminates the need for time-consuming manual data entry. Data can be accessed by any number of assigned users via a simple log-in, and security protocols ensure that accountants and payroll professionals can view data relevant to them while employees can only view their individual payroll data.

Other Payroll in Xero features include:

• Electronic Tax Filing/Payments- Payroll in Xero alerts customers to deadlines and offers state and federal tax documents than can be auto-populated, filed and paid electronically.
• Employee Engagement- Employees can benefit from Payroll in Xero through use of Xero’s employee portal, which allows for submission of timesheets, access to pay stubs and the ability to apply for time off with just a few clicks.
• The ABCs of API– Payroll in Xero adds another layer of productivity by including an API to easily connect to other key business systems such as timesheets, employee scheduling, HR management and costing solutions.

“At Xero we’re perfectionists. Payroll in Xero has been a feature years in the making, as we aimed to create a feature made exactly the way accountants want it. We’ve listened closely to our customers and we are beyond words excited to offer this new feature to help them meet their business demands,” said Stuart McLeod, VP of Global Payroll, Xero. “In addition to developing efficiency improvements, we aimed to time the release in December, as the month is widely viewed as the optimal time of year to upgrade systems, which usually entails migrating from legacy desktop systems to cloud-based solutions.”

“Following our recent funding round of $150 million, Xero is continuing to double down on product and development,” McLeod added. Payroll in Xero sets the new industry standard and frankly, it’s one of our biggest product updates ever,” said Jamie Sutherland, President, Xero U.S. “In 2014 and beyond, we look forward to creating additional efficiency-improving features that aid customers trying to climb out of the quicksand that is QuickBooks.”

Because payroll reporting regulations vary widely across the United States, the payroll functionality in Xero is currently available for California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Virginia. The company is actively developing the software to support more states and offers a schedule of states where it anticipates to soon have full reporting compliance with.