How small businesses in Nigeria can manage payroll better

How long does it take to prepare your employees payroll every month? Do you run an automated payroll system? If you have employees, paying them and doing it on time is important to the growth of your business. When your workers get their remuneration as at when due, they are motivated to put more into work. Even when you run a sole proprietorship and you are also the sole employee, running payroll is also important for accountability.

4 ways growing businesses can manage payroll better in 2022

Running payroll is not an easy feat, and if you’re someone who doesn’t handle numbers professionally, it can be quite overwhelming. Whether you are a professional payroll manager or a business owner that doubles as a payroll manager, here are a few ways to run payroll better this year.

1. Analyse your business numbers
2. Be updated on business laws and taxes within Nigeria and your state
3. Define your payroll policy
4. Run an automated payroll system

Analyse your business numbers: You need to be able to gauge your business state by its numbers; profits and losses, inflow and outflow, bad debts and leaking points, etc. Major business decisions are largely dependent on the availability of funds, and payroll is one of those decisions. You can analyse your business’s financial records manually, or by using an automated tool for accurate and faster results.

Be updated on business laws and taxes within Nigeria and your state: Does your state require that you withhold income tax from your employees’ salaries? What are the legal implications associated with employment tax? (Read more about taxes in Nigeria here.) Are you aware of the laws that protect the relationship between employers and employees? What do you know about pension payment and medical insurance covered in the labor act? What about housing allowances and both paid and unpaid time off? How will you account for these in your payroll?

Define your payroll policy: When you know the laws that are binding around labor acts and taxes. You can now define your payroll policy. This refers to how payment is made, how payment is defined (wages or salary), what is taken into account in payment (hours of work, amount of work done, days of work, etc), payment frequency, who authorises payment and everything around the payment of salaries, especially according to the peculiarities of each industry.

Depend on a payroll software: According to Oracle Netsuite, “for small businesses, payroll is traditionally both one of the biggest operating costs and one of the heaviest administrative burdens, especially for companies that manage payroll manually“. Run an automated payroll system. Some reasons to use a payroll software: it helps you focus on other aspects of your business. Helps you avoid mental breakdowns from the routine mind tasking preparation. Automatically deducts tax and other deductions thereby simplifying tax payments.  Send payslips to employees easily.

Conclusion
Are your existing payroll procedures disorganised and inaccurate? Is your business growing, and you’re running out of time to manage payroll yourself? Do you lack knowledge about payroll management? Is your company looking for a to switch to a new seamless software and you want help making the transition? Leave a comment or visit hello@bizedgeapp.com for details.