Payroll services for accountancy firms

For an accountancy practice, payroll is either a sticky recurring revenue line or a loss-making distraction – depending entirely on how it is delivered. The choice is bureau software in-house versus a white-label outsourcing partner.

What makes accountants payroll different

• Bureau software economics. BrightPay and Moneysoft offer bureau licences covering unlimited or many employers for a few hundred pounds a year; charging clients £20 – £50 a month each makes in-house payroll profitable up to the point where it consumes fee-earner time.
• White-label outsourcing. Specialist white-label bureaus run the processing under your brand for roughly £2 – £6 per payslip, letting the practice keep the client relationship and the margin without the 5 April scramble.
• Year-end concentration risk. P60s, P11Ds and tax-year-start code changes all land in the same fortnight as self-assessment recovery; outsourcing flattens that peak.
• Client expectations. Clients increasingly expect employee self-service portals and pension handling included – features covered in our software costs guide.

What to look for in a provider

If keeping it in-house, price clients per payslip with a monthly minimum. If outsourcing, insist on white-label payslips, a named processor and an SLA on query turnaround, since your brand carries the errors.

Pricing follows the wider market – see what outsourcing costs (£4 – £10 per employee per month fully managed) – but sector add-ons matter more than the headline rate, so always compare like-for-like quotes.