6 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your Payroll

6 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your Payroll

6 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your Payroll

6 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your Payroll

Whether you are running a business or leading a team it seems there are more challenges than ever to ensure staff time and resources are being spent on core functions that drive business growth and not back-end administration.

This is why approximately 47% of companies choose to outsource their payroll. Payroll is a critical business function; however, it can also be also time-consuming, complex, and largely administrative in nature. You add to this the fact that complexities and risk associated with payroll compliance increase as your business expands. This is especially true across the Asia Pacific region where there are constant nuances in Payroll Legislation. Yet employees are more mobile than ever and demand the same experience irrespective of where they are in the world.

In this article, we explore 6 key benefits of outsourcing payroll and how it can be an effective solution for your business.

Benefits of Payroll Outsourcing

01 Saves time, cost, and resources to focus on business growth

Payroll is a largely administrative function that requires a high level of attention to detail. In short, it is a time-consuming business requirement, regardless of your company size be it 50 employees or 5,000, processing payroll is a constant that can quickly drain HR resources. When you outsource your payroll processing you allow your HR teams to focus on core business activities that drive performance and growth, fundamentally saving the business time.

Wherever there are time savings, there are typically cost savings, and outsourcing payroll is no exception. It is a common misconception that payroll outsourcing is more expensive than having an in-house team. The truth is, it really depends on your business needs, however, as a general rule you can expect payroll outsourcing to be a cost-efficient solution if you have standard pay runs.

If you require a more complex solution, payroll outsourcing could still be the answer. By outsourcing your payroll, you have a dedicated team at your fingertips who has an array of experience across a diverse range of business needs and challenges. You do not need to worry about hiring and training staff to manage your complex needs – allowing you to shift these finances towards profitable activities.

02 Optimised reporting capabilities and expert advice at your fingertips

There is no one size fits all solution for running payroll. Each business has a unique set of requirements that a professional payroll outsourcing firm will not only cater to but recommend best practices processes and systems. Multi-country payroll processing, especially across Asia Pacific can be a daunting task to manage in-house. However, a payroll outsourcing firm will have a multitude of experience across a wide range of industries and will conduct multi-country payroll processing daily, meaning your business will benefit from their years of experience.

Comprehensive payroll reporting can make a real difference to an organisation, from visibility over annual leave trends for resource planning or assessing overtime reports, payroll reporting can play an important role in business planning. A good payroll outsourcing provider will not only have the platform in place that caters to comprehensive reporting they will also provide regular reporting and insights for your business.

By choosing your HRMS wisely, you guarantee peace of mind for your HR department and free-up resources to focus on other functions such as improving processes and securing a strong talent pipeline. In the words of Elbert Hubbard, let your extraordinary people do extraordinary work and leave the machine to do the ordinary work.

By choosing your HRMS wisely, you guarantee peace of mind for your HR department and free-up resources to focus on other functions such as improving processes and securing a strong talent pipeline. In the words of Elbert Hubbard, let your extraordinary people do extraordinary work and leave the machine to do the ordinary work.

03 Information security & confidentiality safeguards

Personal data protection has never been more important than when in the context of processing payroll. The personal data stored for payroll is highly sensitive and requires a significant investment, not just in infrastructure but also in staff training to ensure companies remain in compliance with local personal data protection laws.

By engaging a credible payroll outsourcing company, the investment and risk associated with compliance failure by your internal teams are mitigated. The payroll outsourcing company will have extensive systems and best practice processes in place to ensure there are no data breaches, and also keep all your data backed up regularly with top-quality encryption.

04 Ensure payroll compliance with changing local laws and Government regulations

Running payroll, especially across Asia, brings with it a multitude of local country statutory regulations and standards that need to be met. This goes beyond accurate computations of gross to net salary and moves into the specific statutory deductions required in the country you’re operating.

The intricacies of these reporting standards need to be timely and mistake-free to avoid potential time-consuming audits and penalties. A professional payroll outsourcing company will ensure you always remain a compliant employer, due to their team’s expansive knowledge.

A professional payroll outsourcing provider will also have had a variety of experience processing payroll for companies of all shapes and sizes that may have expanded to other places in Asia Pacific or across the globe. This is a direct benefit to your business because it means that irrespective of how you grow or where you grow into, you can rest assured that your company stays compliant in numerous jurisdictions.

05 Access to payroll knowledge experts

A key benefit of outsourcing is direct access to a team of highly trained professionals well-versed in payroll and other areas of business compliance. Each individual is dedicated to answering any payroll questions you have, whilst pre-empting and providing proactive solutions to any potential issues that may arise. The team at BoardRoom has multiple years of experience offering outsourced payroll services to companies of all sizes from cities across APAC, which means their local and regional knowledge will offer you the best business advice. You will also have a team that is ready for action, with no need to train them.

06 Exposure to complementary corporate services

Many payroll outsourcing companies provide complementary services which can be integrated into your business flows, streamlining your operations. BoardRoom is a good example, where the company’s team of professionals across Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia offer comprehensive services such as Corporate Secretarial, Accounting, and Taxation.

This is a benefit to your business as you can tap into a team of experts that cater to all your back-end business requirements, ensuring you remain compliant across the board. By working closely with one vendor on multiple administrative functions, you can also experience smoother processes and greater efficiency, with less room for misunderstandings or errors.

Experience the Benefits of Outsourcing Payroll with BoardRoom

At Boardroom, we are experts in helping all sorts of companies, from corporations to fast-growing SMEs, with their payroll, allowing them to focus on what matters – growth and profitability.

From local payroll services handling for Hong Kong businesses to managing substantial payroll obligations for bigger organisations spread across Asia-Pacific, we help companies comply with local statutory regulations while ensuring your most valuable asset, your employees, are paid on time, correctly and compliantly.

Contact us today and empower your organisation with greater freedom through our payroll services and solutions.

You can also learn more about our payroll solutions here.

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Hong Kong looks to move towards an Uncertificated Securities Market (USM)

Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) | BoardRoom Hong Kong

Hong Kong looks to move towards an Uncertificated Securities Market (USM)

Uncertificated Securities Market News - Hong Kong looks to move towards an Uncertificated Securities Market (USM)

As one of the world’s leading IPO and securities markets, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange currently follows an electronic as well as paper framework when it comes to securities subscription, shareholding, corporate governance and shares trading. Specifically, paper subscriptions to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and shareholding in paper certificate format are still practiced.

In recent years, law makers, regulators and capital market practitioners alike have expressed the opinion that the Hong Kong securities market, should, could and would progress into a paperless, or uncertificated environment, like some of the world’s other leading securities markets.

As a result in January 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (“HKEX”) and the Federation of Share Registrars Limited (“FSR”) jointly issued a public consultation paper on the Uncertificated Securities Market (“USM”) topic and future execution framework.

Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) Framework Implementation

In April 2020, a conclusion paper was published on a revised operational model for implementing an Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) in Hong Kong. While there’s a lot of information in the paper, many details are still far from final. One thing that is clear however, is that the proposed new Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) framework will bring with its fundamental changes to the IPO and securities markets at both primary and secondary market levels.

At the primary market (Initial Public Offering) level, new IPOs will no longer provide a paper-based subscription channel to IPO subscribers, neither will paper based share certificates be provided. The primary impact on the market will effectively be an expedition of the whole process from consolidation and integration of subscription data and funds from all viable channels for an IPO.

At the secondary (trading) level, USM will significantly impact the process flow, time, etc. of securities transactions.  In addition, from a corporate governance point of view, how shareholders choose to own and transact their shares, and with it how shareholder rights are represented will undergo considerable changes. This is important because a core objective of the Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) initiative is to ensure investors have a real option when it comes to deciding whether to hold securities in their own name or not. The current paper-based process can act as an impediment for effecting legal title transfers as it can be cumbersome and time-consuming.

BoardRoom Hong Kong - Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) Initiative

The Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) initiative is going to revolutionize the IPO and securities market and BoardRoom, as one of the active share registrars in the Hong Kong capital market, shared our insights and knowhow on the USM topic in three recent webinar sessions. The sessions were well received by our audience with many clients commenting that the sessions were “very informative” and “saved them the time of having to read the full paper released by SFC”.

As an important industry member who regularly participates in USM discussion, consultation and conclusion process our team is well equipped to answer any questions you may have on this update to the industry and we welcome your queries on the topic. If you would like more information on the Uncertificated Securities Market (USM) initiative, please reach out to our Share registry services experts today.

Please contact:

Kellie Chan, Director, Business Development: [email protected] , or

Elaine Liu , Director of Sales, Hong Kong and China Region: [email protected]

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