Despite accounting’s position as a critical and essential function in establishing robust financial management for organisations, many business owners are still opting to manage their accounting in-house. In doing so, they waste valuable resources, and increase their susceptibility to non-compliance issues that could lead to unnecessary cost, hefty penalties, and diminish their chances at business success.

According to Forbes, about 90% of businesses fail during their first stage; citing poor financial management as one of the top reasons. By leveraging accounting services from professional accountants, businesses can significantly increase their chances for success. Beyond bookkeeping, professional accountants help to facilitate the financial operations and planning of the company to ensure a steady and healthy cash flow.

Suppose you are looking to outsource your accounting or are currently outsourcing. In that case, you should always evaluate your potential or existing accounting company to ensure that they are the best fit for your needs, which will most likely change over time. Make sure that the existing accounting company is staffed with a team of Certified Chartered Accountants who are experienced in serving businesses of similar nature and scale. It is also crucial that they offer a dedicated account manager to service your account.

In this article, we are sharing how accounting services can significantly benefit your business along with why it is probably best for you to outsource.

Payroll is the machinery that keeps a company’s human capital running effectively. Studies indicate that a timely pay-check is a vital requirement for staff satisfaction. In addition, flawed payment systems can lead to employees questioning the financial stability of the organisation which induces low employee morale and in severe cases, can land the company in legal trouble.

Despite the important role that payroll plays in a company, many businesses are still unclear on what solutions are available and how to evaluate them in order to determine the best fit for their needs.

In this article we cover two popular solutions, Outsourcing Payroll and the implementation of an all-in-one HRMS SaaS solution, and the key consideration factors for making the most appropriate selection for your company to administer Payroll.

Outsourcing Payroll involves hiring a specialist payroll company to handle some, or all, of your payroll functions. An outsourced payroll provider offers a wide range of services, that allow businesses to select an option that best suits their specific needs. A full list of the various services a Payroll Outsourcing provider should offer are detailed below:

• Running of monthly payroll
• Reconciling claims
• Calculating monthly deductions
• Statutory reporting
• Various mandatory tax filing such as Mandatory Provident Fund (“MPF”) and Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (“ORSO”).
• Provide multi-country payroll support
• Ensuring compliance with different country or state regulations
• Troubleshooting and help support

Outsourcing these administrative business activities has proven to streamline operations and create efficiencies for businesses, enabling a shift in resource allocation to revenue generating activities.

However, the choice to outsource your payroll will depend very much on your organisational requirements.

• Time-saving – Payroll is a resource-intensive administrative function, outsourcing it frees more time for your internal teams administering payroll to focus on other activities. If you are currently experience resourcing issues, outsourcing your payroll could be a more effective solution than hiring new staff.
• Enhanced Security – In a world rife with data security fears, reputable Outsourcing Payroll providers will offer multiple servers, backups, and other security systems and processes that protect employee personal data to grant employers peace of mind. In addition, they will have robust internal processes that adhere to best practice personal data protection rules.
• Guaranteed Regulatory Compliance – Between countries and even within states of a large country, various regulatory compliance changes can be challenging for in-house HR teams to keep up with, leaving room for compliance risks. By outsourcing your payroll to a reputable vendor, you need not worry about ever being non-compliant to changing local regulations.
• Visibility over costs – One of the major benefits of outsourcing is that your costs don’t fluctuate significantly. You have complete visibility over how much you will be spending each month, and any additional hires will come at a pre-determined rate, meaning hiring costs can be more easily planned.
• Possible Inaccuracies in Data – Outsourcing payroll requires transfer & hosting of data off-site, which can result in errors if the correct systems are not in place. No system or process (no matter how technologically advanced) is 100% perfect, meaning when mistakes occur during data transfer it can take extra time to rectify and correct. To mitigate it, we recommend engaging a credible Payroll Outsourcing provider with an experienced team, robust processes and a consistent track record.
• Limits of Data Access – If cases such as sudden terminations or placement of staff on gardening leave occur frequently, businesses should be aware that the ability to immediately process information could be delayed even with automatic Cloud Connection systems between the payroll vendor and their client.

These are just some of the things you need to consider when thinking about payroll outsourcing. Ultimately, you will need to find the solution which best aligns to your business needs and processes.

Another common method of processing payroll is with an all-in-one HRMS SaaS solution which allows a company to retain control of processing payroll internally, with the efficiency of having all the core systems in one ecosystem.

Most frequently adopted by small businesses, the payroll software vendor will take responsibility for data backup and managing software upgrades, whilst the business manages its employee database and payroll processing. The pricing models vary, but mostly the software vendor licenses the customer through a subscription in a ‘pay as you go’ model.

Many businesses choose an all-in-one HRMS SaaS solution because of the convenience and flexibility that this option provides.

As with outsourcing your payroll, your decision to select a SaaS HRMS solution should take into consideration your payroll complexity, business objectives and processes.

• Adaptability to Existing Systems – For companies using their own proprietary software it can be challenging to find a solution that integrates with their current software. If keeping your internal system is important, it’s critical you find an HRMS SaaS solution that adopts an open API framework.
• Data Protection – Reputable HRMS SaaS vendors often have strong measures in place to ensure that their clients’ personal data remains private. In countries like Hong Kong where data protection laws are strict, HRMS SaaS providers will ensure that their requirements fit with local regulations such as the Personal Data Privacy Ordinance (“PDPO”) to avoid hefty fines. It’s important any vendor your evaluating can demonstrate robust systems, policies and processes to ensure your employee’s personal data remains protected.
• User-Friendly – Technology has advanced at such a rate that any reputable cloud based HRMS SaaS solution will offer a seamless user experience and user interface. They will also cater to changing habits of employees such as needing to access the HRMS on the go or from a mobile app.
• Automation of Processes – If your main business goals are efficiency and costs, a HRMS SaaS solution will help to save time and resources as manual processes are now done automatically via the platform which can greatly reduce the propensity for human error.
• Strong Vendor Reputation – New platforms are everywhere as businesses hop onto the trend of HRMS SaaS solutions. With so many new entrants, credibility must not be overlooked for other attractive factors such as cost of implementation. Less reputable vendors can lead to wasted labour hours and potentially cause downtime which might impact the bottom line, resulting in greater long-term costs.
• Ability to Act Swiftly on Disruptions to Network – Can the company’s in-house staff react to downtime in its payroll system swiftly enough before it escalates? A HRMS SaaS provider often has its own dedicated team for quick response to downtime that not every business has in place which can reduce time needed for correcting any issues.
• Internal HR team Well-versed in Compliance – As companies will be handling Payroll internally, they will need to have a strong HR team that are highly responsible and aware of labour regulations. Whether a company is willing to gamble with that risk is often a deciding factor when choosing between payroll outsourcing which can manage compliance or engaging in a HRMS SaaS solution.

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 why Payroll Outsourcing can be an effective solution for businesses by taking you through the 6 key benefits to outsourcing payroll.

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.

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.

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.

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: kellie.chan@boardroomlimited.com , or

Elaine Liu , Director of Sales, Hong Kong and China Region: elaine.liu@boardroomlimited.com