Payroll Process Dubuque

You have to put the hours in at work before your payroll process in Dubuque, Iowa can start. For hourly employees, this means coming to work and putting in the hours you need to get paid. Your whole week depends on the time clock. You live and breathe by it during the hours you are working. Forgetting a punch in or out can have an adverse effect on your paycheck, depending on whether the payroll people find the error or you bring it to someone’s attention. Salaried employees have it a little easier. They do not have a clock to punch in and out of. They usually have time sheets that they need to turn in at the end of the week. While their paycheck does not depend on the hours they actually put in, their company still wants to be sure they are putting in the hours they should be working.

Pre-employment Paperwork

New employees usually sit with the company’s human resource department to fill out the necessary paperwork to begin the payroll process. They are usually provided with a couple of worksheets to figure out how much tax they should be withholding on the state and federal levels. Usually, the new employees are asked a series of questions to help them figure out the number they should be claiming. Traditional people may follow the worksheets true to form, but they are likely to figure out that the higher the number they claim, the more they will pay in taxes. After the first couple of paychecks, the high amount of take home pay compared to the deductions makes itself obvious.
At the end of January, employers are required by law to send employees their W2 statements. This enables employees to see how much money was withheld by their paychecks by certain entities. It also makes it easier for the employee to complete their tax returns by the tax deadline. If your tax deductions have not made themselves obvious by looking at your paycheck, they will definitely become obvious when your tax return ends with you owing the state or federal government or both money.

Payroll Help

Many smaller businesses may not have the staffing with the know-how to complete the payroll process. Many local tax preparation services or CPA firms likely offer these companies help with their payroll. It is likely that someone from the human resources department or the financial department will collect timesheets and time clock punches and forward them. Each individual record will be scoured and checked for wrong punches, missed punches, or even missing time. Should a holiday occur during the pay period, the holiday procedures will be followed and the employee will be paid accordingly. If they are an hourly employee and missed time before or after the holiday, they will likely not receive pay for the holiday. Each company will have different rules and regulations for the holidays. It is best to check your employee handbook or with the human resources department.

At the end of the year, W2s can be generated to report to the employee how much money they made for the year and how much was deducted during the payroll process. Sometimes employees may try to say a mistake has been made, and they think they are owed more money by the government. What they fail to understand is that if it is found that too much money was withheld from their pay, they will receive it in a refund once the government has processed their income tax return.

Where Is Payroll Going?

It is one thing to run the payroll process, but it is another to know exactly where every payroll dollar is going. Any business with a good sense of direction will have a system in place to check on how much work each employee is producing. Performance reviews are just one indicator of this. Any employee who performs their job using a computer or other electronic device is likely being watched, even if they do not know it. Any member of the management team can likely pull up a detailed report regarding how much each employee has contributed during a given period of time.

After your payroll has been run for a given time period, certain pieces of data can be taken and expanded upon. Once you figure out which departments are under-performing, you can narrow down which employees were on duty at the time. Hourly employees will be easier to trace, since they have to punch in and out each time they work. They have an employee number which can be traced through the system. If you are seeing the same employee numbers working during the time the department has under-performed, you likely have pinpointed the problem. Reports can be sent to the management team and your human resources department. It will be up to them if disciplinary action can or will be taken.

If your business is sales based, the payroll process can be helpful in pointing out when your staffing can be reduced due to the volume of sales. Yes, it is true that there is no exact science when it comes to predicting sales for the day. A number of things can have an impact. If the weather is bad, potential customers will likely stay home. If other stores in the area have better sales or a better selection of items, business will likely be slower. The point is that reports generated through the payroll can help you figure out when you can cut back on your staffing, which will save you money in the long run. However, nothing is completely predictable when it comes to estimated sales for the day. Sometimes it is better to overstaff and send people home early. You would hate to be caught in a sales spurt and not have enough staffing to get through it.

Your Bottom Line

Everything your business touches affects its bottom line. If your payroll is exceeding the number of hours where you can turn a profit, chances are you are hurting your bottom line. Your sales should be directly in line with the number of labor hours you are staffing in the store. If you are not making the sales, chances are you will not need to schedule that many in the store. Yes, you can follow the previous year’s numbers for that particular date, but it is not an exact science for predicting possible sales. Weather, economy, and living conditions could have a profound effect on the sales for the day. If the previous year included a major snowstorm, you sales may increase this year if the weather is clear as a bell. However, that does not necessarily mean you will need more staffing for the day.

Take advantage of the payroll reports that can be generated. Compare the sales numbers to the actual number of staff working for the day. Do they closely match up or is there room to reduce the staffing for the day? If it is going to be a slow day, do you schedule the staffing with the lower rate of pay? Most retail workers are hourly employees. Employees who have been working in the store the longest generally make more money than those who just started. Rate of pay can also work against your bottom line.

Since sales forecasts can be extremely unpredictable, you need to get a handle on your payroll. District managers would not want to read financial or even payroll reports that say there are three cashiers, a stock clerk, and a shift manager working on a slow day. An excellent option might be to send the stock clerk home and have one of the cashiers take over. If the day still continues to be slow, you may want to send a cashier home. Saving payroll will save your bottom line, and perhaps it will be in your budget to hire a few more employees when your store tends to be short in the summer. The facts are all in the payroll reports, so much sure you read and examine them carefully.

If you need help with your payroll process in Dubuque, Iowa, don’t hesitate to contact the professionals at Buchheit Tax today!