Sage Enters Payroll Arena

Small business financial services player Sage is adding a new offering to help companies manage their money. An announcement on Wednesday (Dec. 16) said Sage has rolled out the Sage Payroll Center, a service for accounting players to provide payroll services for their corporate clients.

“Payroll is a natural extension of the tax, audit and other financial services accountants already provide to their small and medium business clients,” said Sage Accountant Solutions Vice President Ray Barlow in a statement. “Sage Payroll Center can help accountants generate additional revenue streams and attract new clients, two things that will be important to firms in 2016 and beyond.”

The company noted that the platform provides automated services to help companies prepare federal, state and local tax filings and payments. Companies and their accountants can have a portal to see payroll information on a mobile-friendly platform, Sage added, meaning the solution can alert accountants and payroll managers on a mobile device about direct deposit and cash requirements.

The platform provides a portal through which SME employees can access their own paystubs and W-2 forms as well.

Sage’s new payroll service comes at a time for small businesses when research shows that the majority of small business owners try to tackle payroll without a third-party service provider.

Research published in October by Paychex found that 56 percent of SME owners handle this function solo; for the companies that do outsource payroll, most do so to obtain peace of mind.