Wave Teams With Check to Upgrade Small Business Payroll

Payroll infrastructure company Check has teamed with Wave, a money management platform for small businesses.

The collaboration, announced Wednesday (April 3), will let the more than 300,000 small businesses using Wave access “full-service payroll functionality” in all 50 U.S. states.

“Payroll has long been a growth hurdle for small businesses due to its complexity,” Check said in a news release. “There are 11,000 U.S. payroll jurisdictions, and the administrative burdens that come with proper tax calculation, form filing, and remittance can be stifling for small business owners who are often wearing multiple hats across HR, marketing and more.”

With the help of Check’s embedded payroll API, Wave has expanded its payroll solution to include things like affordable, flat-rate pricing and next-day direct deposit, plus automated state tax filings for businesses with employees in one state or living in multiple states.

The partnership comes as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are under increasing pressure, with rising inflation hindering their ability to borrow.

“SMB Borrowing Dynamics: Trends, Tools and Decision Drivers,” a report by PYMNTS Intelligence and U.S. Bank, identified numerous factors that help business owners determine which funding options make sense. Chief among them are yearly revenues.

According to the report, low-revenue SMBs tend to prioritize immediate capital needs and financial stability over what their higher-revenue counterparts consider.

“This might explain why, given last year’s bumpy economic run, nearly 20% of low-revenue SMBs (defined in the study as those earning less than $1 million annually) declined to leverage any borrowing tools during that time,” PYMNTS wrote.

For close to one-third of low-revenue SMBs, reward-earning credit cards were the funding resource of choice in 2023, with the report determining that these cards appeal to this group of SMBs because they offer “immediate benefits that provide tangible value.”

More recently, PYMNTS examined the burden that payment delays put on SMBs, with close to one-third of them bogged down in manual processing for the ad hoc payments that account for  nearly two-thirds of their revenue.

Despite the significant benefits of speed and convenience provided by digital accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) solutions, just under 40% of SMBs have largely transitioned to automated payment processes.

“This lag in adoption leaves Main Street vulnerable, highlighting a critical gap between digital potential and operational reality,” PYMNTS wrote. “Embracing innovative cash management tools could be the lifeline these merchants need.”