As a small business owner you face challenges every day – from hiring and retaining good employees to bringing in enough business to keep the doors open. Keeping track of payroll and the state and federal paperwork that needs to be filed can take you off course from running your business, that’s why outsourcing your payroll can be good for the bottom line.

When it comes to paying employees, laws and the IRS have made the payroll function a time consuming nightmare for the small business owners in Arizona. Did you know that small business owners spend an average of eight hours a month performing payroll functions? That’s 12 full days a year that could be spent generating sales, prospecting new business opportunities, improving products or services, or servicing customers.

In today’s competitive business environment the entrepreneur needs to focus his or her energy on growing the business. Processing your own payroll is a chore that, honestly, adds nothing to your bottom line and takes you away from growing your business.

Small companies grow to large companies when the owner delegates time-consuming, paperwork-intensive tasks. Payroll outsourcing allows you to concentrate on other daily work. Payroll service providers are specialists with vast technical resources at their disposal, they can process even the most complex payrolls.

Here are five good reasons to outsource your payroll to a professional:

1. It’s Cost Effective – your staff can concentrate on the important daily tasks
2. It’s a Time Saver – you don’t want to waste eight hours a month on something that a professional service can automate for you
3. Worry Free Payroll Tax Filing – navigating the maze of state and federal reporting and keeping track of deadlines and ever-changing rules and regulations is something better left to a payroll provider
4. Allows You To Focus On Core Competencies – you became an entrepreneur because of the goods and/or services you have to offer and working on your own payroll brings nothing of value to your customer
5. Comprehensive Reporting – your payroll provider should offer you easy-to-read comprehensive reports and they should be available to answer your questions about the reports.

When it comes to outsourcing your payroll make certain you find a payroll service that suits your needs because once size does not always fit all.

There are payroll providers that offer:

1.  Comprehensive payroll services in which they take care of all of the payroll processing for you from start to finish
2. After the fact by handling payroll you have prepared yourself but helping you file the information with the IRS and taking care of other reporting aspects
3. Online payroll processing in which you can enter your employee’s hours and have the ability to print payroll checks at your own site
4. Custom payroll reporting service to address

Before making the decision to outsource your payroll, check with the potential provider to see what kind of service it offers and see if you have the option to pick and choose a service that best suits your company’s needs. One of the most important aspects about payroll outsourcing is the ability to contact your payroll provider if a problem arises – consider outsourcing your payroll to a smaller firm because you’ll likely get more personalized service. Bottom line, shop around and ask your potential provider for references from current clients.