Managing US and international payroll is often a frustrating process. A common solution most companies choose is to leverage one vendor for US payroll and separate local providers for all other countries. While local vendors understand the regulations and how to process payroll according to local law, they often lack in reporting and service capabilities. When your US payroll vendor doesn’t integrate with the international vendors, there is no consistency or ability for global reporting. The more countries you operate in, the more challenges there are with managing multiple processes, delayed or lack of reporting, and potential for compliance issues.
Why the “Silo” Approach Doesn’t Work
Each country has unique payroll and compliance requirements, so at first it may seem easier to hire new, local payroll providers each time you expand into a new country. These providers operate in a silo – they don’t communicate with each other or with your US provider. With continued growth, and global regulations constantly changing, it becomes exponentially more challenging to maintain payroll compliance and achieve any kind of process consistency across all countries. When it comes to reporting, you’ll find that some providers can’t provide timely reporting, or may not have the custom reporting capabilities you need. Often, reports are even in the local language. More and more companies are relying global data to make critical day to day decisions. Without accurate, global reporting each month, you can miss errors, increase the potential for fraud, or overlook compliance missteps that can put your company in jeopardy. Operating each country in a silo leads to problems that can affect your employees, your reputation, and the company’s bottom line.
Making a Change
It may seem like a monumental task to think about combining your US and global payroll – where do you begin to bring them together? The first step is to look at your US payroll: does your provider offer global payroll options? Can you easily integrate your US and international payroll? Do they offer aggregated reporting across both US and international payroll? These questions can help get the conversation started with your US provider, and if the answer is “no” to any of those questions, you need to start looking for a provider that can provide true global solutions.
Don’t Settle for Less
Once you’ve identified a provider that has global capabilities, the next step is to look at the service and reporting functionality. Can you run customized reports each month showing US and international payroll data in applicable currencies? Do you have access to in-country experts to ask local compliance questions or correct issues? Most payroll providers don’t have global reporting – you have to wait weeks or even months to get reports from each individual provider, in multiple formats, and manually merge the data. It can be almost impossible to get real-time views of your payroll data, the way you need to see it. Most providers do not give you direct access to the in-country service providers, and it can take weeks to get errors corrected or questions answered. Having customized reporting and access to in-country providers saves time and resources, and helps to avoid common compliance pitfalls.
Get Started
If you are looking for an integrated solution for your US and international payroll, we can help. Our cloud-based technology, customized global reporting, and hybrid service model ensures your payroll is secure, compliant, and cost-effective. You have real-time reporting across all countries and currencies, and a US-based service team along with direct access to in-country experts when questions come up. Click here to learn more about our integrated solutions for global payroll, consulting services, and more.