Paying Employees by Check With Online Accounting Software

Thankfully online accounting software can take care of the ‘check problem’, either via a built-in or a third party payroll solution.

Creating checks with built-in payroll solutions

Being able to manage payroll within the same software is undeniably more convenient than integrating a third party app for a number of reasons. Aside from giving your employees full control over virtually anything – such as submitting their timesheets, applying for paid leave or viewing their payslips – built-in payroll managers within accounting solutions allow you to decide whether you want to pay that employee via check or wire transfer with just a few clicks. To help you further, certain online accounting software include a variety of other options to control this method of payment. With Xero, for example, it is possible to fully customize the layout of your checks, while QuickBooks provides pre-printed stocks in various formats. And if you are concerned about the potential for fraudulent or stolen checks, you should be assured that there is nothing to be afraid of: Xero users can print MICR encoded checks on blank stocks, while QuickBooks has checks with an exclusive security coating to prevent tampering with the already printed data.

However, the best thing about having a built-in payroll solution is that everything, including the payment method, is recorded in the accounting software the moment you make a payment.

Dealing with checks via integrated solutions

Unfortunately few cloud-based accounting programs have payroll on their features’ list (Xero and QuickBooks are the rare exceptions), forcing users to integrate third party solutions like Gusto and SurePayroll into their system. However, these apps perform more or less the same tasks when it comes to check creation and printing. Furthermore, payments made to your employees are always properly recorded in your accounting software thanks to the constant feed between the two programs. However, there is a huge advantage of using third party solutions over built-in payroll managers: they can utilize special features that are not part of online accounting tools at all, such as the eCheck option provided by various payment gateway companies like PayPal.

The genius thing about eChecks is that they work exactly the same way as regular, paper-based checks, but are environmentally friendly at the same time due to their completely digital nature. To make things even better, eChecks are not only secure (since they include value-added information), but cheap as well.

However, if you are still keen on printing checks, third party solutions still allow you to do so the same way you might if you had a built-in payroll function in your accounting system. And all you need to purchase – aside from the necessary apps, of course – is a stock of blank checks that you can get in various online stores including Amazon.