|
||||||||||
Free Download
Microsoft creates Christmas payroll 'nightmare'
Issue 33 - December 2009
 printer friendly version |
It was reported a few weeks ago that thousands of small businesses were to face a rush to find a new way to pay their staff after Microsoft announced it was no longer selling its Office Accounting service.
And it was going to be turning off its hosted payroll software 10 days before Christmas, leaving payroll software services with only six weeks to find another provider.
Most companies pay early for Christmas so this news was potentially disastrous particularly for larger companies. This is a very short space of time to source a new provider and businesses have to honour the contractual pay date obligation. The implications for possible late pay are far reaching and not just for the employees but for the employer as consideration to HMRC compliance and deadlines is yet another issue.
However, the latest news is that after a backlash from customers, Microsoft has turned from Christmas Scrooge into Father Christmas and has fortunately had a rethink about its decision to turn off their payroll software on December 16. They admitted it did not give customers enough time to find an alternative provider and is offering to pay for its customers to use payroll software provided by Mamut for one year.