National Payroll Week 2024 was held from September 2nd to 6th in celebration of the hardworking payroll professionals who ensure businesses run smoothly.
At Modulr, we hosted various events to honour, support, and learn from payroll experts, particularly accountants, bookkeepers, and partners who serve small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Payroll professionals are the unsung heroes of every business, ensuring that employees are paid accurately and on time, week in and week out. Their expertise is the backbone of workforce trust and satisfaction, and yet, this critical service often operates behind the scenes, underappreciated but absolutely essential to business success. At Modulr, we were thrilled to honour these payroll champions during National Payroll Week through our competition. We were truly inspired by the remarkable stories of leaders who go above and beyond, making payroll excellence their mission and driving success for their organisations.
Beyond the celebrations, three powerful lessons emerged from our events that can help accountants and payroll professionals elevate their services.
Lesson 1: Change the conversation in your practice
Richard Brewin from Progress BB discussed how accountants are viewed during the webinar, “Unlocking growth: Why payroll and payments should be central to every accountant's core offering.” The perception of accountants can often feel outdated, seen as number-crunchers or compliance experts.
But the reality is, the role of accountants has evolved significantly, and payroll presents an incredible opportunity to shift the conversation back to relationship-based accounting.
Payroll is not just a routine task—it’s one of the most critical and lucrative services accountants can offer. With frequent client touchpoints, payroll fosters long-term relationships and provides insight into clients' financial health more regularly than traditional biannual meetings. You will develop an in-depth and detailed understanding of your clients’ cash flow, pain points, and successes.
As the business landscape changes, staying attuned to payroll trends allows accountants to provide timely advice and proactive support.
Offering payroll services through a payments provider like Modulr can elevate your practice further. Payroll services integrated with payment solutions enable seamless, faster payments, boosting client satisfaction while enhancing your value as a trusted advisor.
Don’t reinvent yourself—reframe the conversation around the essential value you deliver.
Lesson 2: Cloud solutions are the way forward
You likely hear it time and time and again about the importance of cloud based solutions. However, it’s never been more important to get clients on the cloud especially with the opportunities of integrated cloud solutions and AI. This theme emerged in our conversation with Brightpay during National Payroll Week.
The flexibility and efficiency offered by cloud solutions are game-changers, especially for payroll. BrightPay, fully integrated with Modulr, offers accountants and payroll professionals the ability to access payroll data securely from any device, anywhere. Cloud technology means that client data is no longer tied to a specific location or system, reducing the burden of data management, increasing efficiency, and ultimately removing the data responsibilities from the accountants themselves.
Yet despite these obvious benefits, the adoption of cloud services in accounting remains limited among smaller UK businesses. As of 2023, only 35% of UK businesses are actively using cloud computing services in their operations. This reflects a significant opportunity for firms to capitalise on the efficiency, security, and scalability that cloud-based tools provide. With only 16% of UK businesses having gone “all-in” on cloud, but 74% are planning to increase their cloud budgets this year, there is growing recognition of cloud's value in transforming business operations
By embracing cloud solutions, accountants can reduce admin time, focus on value-added services, and meet clients' growing expectations for digital, fast, and secure financial services. The integration of AI, along with cloud-based solutions like BrightPay, offers unprecedented opportunities to automate tasks, enhance data security, and provide real-time insights—helping accountants lead the way in efficiency and innovation.
Lesson 3: Accountants are leaving time on the table
“Time is the most finite commodity in an accountancy firm,” Chris Downing Community Leader from Sage reminded us during our catch up with him for Efficient cloud payroll: Modulr & Sage fireside.
As accountants, the number of clients you manage has likely multiplied over the years, increasing demands on your time. But with the right tools, you can reclaim that time to focus on strategic advisory services rather than manual tasks.
Payroll is a prime area where time savings can be realised. By using payment solutions like Modulr which are directly integrated in your accounting systems, you can eliminate the need for repetitive manual data entry and reduce the risk of errors.
Imagine payroll that runs smoothly, accurately, and without the need for constant attention, allowing you to spend more time where it matters—advising clients and growing your practice.
Payroll, managed correctly, is no longer just a service; it’s a significant value driver, and has the potential to transform a practice’s operations. Solutions, such as Modulr, offer ease of use, compliance, and client satisfaction, allowing you to transform payroll from a time drain into a streamlined, revenue-generating process.
Final thoughts
National Payroll Week 2024 reminded us that payroll professionals are critical to business success, especially for SMEs. For accountants, payroll presents a valuable opportunity to change perceptions, embrace cloud technology, and save time while providing enhanced services to clients.
Ready to transform your payroll process? Book a 1:1 demo of Modulr to discover how integrated payment solutions can help you drive efficiency, client retention, and growth.
