Tax codes, deadlines, pensions, compliance jargon, holiday calculations, it’s no wonder many small business owners assume they must hire an accountant or outsource payroll just to stay afloat. For years, that was true, running payroll meant spreadsheets, manual submissions, and praying you didn’t make any payroll mistakes.
But not anymore.
Thanks to smarter software and automation, doing payroll yourself is now completely doable, even if you’re not a finance expert.
What Accountants Usually Do for Payroll
Let’s start with what most accountants handle when it comes to payroll:
- Registering your business as an employer with HMRC
This is a one-time setup task to get you officially on the books. - Calculating pay, tax, and National Insurance
Each payroll cycle, your accountant will work out what each employee earns and what deductions apply (like PAYE tax, NI, student loans, etc). - Submitting reports to HMRC
Every time you pay your team, you need to send a Full Payment Submission (FPS) to HMRC in real-time, your accountant would usually handle this. - Generating payslips for employees
They’ll create and send legally compliant payslips showing gross pay, deductions, and net pay. - Managing pensions and auto-enrolment
If your business qualifies, they’ll assess eligibility, calculate contributions, and send reports to your pension provider. - End-of-year admin
Wrapping things up with P60s, P11Ds, and making sure everything balances.
In short, they handle the mechanics. But the key point is, none of this requires an accountant anymore. It just requires a system that knows the rules.
Why People Think They Need an Accountant
Most business owners aren’t desperate to pay for outsourcing payroll, but they just don’t want to mess it up. And to be fair, payroll used to be tricky. Here’s why people still assume they need an accountant:
- They’re scared of getting fined
HMRC penalties for late or incorrect filings are real. No one wants to risk them, especially when margins are tight. - They think payroll is too technical
PAYE, RTI, FPS- there are a lot of acronyms. If you’re not familiar with the system, it’s easy to feel like you're out of your depth. - They’re short on time
Founders and small teams have a ton of different tasks and Payroll is just one of those, but back and forth to payroll bureaus or your accountant etc can take up far too much time. - The software they’ve seen is clunky
Legacy payroll systems often look like they were built in the 90s and haven’t been updated since. Poor UX, manual data entry, and jargon overload scare people off. - They’ve always used an accountant
Sometimes it’s just habit. ‘We’ve always done it that way’ is the main reason most businesses don’t explore smarter options.
But times have changed. And so has payroll.
What’s Changed?
Everything!
Modern payroll platforms, like Aigence, have replaced the spreadsheets and complexity with automation, clarity, and speed.
Here’s how:
- Everything’s automated
Tax, NI, pension calculations, and HMRC submissions are handled automatically. You enter the pay details once, and the system does the rest. - Real-time checks and insights
Smart platforms now flag issues before they become problems. You’ll know before you run payroll. - Employee self-service
No more sending PDFs to each employee or digging through inboxes. Employees can view payslips, request time off, update their personal info and make changes to their pension contributions all in one place. - AI-driven insights
Platforms like Aigence now offer built-in AI assistants that highlight risks, spot trends, and help you make decisions faster, without having to be a payroll expert. - Everything in one place
Onboarding, compliance, payslips, pensions, leave tracking, it’s all integrated. No more jumping between different platforms and tools or relying on email chains with your accountant.
It’s not just possible to do payroll yourself. It’s easier, faster, and less risky than relying on someone else.
So, Do You Really Need an Accountant?
Not anymore. There’s no reason you can’t run payroll yourself and run it well. Platforms like Aigence make it fast, compliant, and genuinely stress-free.
No more guesswork, no more email chains, just a smarter way to get payroll done.
