In honor of National Payroll Week, Sept. 2-6, 2013, Asure Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASUR), a leading provider of workplace management software solutions, offers tips for human resources and payroll professionals to ensure that 2013 wraps up smoothly and that the new year - with any new regulations, initiatives, etc. that it may bring - launches with ease for their organizations.

"For those of us who are fortunate to collect a paycheck, we may not give much thought as to how that paycheck gets processed," said Steven Rodriguez, Asure Software Chief Operating Officer. "In honor of National Payroll Week, Asure Software would like to recognize all of those payroll professionals who go unrecognized for making that important process happen."

Year-end/year-begin is a known challenge that presents itself each year for human resources and payroll. Preparation and organization are critical strategies to meet the typical challenges and address any new challenges that may arise. Communication is key to success, providing the education and important news and developments needed by management and staff to properly negotiate these challenges. Asure offers the following tips for planning:

1. Start Now: Preparation is critical - the time to start year-end/year-begin planning is NOW.

2. Get Organized: Organize the elements that your organization needs to address to wrap up this year and begin next year. Create and communicate a master calendar of year-end activities; ensure requisite employee training is offered and completed; reduce year-end/year-begin issues by continual reconciliation and error correction throughout the year.

3. Communicate, communicate and communicate: The more your employees are aware of what's ahead, the better positioned you will be for the transition into the new calendar year. Make sure all your associates who will be involved in executing, supporting and assisting in year-end/year-begin initiatives know what will be happening and when.

4. Publish a calendar: Create and publish a master planning calendar that shows key tasks, duration, critical milestones, task ownership, and contact information. This will aid the communication process.

5. Develop your checklist: In connection with the calendar, make sure you have developed and published a task checklist well in advance of year-end. As a starting point, include the following (Source: Steven M. Bragg, Payroll Best Practices, John Wiley & Sons, 2005):

Year-End Tasks

  • Report the amount of employee income associated with group term life insurance exceeding $50,000.
  • Withhold for and report on taxable fringe benefits.
  • Withhold for and report on third-party sick pay.
  • Verify that all manual paychecks cut during the year have been included in the payroll database.
  • See if full-year pension plan deductions exceeded the allowable limit.
  • Schedule a year-end bonus payroll.
  • Create W-2 forms.
  • Review holiday schedule for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Presidents' Day. Enter holiday hours where applicable.

Year-Begin Tasks

  • Verify the amount of unemployment tax rates and associated wage limits.
  • Determine whether a voluntary unemployment contribution should be made to reduce the upcoming unemployment tax rate for the new year.
  • Notify employees to review their W-4 forms.
  • Update employee withholdings based on revised W-4 forms.
  • Notify employees of unused flexible spending account deductions.
  • Verify the need for special income or deduction accumulators.
  • Verify the amount of standard employee deductions for the new year.
  • Reset pension plan deduction levels for the new year.
  • Purge terminated employees from the payroll database.
  • Verify that upcoming payroll processing dates do not fall on a weekend.
  • Issue a schedule of payroll processing dates for the new year to employees.
  • Review your document retention schedule.

6. Get educated: Proper year-end/year-begin readiness also means utilizing available resources. Commit to year-long education and training, especially the many quality webinars and classes that focus specifically on achieving successful year-end processing. A key item to be aware of is the Affordable Care Act, which redefines a "full-time" employee as someone averaging at least 30 hours of service per week.

7. Improve year-end through year-round engagement: One of the best ways to make year-end/year-begin more efficient and productive is to implement a year-round engagement philosophy. Cross-train affected employees throughout the year to gain better coverage and more resources for year-end. Continually monitor compliance changes and take proactive action to ensure the accuracy of W-2s.

For more information Asure's time and labor management solutions, including free white papers, briefings and webinars, visit www.asuresoftware.com.

About Asure Software
Asure Software, Inc., (Nasdaq: ASUR) headquartered in Austin, Texas, offers cloud-based time and labor management and workspace management solutions that enable businesses to control their biggest costs - labor, real estate and technology - and prepare for the workforce of the future in a highly mobile, geographically disparate and technically wired work environment. Asure serves approximately 6,000 clients worldwide and currently offers two main product lines: AsureSpace TM workplace management solutions enable organizations to maximize the ROI of their real estate, and AsureForce® time and labor management solutions deliver efficient management of human resource and payroll processes. For more information, please visit www.asuresoftware.com

Asure Software, Inc.
Jen Roth, 651-405-3061
Vice President of Marketing
jroth@asuresoftware.com