Payroll reports are critical to track from several perspectives, including accounting, transparency, risk management, regulatory compliance and general financial oversight. Some of the more common tasks associated with payroll include the following:

• Data entry.
• Processing.
• Approvals.
• Reporting. 
• Review.

In the past, the vast majority of businesses had been handling these matters with paper filing systems. Although many have since begun to go paperless across their operations, plenty are still relying on this antiquated strategy to handle their payroll activities. This creates an unnecessary risk and inefficiency in the accounting department and beyond. What's more, data capture technology has evolved significantly, allowing companies to identify files more quickly, accurately and efficiently than ever before. 

These benefits will only be available to firms that have digitized their payroll and accounting departments, and those that have not yet done so should certainly consider the change as soon as possible. The time is now to step into the modern era of computing and accounting technology, and payroll is a great example of areas in the business that automation can have a significantly positive impact on almost immediately after the tools are implemented. 

Employees who are responsible for payroll management will certainly be happy with their leaders and supervisors following the deployment of more advanced technologies, notably data capture, so long as the solution is the right one per the company's specific needs. 

Let's take a look at what the right solution will entail, and the advantages will yield both immediately and over time. 

Payroll report data capture can have a profound impact on businesses.

Say goodbye to manual entry and filing cabinets Payroll reports often need to be archived for a couple of years in case the company comes under an audit from either their internal accounting teams or the Internal Revenue Service. Then, should someone have reason to need a specific report from several years ago, they will have to page through countless files to get to the right one. This is inefficient, risky and completely unnecessary in 2016. 

Rather, digitized payroll reports will make life easier on auditors and the business professionals who are involved in managing these processes. Then, data capture technology can be deployed to further streamline both the entry of payroll information into the reporting tool and any review down the road. Not all data capture technology is equal when it comes to payroll, though, and the best solution will entail the following capabilities and functionality:

• Automatic data entry. 
• Automatic extraction. 
• Interoperability with various sources including email, FTP, HTTP, Web API and Web Scraping. 
• Conversion capability to standardize all formats into relational data. 
• Import functionality for PDF, DOC, RTF, XLS, JTML, CSV, XML and any other type of document. 
• Connectivity to enable access flat files and databases. 
• Tables to make operational reporting and audit more simplified. 
• Automated reverse engineering and data loading to and from payroll reports. 
• Report production for analysis purposes. 

Having all of this functionality can completely change the payroll process for any company. When compared to traditional, paper-based processes, there is simply no comparison to be made considering how superior the modern approach has become. Organizations will be able to bolster the transparency of their payroll processes while boosting employee engagement among those in the accounting department, and also reduce the risks associated with flaws in reporting and monitoring that lead to regulatory compliance-related issues. 

At the end of the day, though, only having the right payroll report data capture software will not necessarily be the only thing companies need to get the most from modern technology.

Use the right vendor Out-of-the-box solutions can be highly effective, but most businesses will run into situations where they need a bit more support from their software vendor. This can occur during the implementation process, or at some point throughout the lifecycle of the software. This is why choosing the right vendor is just as important as selecting the best possible software. Some of the larger providers of payroll report data capture technology will make it very difficult to reach the right party to resolve issues should they occur. 

Consider working with a data capture software vendor that has a proven track record of excellence in customer service and support, as this will ensure that any potential setbacks that might occur are quickly surpassed. Additionally, business leaders might want to use one that has a trial for the service and software, as this will allow the company to take a no-risk approach to trying out the tools and ensuring they are a good fit before making the purchase. 

Do not hesitate to deploy payroll report data capture technology - get this software into the accounting department today.