With payroll being the lifeblood of a company, it is essential to manage properly to ensure employee satisfaction while remaining compliant and avoiding hefty fines.
Consider the following in understanding the impact of proper payroll. A QuickBooks report revealed that 25% of workers (in a US study) had received a paycheck with errors! Plus, there is a greater chance of salary payments being late in smaller businesses with 20 staff members or less. This can lead to dissatisfied employees, a high turnover rate, unnecessary regulatory fines, and damage to company reputation.
The same applies to and is seen across Sri Lankan companies, and with these issues requiring streamlining and automation of payroll to handle effectively, local small businesses as well as larger corporates are displaying an increasing pattern of payroll software adoption.
Growing Need for Payroll Software to Manage Local Statutory Compliance Challenges + Pay Staff On-Time
Another key reason for this is the rapid changes Sri Lanka is undergoing in employment laws and business regulations, making it more challenging for employers to handle some or all payroll aspects manually. A critical part of any business regardless of size or scale, payroll has become an increasingly complex process, requiring EPF/ETF/APIT statutory payment compliance and paying staff on-time, to ensure employee satisfaction and avoid penalties and the like.
A clear example of this, The Inland Revenue (Amendment) Act No. 10 of 2021 states that APIT tax (Advance Personal Income Tax) would replace the previous PAYE tax, and employers will be required to deduct APIT from payments made to its employees and remit to the Inland Revenue Department.
Equal Pressure on Small Businesses and Payroll Service Providers to Streamline Payroll
With these changes placing added pressure on employers to automate and standardize their processes, the need for HR and payroll software has become a critical one. The need for digital payroll software has become a pressing one for payroll service companies as well, with Chartered Accountancy firms and Management Consultancy firms having to streamline provision of payroll services to clients.
An Industry-First: a Thorough Sri Lankan Payroll Software Comparison
Although there are several payroll software options available in the market both locally-developed and others adopted from the international market, there is a general lack of comprehensive online sources comparing or reviewing Sri Lankan payroll software.
Therefore, in this article, we look to provide a helpful, unbiased account of all the areas that will be important in deciding which payroll software best fits your organization’s payroll needs. We start with a brief introduction of the five different payroll products that will be compared in this article and a quick exploration of their ideal/most common users, implementation, a rough cost estimate, plus customer service and support offered. Finally, the features of each payroll software will be compared against each other.
MiHCM
MiHCM is a proud creation of Microimage HCM, who have several decades of experience developing HR solutions starting from the 90s. MiHCM as we know it presently began its development in 2014 and in 2017 MiHCM Cloud was released. It is hosted on Microsoft Azure cloud.
It is one of the most comprehensive HR systems available in Sri Lanka, also capturing most of the functional payroll requirements we encounter in the local context. They offer two solutions, one aimed for enterprises and one for small businesses. They’re positioned as a total HRIS solution and payroll is one of the key areas they cover.
Humanised
Started in September 2020, Humanised is the brainchild of Beta Launch Pvt Ltd — a trusted software development company not only locally but also across Australian State Governments. A digital payroll solution built specifically for local payroll service companies,
Humanised has been developed through working closely with industry professionals from reputed Chartered Accountancy and Management Consultancy firms for over 16 months, in understanding their payroll service process, pain points, and desired state, to better match their exact needs.
Built to accommodate most standard payroll service workflows unique to Sri Lankan CA firms in a simple, streamlined manner, Humanised’s main objective is to help payroll service companies optimize and grow their payroll business through automation plus payroll-specific marketing support. Humanised also incorporates a range of people plus leave management functionality, parallelly positioning it as a comprehensive HR solution for small businesses.
Cemex HRM
Incorporated in February 2014, as a subsidiary of their parent company Cenmetrix (Pvt) Ltd, Cemex HRM has been in the market for 7 years. It is a cloud-based (Microsoft Azure) HRIS solution available in several modules that allows users to pay only for the modules required.
Cemex HRM particularly caters to internal HRM requirements of SMEs and large enterprises. Their payroll module is one that you can purchase stand-alone or integrated with their other modules.
Accsoft Payroll
Accsoft Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. was founded in 1998 with a vision to provide overall accounting solutions for small and medium sized enterprises locally. Accsoft Payroll is one among their full solution set. Originally available in desktop form, it is now cloud supported as well. You can choose to use Accsoft by itself or integrate it with one or few of their other products to suit your needs.
Peoples HR
In operation for over 20 years, Peoples HR is a cloud-based Human Resource Information System (HRIS) developed by hSenid Business Solutions. It is a reputed product internationally and currently possesses the ability to offer localized solutions in over 40 countries, establishing a presence in India, Australia, Kenya, Bangladesh, and the like.
Peoples HR recognises the importance of access to data in decision-making and helps remove the burden of monotonous processes. PeoplesHR is most commonly used as a total HRIS, however, payroll is one of the many features and functionalities that it offers
- One-time fee – USD 14,650
- Customization – USD 3000
- Monthly subscription minimum – USD 178.50
- Annual subscription – USD 2448
(Monthly subscription fee expected within the 1st week of the month while a 3-month advance will be incurred upon confirmation)
Pricing is only for 5 payroll configurations, and any additional payroll processes can be configured for USD 1000 each.
Accessibility
Cloud based, Remotely accessible
Training
6 days online training included, generally no visits to customer site
Support
hSenid has a mature and dedicated support team who are trained on the HRMS
Feature Comparison
Each business has a unique set of requirements when it comes to HR and payroll features. One business might need the basic functionalities of processing payroll along with people management ability, while another business requires an all-encompassing HRIS. Therefore, the right investment in software for each organization will vary. In order to help you compare some of the best payroll software options in the local market in terms of features, we have collated and neatly summarized our findings into a table. Providing a convenient overview, the features offered by each of these products can be generally categorized into four areas: Payroll Management, Time /Attendance and Leave Management, People Management and Others.
| Humanised | MiHCM | Cemex | Accsoft payroll | Peoples HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll | |||||
| Single / Multiple organizations | Can manage multiple organisations under one login | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bank transfer | Online bank transfer file generated | Yes | Generates text file | Yes | Yes |
| Payslips Generation | Bulk payslip pdf and can email password encrypted payslips | Payslips generated | Yes, specifics unknown | Yes | Yes, *can email password encrypted payslips |
| Payroll process | 3 ways to run payroll - using master data- CSV upload- Re-run payroll | Payroll can be generated from master data, drawn from loan, time/attendance, leave and OT data | - Master data can be uploaded - Payroll data can be uploaded- Details can be updated through the system - Can get payroll output | Payroll can be generated from master data | Payroll can be generated from master data, drawn from loan, time/attendance, leave and OT data |
| Regulatory compliance:EPF/ETF/APIT/Stamp duty calculations | Yes, and APIT tax table 1,2 completed, 3-7 in pipeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Regulatory compliance: EPF/ETF bank transfer file | Yes | Not verified | Text files are generated | Yes, specifics unknown | Not verified |
| Regulatory compliance:EPF/ETF/APIT/Stamp duty Forms and reports | C form, R4 form, Form II(ETF) T10 in pipeline | Yes | Not verified | C forms, R4 Forms ,six-monthh returns , T9 PAYE Annual and T10 | Yes |
| Gratuity | In pipeline | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Not verified |
| Other | None | None | Can define fixed transactions and monthly transactions (salary items)/ can schedule annual bonuses | Can setup rules applicable for Payroll | None |
| Time and Attendance Tracking | |||||
| Intergrated or Native | Integration with Hikvision bio-metrics will be completed by the end of March | Native | Known integrations - Suprema Biostar and HID | They have a few device options which you can choose from | Can integrate 3rd party biometrics devices or provide such devices upon request |
| Finger print | Pending | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Yes |
| Facial recognition | Pending | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Yes, specifics unknown |
| Location tracking | Pending | Yes | Not verified | Available through a separate integration | Yes, specifics unknown |
| Timesheets upload | Yes | You can view timesheets created through the system | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Leave Management | |||||
| Mobile app | Responsive web application | Yes, provided with the subscription | Yes | Available through a separate integration | Yes |
| OT handling | In Pipeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Leave Request and approval | Yes, users can place requests, their superiors can place and approve leave requests and manage leave of employees | Yes, users can place requests through the web app or the mobile app and superiors can approve, manage leave of employees | Yes, users can place requests, their superiors can place and approve leave requests and manage leave of employees | Yes | Yes |
| Manage Leave Balance | Yes and can be reset for the new year | Yes, specifics unknown | Yes and can be reset for the new year | Yes | Not verified |
| Other | Can build work flows for leave requests | Shop and office, factory ordinance, wages board ordinance | |||
| People Management | |||||
| Manage employee profiles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Employee document | Yes, can be stored | Yes, storing and sending employee related letters and emails can be done, other documents can be saved | Yes, and Letter templates can be stored | Yes | Yes |
| Notes/reminders | Yes, notes and reminders | Approval requests are visible on the dashboard (To Dos) | Yes, a variety of scenarios are included | Not verified | Alerts and reminders are available |
| Notice board | Home page acts as a notice board for the user | Company notice board avaialable | Yes | Not verified | Corporate news board |
| Performance Management | You can place reminders concerning employees, which can be used to set reminders from employee reviews, increments etc. | Yes, training and development | Yes, evaluations, skill management, training and development | Not verified | Yes, training and development, performance management, onboarding, offboarding, disciplinary management, etc. |
| Manage employee attendance / Calendar | Yes, can view and monitor attendance across the organization and create new holidays | Yes, can view and monitor attendance across the organization, create new holidays and manage the calendar | Yes, can view and monitor attendance across the organization and create new holidays | Yes, can create organisation's calendar and manage it | Yes, can view and monitor attendance across the organization, create new holidays and manage the calendar |
| Reimbursements | |||||
| Tracking | Yes | Yes (Claims) | Yes | Not verified | Not verified |
| Requests and Approval | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not verified | Not verified |
| Bank transfer file | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Not verified | Not verified |
| Company Loans Handling | |||||
| In pipeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Roster | |||||
| In pipeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Reports/ Business Intelligence | |||||
| Monthly salary journal, payroll summary, employee head count, leave report | Yes | Yes | Yes, customizable reports | Yes, customizable reports | |
Having presented a brief overview of 5 different payroll & HR software solutions plus a comparison of their features, we are confident there is sufficient information here for your company to decide on a payroll solution from one of these providers, to match your exact payroll requirement.
This comparison is completely based on Google search results, aggregator sites, the respective official product websites and user experience. If you have any queries or changes to recommend with respect to the article, kindly share your suggestions with us so we can incorporate them into this comparison article. Don’t hesitate to contact us because we believe in producing helpful content involving payroll in Sri Lanka!
Disclaimer
All the information on this website/article is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Although we make strong efforts to make sure our information is accurate, Humanised cannot guarantee that all the information on this website and or blog is always accurate, complete, or up-to-date. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website is strictly at your own risk.
Additional Resources:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/payroll/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-all-american-payday/
