Payroll is one of the most important aspects of your business. It affects employee morale and is therefore a direct reflection your business’s financial stability, ethics, and reputation. At MGI Bass Gordon, we see your employees as family. By offering you professional – and cost-effective – outsourced payroll support for weekly and/or monthly payroll administration, you and your staff enjoy complete peace of mind.
Payroll is one of the most important aspects of your business. It affects employee morale and is therefore a direct reflection your business’s financial stability, ethics, and reputation.
At MGI Bass Gordon, we see your employees as family. By offering you professional – and cost-effective – outsourced payroll support for weekly and/or monthly payroll administration, you and your staff enjoy complete peace of mind.
Join us in this brief interview as we introduce our payroll team, the waymakers behind the numbers. David Donninger, Susan van der Valk, and Helen Brotchie go the extra mile to ensure unfailing reliability and SARS compliancy.
How do you see your role within the payroll team in terms of the difference it makes for your clients?
We take most of the administrative pressure off our clients, essentially outsourcing their payroll in its entirety, managing absolutely everything on their behalf. No value can be placed on the peace of mind our clients enjoy because of this. And, because every client’s needs are different, we’re flexible enough to accommodate differing payroll structures.
What is the benefit of an end-to-end payroll administration function?
Our expertise lies in running accurate payrolls effectively and efficiently while factoring in all legalities. Many of our clients don’t have an accountant or might not be big enough to warrant employing a financial manager. By outsourcing this service to us, we take on all their worries and issues. At MGI Bass Gordon, we ask the right questions. And by freeing up our clients’ time, they get to focus on what they do best: doing business.
With SARS’ continuous changes, what measures do you take to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance?
Our inhouse tax department attends regular training and seminars to stay abreast of SARS’s latest developments. We work closely with our tax department to ensure all changes are communicated and implemented accordingly.
What, in your opinion, sets MGI Bass Gordon apart from your competition when it comes to payroll adminstration?
We provide a very personal and all-encompassing service. For example, while our accounting team performs their function, we’re executing the same client’s tax and payroll functions – and in some instances the audit too.
This holistic service offering is beneficial when it comes to audit time – our audit staff’s queries remain in-house preventing time wastage and our clients being bothered unnecessarily.
What, in your experience, is the best approach to wealth tax planning?
Wealth tax planning must be done continuously because tax legislation changes constantly – as do people’s circumstances. For example, a couple of years ago most people favoured investing in trusts; although trusts are still a good vehicle, with the recent legislative changes concerning capital gains tax, trusts are no longer ideal in ALL circumstances.
When you say your payroll support is outsourced, what exactly does this mean?
In essence, we take over a client’s entire payroll function, ensuring salaries and other deductions such as PAYE, medical aid, retirement annuity, UIF, employee loans, travel reimbursements, and group life contributions are calculated correctly – and paid on time. Of course, clients are free to choose their level of involvement within the process. We have very strict procedures when it comes to payroll administration, and nothing gets signed off without two partners reviewing the payment.
We are currently in the process of moving over to PaySpace and SimplePay, robust digital platforms that also offer Employee Self Service functionality. By working in the cloud, we ensure everything happens online and, of course, we are in constant contact with our clients via email and phone.
Where do most companies fall short when it comes to administering their payroll inhouse versus outsourcing it to a financial partner like MGI Bass Gordon?
Clients often don’t have inhouse expertise to calculate the monthly deductions, nor are they adequately versed in SARS’s timeframes or deadlines. Our involvement mitigates the risk of processing errors or the incursion of unnecessary penalties resulting from missed reporting deadlines, whilst allowing our clients to focus their time on the tasks most important to them.
Since you offer outsourced payroll support for your clients’ staff, how exactly do you ensure your service remains personal?
As the same MGI team member deals with their assigned client for several years, we have enduring service continuity. We also encourage regular communication between our payroll team and clients and because we know our clients so well, we quickly spot mistakes or oversights. Reminders are sent when required – and we’re proactive once we know something needs to be executed.
If payroll is a barometer of the way a company does business, what is the best advice you can give to business leaders on their pay administration?
If you don’t have the inhouse expertise, outsourcing your payroll to a reputable business that does really is essential.
Known for quality, integrity, and personal payroll service, MGI Bass Gordon proudly offers:
Payroll processing & administration
Calculation of PAYE, SDL & UIF, including the completion and submission of monthly returns and facilitation of payments to SARS and employees
Email EFT payment list to clients, including amounts payable to third parties such as SARS, pension & medical aid funds
Laser printed or electronic payslips for all staff
Administration of leave applications and monthly reconciliation of company leave balances.Preparation of IRP5 & IT3 certificates
Preparation & submission of bi-annual EMP501 reconciliations (EasyFile)
The completion & submission of the Compensation Commissioner returns (OID)
To experience exactly how we’re you trusted partner of choice putting you first always, start the conversation with a member of our payroll team today: +27 21 405 8500 or send an email to info@bassgordon.co.za
MGI Worldwide is a leading international network of separate and independent accounting, legal and consulting firms that are licensed to use "MGI" or "member of MGI Worldwide" in connection with the provision of professional services to their clients. MGI Worldwide is the brand name referring to a group of members of MGI Ltd., a company limited by guarantee and registered in the Isle of Man with registration number 013238V, who choose to associate as a network as defined in IESBA and EU rules. MGI Worldwide itself is a non-practising entity and does not provide professional services to clients. Services are provided by the member firms of MGI Worldwide. MGI Worldwide and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another’s acts or omissions
