2/4/05

Year-end processes for VCG's staffing software customers emphasize simplicity, ease-of-use, and reduced effort to get over one million W2's delivered to contingent workers.

By Micki Marvin, Technical Support Manager , VCG, Inc.

Year-end is the time of year when smart staffing managers think twice about disturbing their accounting staff as they prepare mountains of W2's, tax reports, and more. With nearly 30 years of staffing experience under our belts, VCG is well-versed in the challenges staffing firms encounter at year-end. After all, in 2004 we estimate our clients processed over one million W2's, or nearly 10% of the entire temporary staffing workforce according to the American Staffing Association. With that knowledge and experience, we've developed a proven system that helps to reduce the effort and stress of handling all of those year-end accounting and tax issues through our staffing software.

We begin the process well in advance, before it's really on the radar. In August we send out a letter to clients confirming what W2 forms they should be ordering and reminding them to start preparing for year-end by building their annual file as soon as they can, review their software diagnostics, and make any corrections they might need for the beginning part of the year early so they have less to review once the year is over. One key advantage for VCG staffing software clients is that, unlike products from other vendors, VCG clients can build their annual file as many times as they want throughout the year. This way they can tackle any necessary adjustments when it's convenient for them, and reduce the necessity of making a lot of changes if needed all at once.

Next, our tax table updates are based on data from one of the most comprehensive tax resources in the industry, Vertex. These updates, along with necessary documentation, are supplied throughout the year to clients, based on the states that they do business in. Both state and federal tax table updates are all self installable, and are available for our clients through a variety of different ways. Easy tax table updates means that the client has nothing to do other than make the install. The final tax table updates are available in mid-December, so clients don't have to worry about timing the update between the last payroll of the old year and first payroll of the new year.

We've learned that it is often useful for our clients to review or familiarize themselves with everything that is required during a typical year-end process with their staffing software. To review the year-end process, we present free on-line seminars in late November and early December for clients. These review sessions help clients avoid the possibility of missing some detail of the process that might cause a problem or delay later on.

Finally, our year-end software update is also self installable just like the tax table updates, and the client can install it on their own schedule.. The update, which is available mid-December, is delivered with comprehensive documentation developed by VCG regarding the year-end processing steps. While it may not be necessary, VCG's support representatives are also available to provide whatever assistance the client may need. More importantly, clients do not need to schedule time for any year-end processing issues that may come up, they can call when it is convenient for them. All support is covered under the regular support maintenance agreement at no additional charge.

As always, VCG clients can be assured that our focus is their success. To that end we monitor and review our client support calls and conduct follow up surveys with clients to constantly improve the quality of our services. Our goal is to make sure that you get through the year-end process with speed and accuracy along with less effort and stress.