By Heidi Harris, Director of Solutions Engineering

I’ve written before about the challenges of running a shop versus running a business and the importance of payroll processes that support a happy, productive team. To get more insight, I wanted to talk to one of your fellow payroll champions. I talked recently with Elizabeth Salo, Accounting Manager at Car Chemistry Auto Body & Painting in Venice, FL about her experience.

Car Chemistry has been locally owned and family-run since 1997. They are now the largest independent repair shop in Venice and have consistently received awards from the community. Elizabeth joined the team in 2011 when the owner asked her to help set up their accounting software. She never left.

Heidi: You were among the first shops to use CCC Payroll – why did you make the jump?

Elizabeth: I was apprehensive at first. I did not want to switch providers in the middle of the year. And we did it in the middle of a quarter, which made it extra scary. But the CCC team made the transition smooth - every number, every tax dollar, every year-to-date figure was accurate. I didn't have to worry about anything. That was huge.

Heidi: Do you miss your old system?

Elizabeth: I've been a devoted QuickBooks user for years. I'm actually on their beta team so when they have new features, I'm one of the first to use it. We still use it for accounting but, honestly, I like CCC's Payroll solution better. It's changed my process a lot: it used to take me an hour to do payroll but now it's 5-10 minutes. That frees up 45 minutes EVERY PAY PERIOD to do other financial analysis that can really make an impact: accounts payable and receivables, which impact cash flow, and preparing and analyzing our financial statements.

Heidi: So what I'm hearing is that shops need to re-think of payroll as not just payroll?

Elizabeth: Right. If a payroll clerk is only gathering data, entering it into the system, submitting it and being done, then what value are they adding to their business? Because really anyone can do that. What about making sure compensation is competitive? Watching cash flow? Are you advising the shop about ways to grow in the future? Find out how you can add more value to the business than just processing payroll.

Heidi: What advice would you have for other shops?

Elizabeth: An owner or GM of any business, including a shop, should have some financial background. If they don't, they need to find somebody who does, because without your financials being tracked properly, you don't know if you're as profitable as you can be, which means you don't know if your business is going to succeed long-term. The biggest reason that most of the businesses that I see that fail is because they don't know their numbers. They could be doing $4 million in sales but their business closes because they don't know their numbers and what they're really capable of doing.

Heidi: Anything else you would like to add?

Elizabeth: Any processes that you can automate to free up more time is always a good thing – including payroll.  Automations not only make the individual tasks easier, but it frees you up so you can focus on more important things that add more value.