There has been a marked increase in the number of companies looking to outsource their payrolls to professional specialist organisations, according to a leading Midlands chartered accountancy firm.

Prime Chartered Accountants, based in Solihull and Coventry, says that as the new tax year approaches, companies are looking closely at their costs.

Laurence Moore, chairman, said: "Larger firms looking to become leaner in these difficult times see an opportunity to cut staff costs as well as time, by outsourcing the work of their accounts department, while for SMEs the time saved sorting out all the complex issues surrounding payrolls means more time can be put into improving production or service".

The firm now handles over 300 payrolls for businesses throughout the UK and payroll manager Monima Simpson-Smith, said: "We manage and process payrolls for businesses of all sizes."

The company puts part of its success in handling payrolls down to the fact that it offers a full bespoke service from calculating NI and other contributions to taking care of the various tax year end documentation.

And Monima reckons one of the attractions of the payroll service is that it's a fully accredited BACS bureau making payments directly into an employee's bank account on the client's behalf as well as to HMRC.