Payroll Outsourcing for Australian Businesses

Payroll outsourcing is handing your pay runs to an external specialist instead of processing them in-house. It covers wage calculations, PAYG withholding, super, payslips and Single Touch Payroll reporting to the ATO. For most businesses it means fewer errors, less admin, and confidence that every deadline is met, without hiring someone internal to do it.

Outsourced payroll typically covers STP Phase 2 reporting, PAYG withholding, super paid through SuperStream, award interpretation, leave accruals, payslips and end-of-year finalisation. At Hopkan Partners it’s handled inside your fixed monthly fee, alongside your bookkeeping and BAS, so nothing slips between two separate providers.

Outsourced payroll suits businesses of any size, including those paying just a few people. Small teams are often where mistakes go unnoticed longest, for example, a wrong super fund or award rate can run for months before anyone catches it. A fixed-fee service makes sense as soon as payroll takes more of your week than it’s worth.

We run payroll through Xero, with Single Touch Payroll built in. If you’re already on Xero, we pick up where you are; if you’re on another system, we’ll move you across during onboarding. Cloud-based software means you can check pay runs, payslips and leave balances any time, and payroll flows straight into your bookkeeping.

Payday super, starting 1 July 2026, requires super to be paid at the same time as wages rather than quarterly. It changes the timing, not the 12% rate. For manual payroll that means far more frequent deadlines. With payroll outsourced, the process is already set up to pay super every run, so the change barely registers.

Absolutely. Hopkan Partners is Sydney-based but runs payroll for businesses across Australia. Everything’s cloud-based through Xero, so STP lodgements, super payments and payslips work the same whether you’re in Sydney, Melbourne or regional Queensland. You get the same fixed fee and a single point of contact wherever your team sits.

Payroll outsourcing cost depends mainly on how many people you pay and how often. Hopkan Partners charges a fixed monthly fee rather than per-payslip surprises, usually bundled with bookkeeping and BAS. You’ll get a clear quote upfront in a free review, so you know the number before committing to anything.

Combining payroll with bookkeeping means one provider, one fee, and numbers that reconcile by default. Your labour costs land in your monthly reports without a separate import or a gap between systems. It also gives you a single point of contact for payroll, BAS and your accounts, instead of chasing three different people.

To get started, we’ll need your employee details, award or agreement information, super fund details and access to your payroll software. From there we handle the setup and check everything’s right before the first live pay run. Most businesses are up and running within a pay cycle or two, with little on your plate beyond approving the details.

Switching is straightforward, and we handle the heavy lifting. We review your current setup, move it into Xero, check your award rates and super funds are right, and run a parallel pay if needed so nothing slips. Most businesses are fully transitioned within a pay cycle or two, start to finish.