Someone, one day, is going to come up with a convincing reason as to why payroll isn't a standard part of an accounting or book-keeping system. Very few businesses get away without paying people, but the complexity of keeping up with all legislative changes and tax alterations means that a lot of companies regard it as part of the HR function and leave it to the more difficult, enterprise-wide systems and keep the books to a simple profit-and-loss accounting system.

This leaves the way open for a number of third-party suppliers to add payroll as a separate service, and indeed companies such as Moorepay do very nicely in providing precisely this.

One customer is London-based communications company JD Marketing. "We just don't have the time to understand tax changes and rely on Moorepay to provide our payslips," says JD's Jacqui Freeman. "It takes all the hassle and worry away from us." Moorepay also answers queries and reminds the company to get its returns in. For a seven-strong company like JD, it's an admirable solution.

Other businesses would rather handle their own payroll, but are still concerned about the complexity. What they need is a halfway house between doing it all in-house and getting a specialist, whether this means one of the Moorepays of the world or their accountant, to handle it.

Solutions to their problem are emerging: MyBusiness is a book-keeping and accounting system that works using an internet connection where available (details at www.mybiz.co.uk and its Payroll product works by taking your employees' gross salary, squirting the details down a secure internet connection and applying all of the current NI and PAYE details on the spot. The customer gets the P60 back and writes the cheques, and has a weight taken off his or her mind.

Fear of the unduly complex is what keeps a lot of customers and suppliers alike away from payroll systems. It's not that they're not available inexpensively, but people spending under £100 can be excused for not expecting too much in the way of technical trickery to support an area that needs updating so often.

Simon Smith, general manager of MYOB, confirms that all customers who pay for tech support are updated with tax tables at the beginning of every financial year as a matter of course, and stresses the importance of keeping products up to date if payroll is going to be among the functions used.

Unlike a number of the competition, he believes payroll belongs at the heart of a good accounting system. "It's something the customers have to do," he says. "It is part of the accounts and although a lot of people do look at it and decide they'd rather their accountant did it, those who embrace it and do it end up liking it."

If anyone starts thinking payroll systems are still for the larger enterprise then consider that MYOB serves the market for 10 employees and under, and its product MYOB Accounting costs £243 including VAT and delivery. The update and support service is just over £100 per annum.

Tellingly, Smith believes the main issue keeping customers away from payroll system is fear. "There's a lot of fear involved," he says, and he's right, although much of this is needless.

There are many programs on the market that should help make it painless for any business of any size, and the extra costs involved are minimal for the time and money savings that can be achieved. Sage Instant Accounting costs £109.79 plus VAT, while Instant Accounts Financial Suite - the basic package plus payroll - costs £152.34 plus VAT; TAS Payroll costs £99 plus VAT with another £99 per annum for the support contract, and you can then download updates from the company's website whenever you wish.

Ultimately it's a question of trust. Payroll is a vital element of any business, and nobody's going to survive long if it doesn't work. User errors aside, however, there have been remarkably few horror stories in the press about people's pay getting screwed up by computers. Given the minimal costs involved in upgrading, particularly for people already using IT to run their finances, it's a surprise that more small traders don't take advantage of it.

Help panel
Hints on automating payroll

· As with anything financial, keep a backup of your data.

· Ensure that your information will be readable by your accountant

· Don't regard updates and upgrades as optional extras. Whenever that nice Mr Brown changes the tax or NI regimes your product will need to change with him.

· When trying to computerise payroll for the first time, do the figures manually as well. If they come out differently you'll know you have a problem.