International
Payments:
Making money
go further
I
t is an obvious statement, but failing to pay staff the
correct amount, on the right day, to the right destination
depletes employee satisfaction and confidence and can
send the payroll department’s phones into meltdown.
Original story found here:
http://www.
payandbenefitsmagazine.co.uk/
pab/article/internationalpayments-making-money-gofurther-12341091
Representing a significant proportion
of a company’s expenditure, payroll and
its management is a highly scrutinised
area in any organisation.
As a result, payroll often delivers the greatest operational
efficiencies and professionals in this area have a clear
focus on mitigating risk and delivering excellent service.
In contrast, making international payments often creates
a logistical headache for payroll departments. Many
businesses find these payments inefficient and costly to
manage, and prone to foreign exchange movements, errors
and delays. This may come as a surprise as international
payroll payments are predicted to grow up to as much as
10 per cent for some employers in the coming years.
This article seeks to provide some insight into
the often opaque world of international payments,
and delves deeper into various payment methods
and the benefits of using forward contracts.
The foreign exchange rate
The headline foreign exchange (FX) rate is important
because it is the key component of the currency exchange.
However, it fails to take account of the additional
transactional charges and the timeliness and accuracy
of payments; the latter two can add significant costs
that can dwarf a 0.2 per cent difference in rates..
Payment delivery methods
There is a plethora of options depending on your
provider and where you are sending the money from,
and to. It is also quite possible that larger international
companies might be advised to use more than one
transfer method depending on where their employees are
working and where the company that they are employed
by is domiciled. This is important as international
employees may be employed by offshore subsidiaries.
18
Accolade
OCTOBER 2013