D B Thompson & Co

D B Thompson and Co is a thriving accountancy firm based in Durham.

The business was started by David Thompson in 1982 as a sole trader but has since grown from strength to strength. The firm now has offices in both Durham and Sunderland with four staff in each.

D B Thompson and Co offers a range of accountancy services and operates a payroll bureau for around 40 clients.

Office manager Jackie Morrison uses IRIS Payroll Professional. She finds the system adapts greatly for the mix of small to medium sized client businesses she has on her books.

Jackie explained: “We introduced IRIS Payroll Professional last year and have been pleased with it so far. Some of the payrolls we had taken on were getting more complex and we felt that we needed something that would cope with the changing workload.

“We had used IRIS PAYE-Master for a number of years and found when we moved over to IRIS Payroll Professional that the basic principles of how it worked were the same. It was fairly simple to pick up and we taught ourselves our way around it fairly quickly.

“We do the payrolls for around 40 clients and each one is different. We have a real mix of clients. For some of our smaller clients whose payrolls are quite straight forward there are elements of the package that we don’t use. You can just press a button and the payroll is done with no changes week to week or month to month. But then one of our largest clients has around 65 staff, and things can differ each time. Some people work different hours or do overtime for example. The payroll can therefore be more complex and IRIS Payroll Professional recognises that.

“The system is simple to use and quick. The year-end process was very easy to run and you could print off a receipt for what you had done as you go along. You don’t have to go back in and do it afterwards or get it through the HMRC.

“The helpline is there to support you. I had a problem at the start when I couldn’t get back into the system. IRIS staff understood, talked me through it and helped me clear out the log and now we know that that is what needs to be done. I would not hesitate to recommend IRIS products and have.”