Version 8.2 | Version 6.2.1 | Version 6.2 | Version 4.2

What’s New in Version 4.2

Aren Payroll 4.2 and Aren Register 4.2 were released in 2009, replacing Aren Payroll 3.2 and Aren Register 2.2, respectively. The underlying database was changed and several features added to the software. Here are the main improvements as of Update 7 (post-release changes are shown in blue):

General

  1. Multi-user capability with support for up to three concurrent users. (Premier editions only)
  2. More efficient access to data records meaning that the program works well for organisations of all sizes, even those with thousands of employees.
  3. Data is stored independently of the program which allows users to save data in folders that are protected by the operating system (e.g. My Documents) while leaving the program in its default installation folder.
  4. There is no restriction on the number of data folders that users can define. Each data folder is independent—users who have access to one data folder do not necessarily have access to others.

User Interface

  1. Records in data entry forms can be sorted by either last name or employee number.
  2. The payroll transactions and leave files can be searched by last name.
  3. Dialog boxes for opening reports were combined into a single dialog box with multiple pages. The new dialog box is much simpler and clearer than the multiple dialog boxes it replaced.
  4. When opening reports, in addition to selecting field names and other report filters from a list, users can key them in. This makes it possible to: (a) view past reports that were previously inaccessible because they were associated with fields, co-operatives or pension funds that had since been renamed or deleted; (b) filter past reports by administrative units, stations, banks, etc that have since been renamed or deleted.

Payroll Processing

  1. Employees who belong to two co-operatives or pension funds are catered for.
  2. Pay points were replaced by more general pay groups. This enables users to filter payment reports in ways that were not possible before. For example, bank transfer reports can be filtered by bank branch or pay date. (Premier edition only)
  3. Earnings and deductions can be a percentage of basic pay earned, rather than the standard salary for the pay period.
  4. Deductions can be a percentage of the gross pay, excluding lump sums and refunds. This is particularly useful for pension fund contributions.
  5. In addition to normal earnings, users can define lump sum payments for earnings that relate to several pay periods. Lump sum payments are taxed separately.
  6. A cost recovery field type was added to the payroll transactions file. This is useful for tracking amounts deducted from employees to recover expenses that the company has incurred on their account.
  7. Support for electronic payment of salaries was added. Four banks are catered for—Barclays, Citibank, Stanbic and Standard Chartered.
  8. Time and attendance data can be imported into the payroll. If you have a clocking system, you need not enter absence or time worked manually. (Premier editions only)

Taxation

  1. The payroll calculates low interest benefit on loans given to employees at an interest rate below the statutory interest rate for the year.
  2. The option to treat the employer's pension contribution as a non-cash benefit was added.
  3. The option to tax individual employees at the top tax rate was also added.
  4. There is an option to tax each month independently instead of taxing average monthly pay.

Reports

  1. The company logo can be printed at the top of each payslip.
  2. In payslips, loan principal and interest payments can be shown separately.
  3. When the pension fund balance is shown in payslips, it includes the employer’s portion only if the option to print the employer contribution has been selected. In the previous version the pension balance always included both the employer and employee contributions.
  4. The basic pay report was expanded to show pay rate and time worked.
  5. There are now separate reports for normal and double overtime each showing hourly rate and number of hours worked.
  6. Control accounts and muster roll reports are available for each pay period, month or year.
  7. There is a new monthly report that shows the employer’s contribution to the skills & development levy for each employee.
  8. A new annual tax report titled ITX215 -  PAYE Statement was added.
  9. The income statistics table in the P.10 report is filled automatically by the program.
  10. All annual tax reports can be printed for the whole year or for half of the year (i.e. Jan–Jun or Jul–Dec).