Introduction

Taking on the role of payroll manager is not for the weak, it is for someone with tenacity and fortitude.  Being responsible for making sure each employee receives the salary that they are owed, and benefits are calculated accurately is no small task, especially knowing that a mistake can impact the family behind each salary.  The stakes are high and payroll managers need to pay attention to every rand and cent, and to rely on powerful software to support those efforts.

The Fundamentals of Payroll

The most important reason for any person to work is the “bottom line”, being paid. For most workers, the simple fact of the matter is that, depending on their shift, they will turn up for work in the morning and leave in the evening; and, when the month is over, they will get their payslip and their salary will go into their bank. It is perfectly simple. What few people give any thought to is that somebody puts the money in their bank account or cuts the cheque. There is, effectively, an invisible link between the work they do and the money they earn for it.

The truth is that that invisible link is one or more persons whose job is to ensure that a company’s employees get their remuneration in full, on time, and without any need to request it themselves. It is far from automatic and requires quite a bit of work on the part of the people responsible for making the payments. These people are the payroll staff. Their job is, in some people’s minds, an afterthought; but there is one simple fact that we need to keep in mind: If the payroll staff were not there, or did not do its job, then the very reason these workers are turning up in the morning would be thrown into question. If people did not get paid, there would be quite a lot of turmoil involved.

Payroll refers to two things. First the amount paid to employees for the work provided to a business during a certain period. Second, the financial records of the salary and wages, including bonuses and deductions. A payroll job includes the necessary tasks to manage said payroll

Whether you’re in insourced or outsourced payroll, there is a real need for people to keep the wheels oiled and running smoothly. If a company stopped paying its employees, sooner or later they would stop turning up. So as straightforward as we may feel the link between work and payment is, the truth is that everything must be done meticulously. Any difficulties must be fixed without the need for a long, drawn-out process. Even in these days of automation, when so much can be done with computers, there still needs to be a process in place to ensure that everything is done correctly, and any problems fixed quickly and expertly. Safeguarding this process is the responsibility of payroll staff.

Define a Payroll Manager?

A payroll manager handles tasks involved in payroll to compensate employees for hours worked. He/she handles (tracking, calculating, and distributing) payment to employees. A payroll manager may also supervise the payroll department and other payroll workers.

Purpose of the Role:

The primary responsibility for payroll managers is to make sure salaries are processed properly and provided to employees on time.  To support business in managing payroll processes and procedures to ensure strict compliance with all statutory and legal requirements. Facilitate funding, execute accurate and complete payment of remuneration, benefits and statutory taxes across multiple countries and diverse client requirements.

The process grows increasingly complicated as various benefits are often tied to the payroll process which may span over different legislations depending on the country.

What are the skills and qualifications to look for in a payroll manager?

The best payroll managers have a deep understanding of payroll procedures and systems. They maintain a healthy relationship with Human Resources and the organization’s employees. Look for the following skills and qualifications:

• Attention to Detail.

Manager duties involve spreadsheets, reports, records, and forms. The opportunities for error are plenty. A payroll manager should be ruthless when it comes to details and make things right. A small error can have major consequences.

• Mathematical Skills

Payroll managers should have a strong mathematical ability. They should be comfortable dealing with numbers and finances. 

• Understanding of (or adapts to) payroll software.

Payroll technology is consistently evolving, and a one of the many manager duties require keeping up with those changes. It’s not enough to know your way around Microsoft Excel.  Understanding the use of cloud payroll software or an integrated workforce system? The payroll manager should

have a solid understanding of payroll software. They should also know how to use this software to effectively manage payroll.

• Honesty

The payroll manager is handling your organization’s money and taxes! They also deal with a lot of confidential information for the organization and employees, so they should be reliable and trustworthy. Even in an outsourcing environment, the organization depends heavily on the honesty of the Payroll Manager to be transparent with clients. Being an outsourced position loading bankfiles and payments require trust and honesty as to not defraud the system.

• Education Level

Sought-after payroll managers typically have a bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance. A Master’s degree in these areas or in Human Resources would be a definite plus, but not a necessity.

Other skills include people management, data entry management, union experience, benefits administration, time collection, written and oral communication.

Key Accountabilities of the Payroll Manager

The role and responsibilities of a Payroll Manager is broken down into the following duties:

1. Monthly Processing

A huge part of the role of payroll manager is ensuring that payroll processing for the month is done accurately and timeously. To reach this objective, the manager will need to ensure that the internal processes and procedures are stridently followed, under monthly processing the following checks are done by the manager.

• Payroll duties which include the entire cycle of payroll processing.
• Conduct Pre meeting with Payroll Administrator to ensure timeous and accurate collection of data is received from the client for processing of payroll.
• Ensure that employee changes are entered correctly and made on a timely basis.
• Check payrolls (Monthly/Biweekly/Weekly) to ensure complete accuracy prior to delivery to clients.
• Check payroll reports against change form received to ensure accurate processing was completed.
• Reviewing the calculations of components, against blueprint to ensure compliance with statutory laws and basic conditions of employment.
• Determine payroll liabilities by approving the calculation of all tax liabilities, employer’s unemployment workers compensation payments and other statutory liabilities as applicable in the various countries.
• Maintain proper filing and documentation for all relevant documents pertaining to client(s) payroll. Ensure the Payroll Drives are updated, and folders are maintained in systematic order.
• Prepare reports by compiling summaries of earning, taxes, deductions, and leave and non-taxable earnings.
• Provide information for client/ employee query(s) within the stipulated time frame as indicated Blueprint.
• Performing prescribed checking and balancing procedure on all clients to ensure high level of accuracy.
• Ensure service levels are always maintained.
• Assist team in daily operational trouble shooting and provide guidance and mentoring where required.
• Ensure allocation of work to team to ensure service delivery.
• Ensures best practice quality assurance standards are adhered to.
• Ensure Project management tool is an updated and calendars are uploads for proper time management.

2. Customer Service Delivery

Customer Service focuses on building relationships with the client and providing a customer eccentric environment where we under promise and over deliver. Concentrating on value add and ensuring that client satisfaction is never compromised. Responsibilities include:

• Field and promptly handle questions and e-mails escalated by Payroll Administrators.
• Create Dummy payslips aligned to salary structure as requested by client.
• Building and maintaining long term relationship with clients.
• Conduct monthly call with clients – to provide value add.
• Ensure that clients are aware of potential risks and consequences of actions.
• Advise Clients on payroll best practices.
• Always deliver above average service and customer experience.

3. Quarterly and Year-end compliance processes

The Payroll Manager is responsible for ensuring that the payroll meets all legislative requirements by ensuring that the monthly/ mid-year and yearly taxes are filed correctly. Responsibilities include:

• Keeping abreast with tax and labour legislation that impact remuneration across different countries.
• Comply with revenue services and legal requirements by studying existing and new legislations in different countries, enforcing adherence to requirements, advising management on needed actions.
• Ensure smooth running of payroll year-end / bi-annual and all associate filings / returns in the various countries.

4. Administrative procedure and documentation control

Ensuring that POPPI, ISO 3000 and internal audit control are in place is other critical function. Also ensuring that the work completed is tracked for invoicing purposes require a level of administration paper trail. Therefore, the Payroll Manager is responsible for:

• Identify ways to improve or enhance current processes and procedures.
• Maintain and update Blueprint and Process Definition documentation for client(s).
• Proactively remind clients of deadlines monthly.
• Priorities and schedule teams work – ensure teams are working within the allocated time assigned.
• Ensure monthly billings to clients is compiled and verified before issuing for invoicing.

5. Team Training and Development

Your team is your biggest asset, therefore ensuring that they are skilled and continuously learning is imperative. The Payroll Manager need to ensure:

• Field and promptly handle questions and e-mails escalated by Payroll Team.
• Responsible for providing system and payroll training for team.
• Assist BOD with Recruiting request by screening cv’s and conducting 1st round interviews.
• Responsible for ensuring monthly targets are achieved for Annual incentive program.
• Ensuring monthly expenses are monitored and controlled to remain with budget.
• Actively manage and control the overall financial performance of the team.

6. Operations – Implementation and Adhoc Functions

Whilst we can all agree that a Payroll Management is demanding, however there are aspects within operations and implementation that also require the attention, detail, and input of the manager, these are not limited to the below:

• Work on on-going and special project in between audits.
• Other projects and responsibilities may be added at the Operations Manager’s discretion.
• Assist with system implementation including testing and set-ups.

Importance of Payroll Management

Maintaining a payroll by a company is extremely important for day-to-day activities and also for adherence to jurisdictional requirements. In most cases, companies maintain a payroll database via a payroll application software that is usually semi-automated and easy to use.

In most cases, the payroll management process is a repetitive and annoying process, which can easily result in mistakes. Optimization of the process using computers and software application minimizes the possibilities of such mistakes. Also, computers provide databases, which can easily be stored on storage devices and other remote online cloud storage systems, which can be accessed using login credentials. This provides an essential backup of payroll records in the event of a system failure or hardware damage.

This also provides a graphical representation of the company’s payroll, which is vital for financial assessments. In instances of wage increment, a simple calculation can provide the company with the full impact of such adjustment on the finances of the company.

• Many companies spend a significant amount of time managing corporate and staff income taxes. Payroll management is crucial as it not only eases the organization and management of payroll but saves valuable time, which can be used for other critical corporate activities. Also, without proper management of the payroll database, accounting for relevant factors, which include overtime, vacations, and bonuses, can become quite tricky. Also, varying taxes and deductions may apply to different staff. Therefore, an application-based solution saves valuable time as editing of existing payroll is simplified and semi-automated.
• In most cases, the security protocol for the payroll database is of high-quality. Staff data is always kept as confidential as possible, which translates to different levels of administrative rights and privileges for access to the payroll database. It also allows employees access to the breakdown of their remunerations.
• Most modern payroll management systems are cost-effective as they are, in most cases, remote cloud solutions. A company only requires an active subscription to maintain the database. Payroll management solutions require the least amount of expensive hardware, which saves many resources. Also, a company can quickly expand or reduce their requirements.

Payroll in the middle

Have you ever wondered why there is the deal with the Payroll Wars within HR and Finance?  What is the link and actually where does Payroll fall in the Grand scheme of things?

The payroll department needs to hold a lot of additional information on staff members, though. With the large variation of benefits and deductions that relate to an individual’s salary, the payroll department needs to know from month to month what a person is owed in terms of these benefits and what that person must pay in terms of deductions. These deductions will include taxes but may also apply to healthcare packages, deductions, pension plans, and savings accounts.

Collecting all the above data and more for each employee is a massive undertaking; and if all the duties of a payroll department are to be sufficiently covered, the company will need a well-staffed and organized payroll department. To get the right people on board, the company cannot just stick a pin in a list of employees. The payroll department needs people who have strong arithmetic skills and attention to detail. If they have payroll experience with another company, so much the better. If they have formal qualifications in accounting or a comparable subject, that is better still. Larger companies have the most stringent requirements of all; not only do they have the capability to be picky, but they also have larger workforces and consequently more money to pay out, so they have the extra need to be careful.

Lastly, Payroll Department needs to ensure all output reports are accurate for the intertwining departments reconciliations.

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