FEATURE TOPIC
Are too many checking requirements frequently in place, resulting in long-winded processes? KB: Payroll professionals like to feel in control of the payroll to ensure accuracy and compliance. As a result, teams do a lot of checking. Sometimes, payroll professionals aren’t open to changes in ways of working as they feel they will lose control of the payroll. However, with the right processes to guide payroll professionals through change, technology can help them maintain compliance and ensure the payroll is accurate. MM: Payroll is a high-risk process, so I don’t think there can ever be too many checks to achieve high levels of accuracy. However, I do believe it’s important that the checks in place are correct and focus on the right areas, and that there’s segregation of duties around review. I’m also a strong advocate of using technology to assist in the areas of review. At BDO, we have introduced Alteryx to help us check the data changes provided by the client against the payroll output on our larger clients. This has removed the need for the team to check 40,000- plus lines of data and allowed them to focus on the exceptions raised by the software, heavily reducing the checking time needed and ensuring high levels of accuracy. This is now being rolled out across the rest of our client base as it has proven to be successful, regardless of the size of the payroll. HT: Overly stringent checking requirements can slow down payroll processes, but accuracy and compliance are essential, and these checks are made even more important by the sensitive nature of people’s pay. What finance teams need to do is strike a balance, streamlining operations as much as possible without sacrificing precision. The key to this is automation, removing the burden of manual compliance checks from employee to-do lists and instead relying on trusted payroll solutions to complete these checks for them. Not only is this more efficient, but software regularly updates, meaning organisations will never be caught out by any regulatory changes. CW: Sometimes, when issues have occurred, the risk of them happening again are mitigated by putting another
check in place. This can soon grow into many more checks and possible duplicate checks, which isn’t always the answer. Instead of additional checks, processes should be reviewed, and an understanding of the root cause established so long-term improvements can be made. JW: Historically, payroll and pensions have been seen as areas that use a lot of checks, often because of experience. This will be down to sector and audit requirements. Some payroll departments will use technology and risk-based factors to check while others will still use a manual check. Before removing any checks, it’s important that all stakeholders are on board and the results can be monitored. "All organisations should try to reduce duplication and look at how technology can help teams to increase productivity and accuracy" Is resource often the problem when looking at improvements? KB: The time it takes to look at just one process shouldn’t be underestimated, let alone to look at a suite of processes. The focus for payroll professionals will always be to process the payroll on time. However, taking time out to review and make changes to processes can be invaluable in the longer term. Planning resource and allocating time is key to reviewing processes to ensure the job can be done in detail. Taking the relevant staff out of the payroll environment is also key to prevent distractions. With dedicated time, the changes in processes can significantly improve a payroll team's environment and well-being, so giving dedicated time and resource will pay off later. MM: Change management for payroll is difficult and can be time-consuming / complex. Payroll delivery will always take priority so it’s important you allocate the correct level of resource to implement improvements during the planning phase,
and actively redeploy resource to cover deadlines. For all changes within the national payroll team at BDO, we ensure the individuals involved have payroll work removed from their portfolio so they can give the correct level of focus to the project. This can place short-term additional pressure onto the wider payroll team. But as many changes we have made within BDO have mitigated risk or provided time efficiencies, the team is quickly able to gain time in the next processing schedules, so they see immediate benefits. HT: Process improvement can be hindered by resource constraints due to the sheer level of work required – it isn’t a quick fix. To create time for innovation and to process enhancements, embracing technology is important. It helps automate repetitive, manual tasks which would otherwise take attention away from more meaningful activities. Automating these processes unlocks the resource capacity for finance teams to spend more time on higher value, innovative activities. However, sometimes, quick fixes need to be implemented with the aim of securing a more permanent solution in the future. CW: Resource can be an issue when looking at improvements. Often, organisations will use the experienced team members to perform additional tasks alongside their day job. However, we must always look at the bigger picture and some additional hours spent now could free up time in the longer run. JW: Resource is an issue in this industry, especially with the current shortage of skilled candidates. Many payroll and pensions departments have already implemented lots of efficiencies and are much smaller these days. However, the pace of technological improvement is increasing, and software providers are keen to get clients using their latest offerings. Making a business case for return on investment for any changes is a key skill for the modern payroll and pensions manager. Sometimes, it’s worth looking at any options in the existing software which can be used differently. One of the biggest improvements I made was switching our self-service view from only finalised payslips to provisional payslips, which was a single tick box in the software. This allowed staff to check their payslips in advance of payday and reduced our interim payments significantly. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2023 - January 2024 | Issue 96 40
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