Getting payroll wrong is a high risk for any business and if not identified quickly could become a major cost to the business, this is not just in terms of money (which can be substantial) but in the amount of time trying to resolve any issues identified.
Payroll amounts to the largest if not the second largest cost a business has. If there is a list of risks for a business to manage and eliminate payroll should be near the top of that list!
One of the major issues for employers in New Zealand is there is no payroll standard or certification process for New Zealand Payroll and if your payroll is wrong the employer is ultimately responsible for any mistakes and shortfalls, in the worst case the employer could face prosecution (IRD and/or MBIE), fines, interest, expensive legal fees and the potential to undermine the employment relationship with their employees.
What NZPPA sees and works with employers and suppliers to resolve are:
- Payroll software that has not been designed for the NZ environment being used to process NZ Pays.
- Payroll is being configured by people who do not have an understanding of NZ legislative requirements.
- Application of agreed terms has not been applied correctly to the payroll setup.
- Payroll practices and processes that are substandard and have made payroll costly, and ineffective.
- That IRD, MBIE or other external parties (Union or an employee) have raised a specific issue with payroll and you need an analysis undertaken.
NZPPA are expert in New Zealand payroll and is focused on payroll legislative compliance and payroll best practices (through practice and process).
To help you ensure your payroll is compliant and best practice we offer auditing and consultant services in the following areas:
- Payroll (Holidays Act 2003) Audit: This audit concentrates on the calculations that are required to be conducted under the Holidays Act 2003. Access to payroll data is required. A comprehensive report is provided that tells you what was discovered, what gaps and risks are present and our conclusions and recommendations.
- Payroll Compliance Audit: Analyses all payroll procedures (manual and automated), policy, forms and the payroll application to find out whether they comply with both current legislation and payroll best practices. A comprehensive report is provided that tells you what was discovered, what gaps and risks are present and our conclusions and recommendations.
- HR Compliance Audit: Analyses all HR procedures, policies, forms, etc. to find out whether they comply with current legislation and HR best practices (does not cover payroll). A comprehensive report is provided that includes what was discovered, what gaps and risks are present, along with conclusions and recommendations.
- HR and Payroll Compliance Audit: This includes all three audits described above.
- Payroll Ghost Audit: This is a special snap check of all employees paid in a specific period against head count to confirm everyone being paid is an actual employee.
- Payroll Remediation: If it has been identified that employees have been underpaid this activity will rework calculations over any period required to provide an accurate cost based on the criteria set for either each employee affected by a fixed amount or any other combination sought.
- MBIE (Labour Inspectorate) Compliance or Enforcement notices: Will conduct an audit based on the outcomes required to be provided by the employer to comply with the notice issued.
- Payroll Staff Assessment: This type of assessment is to identify what the current skill level is for an individual payroll practitioner or for the team as a whole. The assessment can be used to identify professional development or to assess their outgoing suitability for working in payroll.
There is some work you would need to do for any of the above audits (providing the information via a questionnaire and other supporting documents). We can also tailor the audit and consult on any other aspect of your payroll to cover any other areas that you require.