Payroll manages one of the highest costs a business has, which is labour cost.

The NZPPA Payroll Health Check and Payroll Pulse Check have been developed to ensure payroll is healthy and fit for purpose.

The risk to the business of getting payroll wrong has not been given the importance it requires as payroll carries substantial risk, regarding:

• cost (underpayments to employees, fines, and potential court action)
• undermining the relationship between the business and its employees
• external stakeholders’ view of the company based on how well it pays its staff.

When should the checks be undertaken?

Every business should consider an external payroll check conducted by an NZPPA payroll SME as an essential payroll activity.

The Payroll Health Check will provide a base foundation of where payroll sits in regard to compliance and any issues present and should be seen as a starting point.  Whereas the Payroll Pulse Check should be an annual payroll external check to keep payroll always on track.

This is about changing the view of payroll as being reactive and fixing issues after they are found, to being proactive and ensuring payroll is always focusing on eliminating potential problems before they become anything more.

Who will be undertaking your Payroll Health or Pulse Check?

NZPPA has a team of highly experienced payroll SMEs dedicated to undertaking the two types of payroll checks we offer.  Having a dedicated team that comes from payroll and focuses on checking payroll ensures you are getting more certainty from the results provided on where your payroll sits in regard to compliance, risk and any next steps needed to be undertaken.

The NZPPA Payroll Health Check is the full payroll check. It covers the following eight areas:

• End-to-end payroll process check (questionnaire)
• Remote access to the system as a walkthrough with payroll practitioner
• Payroll policy documents and collectives
• Review of any payroll manuals, processes, and policies, plus payroll-related employment agreement clauses concerning payments made to employees (legislative and any specific agreed “above minimum requirements”) to check the payroll system meets  the requirements

• Payroll system configuration check on Holidays Act leave setup and all code setups (including deduction priority and tax tables)
• 3 x employee samples (data seven years to assess six years)
• Payday filing: file setup IR346K and EI
• Online assessment of payroll team’s competence.

The outcome is a Payroll Health Check Findings Report that identifies any issues and risks found along with recommendations and the results of assessed employee records.

The timeframe for completing the pulse check depends on information being provided within an agreed timeframe. The findings are then delivered within 14 days.

The NZPPA Payroll Health Check is based on approximately 32 hours of analysis.

NZPPA will ask initial questions on the complexity and structure of your payroll if it is identified additional work will need to be undertaken, a quote will be provided for the overall cost of undertaking the Payroll Health Check.

To find out more on the NZPPA Payroll Health Check email: [email protected]

The NZPPA Payroll Pulse Check is a very basic high-level check.  It covers two main areas:

1. A one-to-one walkthrough with the payroll system’s payroll practitioner (via remote access and an online meeting app).  The purpose is to review how payroll is processed end-to-end based on payroll best practices in terms of compliance, security, payroll cost and time.
2. Review of system configuration, including all codes, leave setup and leave calculations.

The outcome is a Payroll Pulse Check Findings Report that details the observations made, configuration and documents provided for any issues with recommendations.

The timeframe for completing the pulse check depends on all information being provided within an agreed timeframe. The results are then delivered within 14 days.

The NZPPA Payroll Pulse Check is based on approximately 25 hours of analysis.

NZPPA will ask initial questions on the complexity and structure of your payroll if it is identified additional work will need to be undertaken, a quote will be provided for the overall cost of undertaking the Payroll Pulse Check.

To find out more on the NZPPA Payroll Pulse Check email: [email protected]