NZPPA Inaugural Payroll Compliance Congress 2026, Auckland, 19 November 2026 (LIVESTREAM)
- News Update: Conference programme released — click here.
- Speaker Update: Speakers are now being announced, with more speaker profiles to be added as they are confirmed.
Want to attend in person? The in-person Congress is being held in Auckland on 19 November 2026. click here.
Compliance has always been at the heart of NZPPA’s work and is one of the most important responsibilities carried by payroll professionals. Payroll operates at the intersection of employment law, taxation, employee entitlements, organisational policy, technology and financial management. Even a small compliance error can have significant consequences, including employee underpayments or overpayments, financial penalties, remediation costs, damaged employee trust and reputational risk.
To bring the importance of payroll compliance to the forefront, NZPPA has launched a new annual event: the NZPPA Inaugural Payroll Compliance Congress. This dedicated event will provide a national forum for payroll practitioners, industry specialists, government representatives and compliance experts to examine the legislation, risks and practical challenges that affect payroll.
The Congress aims to bring together payroll and industry experts to share their knowledge, experience and practical insights. By learning from real-world situations, emerging compliance issues and proven approaches, attendees will gain practical insights they can use to strengthen payroll processes, improve internal controls, identify risks and support accurate and lawful payroll outcomes.
Payroll compliance is not simply about meeting legislative requirements. It is about protecting employees, safeguarding organisations and maintaining confidence in the payroll function. Through this new annual Congress, NZPPA is reinforcing its commitment to supporting payroll professionals and helping organisations build a proactive, informed and sustainable approach to compliance.
Theme Statement
- Payroll Compliance: Protecting People, Pay and the Organisation
Conference Tagline
- Get it right. Reduce the risk. Protect every pay.
Theme Overview
Payroll compliance is about much more than calculating and paying wages. Every pay cycle brings together tax obligations, employment law, leave entitlements, employment agreements, deductions, record-keeping, privacy, systems, approvals and reporting.
When payroll compliance fails, the consequences can be significant: employees may be underpaid or overpaid, tax and statutory obligations may be breached, remediation costs can escalate, valuable time can be lost, and the organisation’s reputation and employee trust can be damaged.
The Payroll Compliance Conference will bring together the legislation, practical processes and professional knowledge payroll practitioners need to manage compliance confidently. It will focus on how payroll can identify risk early, strengthen controls, reduce errors and ensure employees are paid correctly, on time and in accordance with New Zealand law.
The Three Central Conference Pillars
Risk
Payroll practitioners must understand where compliance risks arise and how to manage them before they become costly problems.
This includes:
- incorrect interpretation of tax and employment legislation
- underpayments and overpayments
- incorrect leave and holiday pay calculations
- unlawful or incorrectly processed deductions
- payroll fraud and unauthorised changes
- privacy and security breaches
- poor system configuration
- inadequate checking and approval processes
- insufficient documentation and record-keeping
- reliance on key individuals without effective backup arrangements
Money
Payroll compliance failures can create substantial financial consequences for employees and employers.
These may include:
- employee arrears and remediation payments
- tax shortfalls, penalties and interest
- incorrect KiwiSaver, student loan and child support deductions
- backpay and holiday pay liabilities
- penalties for breaches of employment legislation
- professional, legal and consulting costs
- system correction and implementation costs
- duplicate or unauthorised payments
- damage to budgets, cash flow and financial reporting
Time
Compliance problems rarely remain confined to one pay cycle. Resolving historical errors can consume considerable payroll and organisational resources.
Time can be lost through:
- investigating historical payroll records
- recalculating employee entitlements
- correcting system settings and employee data
- responding to employee complaints and enquiries
- managing audits and regulator investigations
- completing remediation projects
- correcting payday filing and statutory reporting
- rebuilding processes, controls and documentation
- explaining issues to leadership, employees, unions and other stakeholders
Wider Areas Payroll Must Consider
Alongside risk, money and time, effective payroll compliance protects:
- Employees — ensuring people receive their correct pay and entitlements.
- Trust — maintaining employee confidence in payroll and the employer.
- Reputation — protecting the organisation from public and industry criticism.
- Governance — giving leaders confidence that payroll risks are understood and controlled.
- Privacy — protecting sensitive employee, pay, tax, banking and leave information.
- Business continuity — ensuring payroll can continue during staff absences, system failures or emergencies.
- Data integrity — ensuring payroll information is complete, accurate, authorised and secure.
- Professional accountability — recognising payroll as a specialist function requiring current knowledge and ongoing development.
- Employee wellbeing — understanding that incorrect or delayed pay can cause genuine financial and personal hardship.
NZPPA Inaugural Payroll Compliance Programme
- The Congress programme has now been released. click here.
- Congress will run from 9 am to 4.30 pm.
Speakers
Chris Mar
Senior Principal Consultant – Datacom Payroll
Chris Mar has been with Datacom for over two decades and was the driving force behind the successful construction and implementation of Datacom’s Enterprise Payroll product DataPay as well as Smartly specifically designed for the SME market.
Chris now works on our product and strategy and, in particular, the legislative compliance of our payroll products and services. Chris has been on several government working groups related to tax calculations and employment law in Australia and New Zealand.
Ange Grylls
NZPPA Certification Manager, Senior Payroll Masterclass Facilitator, Online e-Learning Tutor & Payroll Projects Manager
Ange Grylls has over a decade of experience with NZPPA and more than twenty years in payroll. She delivers expert training as NZPPA Certification Manager, Senior Payroll Masterclass Facilitator, and Online e-Learning Tutor, while also leading a skilled team of consultants as Payroll Projects Manager.
Ange and her team conduct payroll audits, manage projects and implementations, and carry out remediation activities.
Her experience across payroll systems, businesses, and industries gives her valuable insights to share with colleagues and clients. Her expertise covers compliance, legislation, and payroll software implementation and optimisation. Through mentoring, education, and leadership, she helps others succeed and advances payroll practice across NZPPA and the wider industry.
Melissa Tembo
Payroll Systems and Compliance Lead, Fletcher Building, New Zealand
Melissa Tembo is a payroll and finance professional with 8 years’ experience in NZ and Australian Payroll. She holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and a Bachelor of Law degree from AUT University. She is a Level 4 NZPPA Certified Payroll Consultant.
Melissa has held various roles in payroll including payroll processing, payroll finance, payroll compliance, Payroll Divisional Lead and most recently led the Holidays Act Remediation Project to completion. She is currently managing the Payroll Systems team and Compliance for NZ and Australia at Fletcher Building.
Melissa is passionate about delivering accurate and compliant payroll services while putting people at the heart of every process.
Heidi Gibbs
Technical Specialist, Inland Revenue
Heidi Gibbs is a Technical Specialist with Inland Revenue, specialising in Payments & Assessments. With over 21 years’ experience at Inland Revenue, Heidi has extensive knowledge of tax debt and compliance, including complex PAYE debt matters. She is passionate about making complex tax issues easy to understand and providing practical guidance to help businesses manage their tax obligations.
More speakers and speaker profiles will be announced as confirmed.
Congress Cost
Live Streaming Option
- NZPPA member: $275.00 + GST
- NZPPA non-member: $575.00 + GST
Two or more attendees (live streaming), a 15% group booking discount is available.
Email for bookings: training@nzppa.co.nz
Non-member Price: NZ$575.00 + GST
If you are an NZPPA Member, logon to get member pricing
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