How to Become a Payroll Specialist: Career Guide, Courses, After 12th, Jobs, Scope, Salary

Quick Facts About Payroll Specialist

A table for quick facts with the following information:

What does a Payroll Specialist do?

The responsibilities of a Payroll specialist may vary depending on the industry, the size of the company they work for, and the size of the team they report to. Payroll specialists are usually responsible for all salary-related tasks within the organisation.

Even though the job roles of payroll specialists change according to the various companies, the basic modus operandi of these professionals remains the same. Listed below are the some of the general responsibilities of Payroll specialists:

• Payroll management: Depending on the size of the company and the basic salary structure of the company, the payroll specialist needs to start working on the salary profile of the various departments from the start.of the week and maintain the log throughout the week and tabulate the salary at the weekend. The payroll specialist in this way tabulates the total salary of every individual within a cycle.
• Garnishment processing: Wage withholding occurs when an employer is obliged to withhold someone’s income under a court order. This is usually done to pay off debts the said individual Payroll specialists are responsible for the proper processing and tracking of all payments. They are responsible to undertake due diligence in every legal procedure before sanctioning the salary.
• Employee communication: Payroll specialists are responsible for answering employee questions via email, phone, or in person. Sometimes, hourly workers or freelancers forget to state their working hours, resulting in reduced wages or none at all. The payroll specialists in this situation sanctions "Mini payroll" which means that employees do not need to wait for the next payment cycle to receive payment.
• Taxes Filing: One of the most important responsibilities of the payroll specialist is the filling of the different taxes and income return on behalf of the employees of the organisation. The payroll specialist needs to process and submit state taxes for each employee, and you must file an annual income tax form for each employee. 
• They are responsible for filling the salary report of the various employees within the company databases.

• They are also responsible for for checking and implement the pay policies within the organisation and have the responsibility to iron out any deficiencies that exist within the system

How To Become a Payroll Specialist: Steps to Follow

In order to become a proficient payroll specialist, aspirants often need to take necessary steps at the beginning of their career.

Some of the steps that the candidates can take has been listed below:

• Decision Making: Students should decide as soon as possible whether to pursue a career as a payroll specialist, because it requires the full attention of professionals. Their job can be extremely hectic because the candidates are required to answer to the various employees about their repeated queries about their salaries. The candidates need to partake in various research regarding the courses that would be necessary for them to become payroll specialists.They should also research in the future employment opportunities as well as the salaries which are available on different websites and then take a final decision.
• Selecting the Subjects: The next steps that the candidates must take after making a decision is that they need to pick up the subjects that would be necessary to undertake graduate courses necessary for becoming a payroll specialist. The candidates should choose commerce as their specialisation in their 10+2 level. This would allow them to build up strong bases in finance at the school level. At the graduation level the candidates are required to have a proper plan and choose accounts or finance related subjects. The candidates can also choose to do professional courses such as CA, CFA, etc to have better job prospects.
• Entrance examination: All though most of the undergraduate courses allow the candidates to get admission based on the entrance examination. There are a good few colleges that need the candidates to pass the entrance examination. The entrance examinations are based on general aptitude, basic concepts of finance, arithmetic concepts and current affairs. The various entrance exams at the UG level are DUCET, DSAT, IPU CET, NPAT, etc. The candidates preparing for higher courses are however required to give entrances such as CAT, MAT, XAT, etc. 
• Selecting the right College: You need to be very careful while choosing a university. You should check universities that offer finance or accounts based courses and make sure they meet your requirements. In addition, you should check the university’s rating and affiliation, placements and infrastructure.. It is also important for candidates to carefully review the college admissions documents because some of the courses are expensive and candidates will need to recover their fees as quickly as possible.
• After Qualifying Course: After passing the course the candidates should start looking for various job opportunities that would allow them to gain valuable experience. The candidates are required to start with an entry level position and slowly build up their case. In case the candidates want to improve their job prospective then they would need to undertake further education and start preparing.

Types of Payroll Specialist

Career as a payroll specialist requires the candidates to handle various job roles. The roles of these job profiles vary slightly from one another. 

Let us discuss the various types of payroll specialist with a bit more detail.

Payroll Clerk

• The main responsibility of the payroll clerk is ensuring that employees in the organization are paid on time and correctly. 
• Other responsibilities of the payroll specialist include managing internal data on employees’ working hours, which correspond to their payment cycles and hourly wages, wages, overtime, sick leave, and vacation. 
• They are responsible for issuing and dievering payroll slips to the employees and investigating and resolving pay discrepancies. 

• They are responsible for maintaining payroll records of the employees and update the data on the company servers and prepare payroll reports.

Payroll administrator

• The payroll administrator resolves all issues related to the payment of wages to the employees of the organization. 
• The scope of work of a payroll administrator includes recording employee work hours to calculate pay and taxes, incorporating variables viz. overtime, travelling allowances, maternity/paternity and sick pay, holiday expenses, bonuses into employee pay and implementing company policies about pay. 
• Another job responsibilities of the payroll administrator is that they must maintain the electronic time system and are required to track and review the time sheet manually.

• They are responsible for coordinating with the HR department in maintaining the employee data and are responsible for assisting the accounting department regarding the payment of the fees .

Payroll data analyst

• The main responsibilities of a payroll analyst include collecting, testing, analyzing, organizing, processing, and storing payroll data to ensure the integrity of payroll data and maintain a formal process for verifying checks and balances..
• They are responsible for independently managing all everyday payroll activities including coordination with the key internal teams as well as external payroll vendors of the organisation to ensure an accurate and timely payroll on a periodic basis.
• They are responsible for handling the timely handling of taxes as well as income return and provide vital input to the HR department regarding statutory and timely income return.

• Another important job responsibility of the Payroll analyst is that they must have in depth knowledge about payroll software such as Keka, HR One, Pocket HRMS, etc

Payroll manager

• Payroll Manager job responsibilities include that they must develop systems to process payroll account transactions, that includes salaries, benefit payments, tax deduction and tax payment, etc.
• Liaising with auditors and managing payroll audit taxes and finally supervising the payroll team and providing training and guidance to payroll clerks and assistants. 
• They maintain and keep accurate records of payment records and payment transactions.
• They facilitate audits and provide necessary documents to the auditors.
• They are also needed to have proper organizational skills and mountain proper team spirit. They need to be from a strong analytical background and maintain proper records of the payroll.

Payroll director

• The responsibilities of the payroll director include reviewing the entire payroll process, approving exemptions and pay changes, and setting guidelines for all employee pay procedures.
• They are responsible for managing all aspects of the payroll process, such as approving transactions and reviewing exemptions 
• Their job responsibilities include auditing payroll transactions to ensure all amounts and payment dates are accurate and approve one-time or permanent changes in payroll (e.g. salary increases, tax deduction, bonuses, expense reimbursements)
• Another responsibility includes training employees who are involved within the payroll team on tax regulations and best practices
• To be successful in this position, you must have salary experience in a large company and pay attention to details. 

Courses to become a Payroll Specialist

There are many courses available at certificate, Diploma, UG and PG level for candidates who want to pursue a career as Payroll Specialist in India. It is advisable that the candidates must take up full time courses so that they have a better chance in getting the desired job role,

Certificate in Accounting 

The Certificate in Accounting is a certification program offered to the candidates at the undergraduate level. The overall duration of the courses is for a period of 6 months to a year and varies from one institution to another. The courses allow the candidates to develop knowledge about the various financial and accounting standards within the Indian financial and accounting system. Certificate in Accounting course consists of subject areas like Advance Accounting, Fundamentals of Accounting, Taxation, Business, Commercial and Industrial Laws, Banking and finance, etc. The Overall fees of the program is around INR 20,0000

Certificate in Accounting Eligibility Criteria 

The candidates are required to have the following eligibility criteria to be considered for the admission process

• Candidates should have passed the 10 + 2 or any equivalent exam conducted by any recognized school boards.
• The minimum score for the admission process may vary from one institute to another. 

• There is generally no entrance examination, however, some of the colleges may ask for an personal interview.

Check Out: Certificate in Accounting College

B.Com Accountancy 

B.Com.Accountancy or Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting is a Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate level course that teaches the candidate about the various concepts related to the field of accounts, commerce, taxes, as well as management. It trains the candidates to understand the importance and function of the various financial statements of the companies and implement methods that would help the companies make better adjustments regarding tracking expenses and improving the profit making capabilities

The course lasts for three years and is a popular course for commerce students after the completion of their 12th. Once completed, it will open up many opportunities for candidates in many fields. The total course fees ranges between INR 5000 to INR 100,000

B.Com Accountancy Eligibility Criteria

The following are the eligibility criteria for the B.Com Accountancy

• The candidates should have passed the senior school examination or class 12th or equivalent examination from a recognized board or university. 
• Most of the colleges declare a minimum cutoff score for the course. Generally the candidates have to score above 50% or more in the 12th or equivalent examination.
• A 5% relaxation is provided for the candidates belonging to the reserved categories

• The candidates are required to pass the entrance examination in case of admission to the top colleges..

Check Out: BCom in Accountancy College 

B.Com Finance

B.Com, or Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, is an undergraduate degree course which usually includes the study of concepts such as banking, accounting, banking law, insurance law, insurance risk and regulations. In other words, B.Com Finance is a degree program that allows the candidates to understand about the various steps that are necessary for the maintenance of the various financial statements of a company and also help them to land a job in any of these sectors such as a Money Market Dealer, Financial Research manager, cash & Credit Manager, Risk Analyst, Security Analyst, payroll specialists, etc. The course lasts for three years and the course is divided into six semesters. The average fees of the course ranges between INR 5000-INR 150,000

Eligibility Criteria 

The following are the eligibility criteria for candidates who wish to pursue B.Com Finance Courses

• The candidate should have passed out from 10+2 with minimum 55% marks scored in the exam from any recognized board throughout the country.
• Candidates must have subjects like Accountancy/ Business Studies/ Economics/ Mathematics as their main subject at 10+2 level.
• Candidates with conditional passing (Compartment yet to be cleared) are not eligible for admission.

• Applicants should pass the entrance exam in case of admission through the entrances

B.Com Finance Entrance Exams

Admission Process 

The admission process of the courses are slightly different from each other. However the overall procedure remains the same. Most of the institutes offer courses on the basis of merit list however some of the top colleges prefer to conduct admission through entrance exam.

Let us check out the process of admission:

• First the candidates are required to visit the website of the college where they want to take admission and find out the criteria needed for admission or merit based or entrance examination based
• After that the candidates are required to fill up their registration document and fill their application form.
• After applying the candidates are required to make their payments and take out their receipt. 
• The candidates must keep up with the different updates on the official website.
• If the candidates qualify and make it to the final merit list then they must take up the admission in the preferred college by paying the admission fees.

• In case of entrance examination if the candidates qualifies for the final round then they have to confirm their seat by talin part in a counselling process.

How to prepare for the Entrance?

• The entrance examinations are MCQ based . The questions for the entrance examination are from general aptitude, arithmetic, reasoning, current affairs, etc. 
• Download the syllabus and analyse the marks distribution.
• The candidates are required to visit the official website of the different agencies and download the previous years papers. Then they are required to analyse the pattern of the various question papers and find the weightage.
• The candidates must then practice the previous years papers and take up mock tests.
• Candidates must try to complete their syllabus at least one month before the final examination and must keep the last month for revision.

How to Become a Payroll Specialist in Abroad

Candidates often prefer to pursue finance or accounting related courses from the foreign nations. The reason behind this is that the foreign universities provide the candidates with better infrastructural support along with research facilities and of course a better payment. However, the candidates must keep the following thing in mind before opting for 

• University Ranking of the institute: Do extensive research over internet, online forums, friends, colleagues, acquaintances etc who have knowledge on university ranking of the said institute where you are planning for a course.
• Eligibility Criteria & Admission Requirements: Gather sufficient information regarding eligibility criteria for admission into various courses as foreign institutes are very stringent in terms of eligibility criteria. The candidates need to submit the score of english proficiency tests such as IELTS and TOEFL. Candidates are required to appear for the entrance exams such as GRE, GMAT, etc. Candidates are also required to submit proof of their work experience. 
• Fees & Scholarship: Since studying abroad is itself costly it is well advised to get thorough knowledge on fees structure of various institutes along with scholarship facility and criteria for scholarship in such institutes.

UK 

Candidates who wish to study in the UK should keep the following things in mind before applying to the UK Colleges or Universities.

Courses Eligibility

• For admission to the undergraduate programs candidates should have passed their 12th or equivalent examination from a recognised board or Universities.In case of admission to the undergraduate courses the candidates should have a minimum of 60% marks in their 10+2 Level. In some cases the cutoff score can reach upto 90%. In some cases the candidates are required to have maths and english as compulsory subjects in 10+ level.
• In case of admission to the post graduate courses the candidates must have a graduate or Bachelor's degree in Accounts Finance or commerce related field. The candidates must have 60% or more in the UG level. In some cases the marks can go upto 87%.

Top Colleges 

USA 

Candidates who wish to study in USA should keep the following things in mind for applying for finance or accounts related courses in US based institutions

Course Eligibility 

• For admission to the undergraduate programs candidates should have passed their 12th or equivalent examination from a recognised board or University. The students are eligible for admission if they score a minimum 65% marks in class 12. 
• For admission in Post Graduation the students are required to complete their graduation in commerce stream that is accounting/ finance etc. The candidates are required to score at least 60% marks to be eligible for admission in the post graduate courses. In some cases the marks can reach upto 80%.
• Also those who want a better opportunity should have a payroll certification degree from American Payroll Association (APA) or International Association of Book-keepers (IAB).

Top Colleges

Canada 

Candidates who wish to study in Canada should keep the following things in mind 

Course Eligibility 

• For admission to the undergraduate courses candidates should have passed 10+2 level or equivalent examination from a recognised board or University.In case of admission to the undergraduate courses the candidates should have a minimum of 60% marks in their 10+2 Level. Candidates must have english and maths in their 12th.
• For admission in diploma courses colleges generally ask for the OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma). Students must be 19 years or above age are eligible and Mathematics and english are the mandatory subjects to get admission.
• For admission in post graduation courses students are asked to submit a copy of their graduation marksheet. The candidates should have a minimum score of 60% in any relevant streams.

Top Colleges

Australia

Candidates who wish to study in Australia should try to keep the following things in Mind before applying to the courses in Australia.

Course Eligibility

• For admission to the undergraduate programs candidates should have passed their 12th or equivalent examination from a recognised board or University. The aspirants are required to score a minimum 65% marks in class 12. In some cases the overall cutoff can go upto 90%.
• For admission in Post Graduation the students are required to complete their graduation in commerce stream that is accounting/ finance etc. The candidates are required to score at least 60% marks to be eligible for admission in the post graduate courses. The cutoff marks are generally declared by the colleges and universities.

Top Colleges