Position Overview
If you want to get paid on time, you should probably be thankful to the payroll coordinator in your office. These people have important roles within their departments as they coordinate efforts to ensure that employees are paid on time and exactly what they owe.
Typically, large organizations hire one payroll coordinator per department to make sure that each department’s payroll needs are separately handled.
Payroll coordinators are typically accounting professionals who know the payroll system deeply. They are basically responsible for the timely and accurate processing of payroll and benefits payments and are required to keep all this information confidential.
Some typical duties for a person working at this position include:
Payroll Coordinator Job Description (Duties and Responsibilities)
• Review employees’ time cards to check for work hours compliance
• Import timecards into payroll systems such as Peoplesoft and check figures for accuracy
• Review payroll documentation for accuracy and make any needed adjustments
• Organize payroll records to ensure that they comply with the company’s policies, procedures, and regulations
• Enter payroll into systems so that they can be processed and amounts can be calculated automatically
• Ensure that additional payments such as overtime hours, benefits and compensation claims are added into the system
• Prepare weekly, bi-monthly and monthly payrolls according to each employee’s specific contract
• Maintain files are records pertaining to employee payroll and enter information such as new employees retirements and terminations
• Check all records and files for accuracy and make any necessary changed as needed
• Investigate employees’ complaints concerning pay deposits by following up with banking institutions
• Assist accounting professionals in preparing accounting records pertaining to payroll accounts
• Prepare and adjust journal entries in a bid to balance payroll accounts
• Maintain business controls and audit trails for payroll transactions
• Respond to inquiries from employees and management executives and resolve any issues that may transpire
Payroll Coordinator Skills and Knowledge
To work at this position, you need to have a strong knowledge of payroll practices and labor and compliance guidelines. Some experience in report writing, excellent communication skills, and the ability to establish effective work relationships at every level within the organization are also important.
Since payroll administration/coordination is a sensitive matter, it is important for payroll coordinators to possess meticulous attention to detail and maintain strict confidentiality.
These professionals work closely with the human resource and accounting departments to make sure that payrolls are handled properly. Since most payroll systems are now electronic, it is important to be technology savvy if working as a payroll coordinator is what you want to do.