One would think that a pay master’s duties begin only in the last week of the month, with the collection of data from multiple sources, input into a payroll system, and generation of outputs at the touch of a button, which is the end of the process. It all sounds so simple, right? Though it’s true in some sense, it broadly forms the most role of a pay master. However aside from the above, there are numerous sub-processes that form a majority of payroll activities which keeps the pay master busy all the time. allow us to view a number of the sub activities.

Attendance, loss of pay, LOP reversals, extra leaves, and so on are all monitored.

Though time-keeping activity might not form a neighborhood of the role of a pay master in many organisations, the attendance / absenteeism data available for the aim of salary payment must be validated to make sure employees are paid consistent with the records. many an times, the attendance record may show negative data thanks to absenteeism or travel or in some cases, neglect by employees resulting in loss of buy those number of days. However, once the worker realises the salary cut , they have a tendency to update their records within the subsequent month. this may cause reversal of loss of pay and therefore the employee must be reimbursed accordingly.

The attendance records also help the pay master to get Overtime input file . These records are often inspected by labour inspectors for compliance.

Leave tracking modules got to be calibrated once a year by the pay master so as to credit fresh annual quota of leaves to employees. The pay master also has got to review more than leaves taken by an employee and adjust an equivalent within the payroll.

Statutory compliances and computations

It is the expectation of a pay master to stay the organisation fully compliant with labour laws. The pay master must await any changes to statutory rules or laws that impact payroll and its activities. While most of the knowledge is out there on the websites of state agencies, it’s an honest practice to consult internal advisors or professional consultants for obtaining updates on a daily basis or to hunt clarification. Any misinterpretation or misunderstanding of laws can cause unpleasant consequences to the organisation also because the payroll team.

While it’s an honest practice to possess segregation of duties where payroll inputs are provided by sources aside from payroll members, there are certain input file that they’re expected to self-generate. for instance , organisations making profit are expected to pay a bonus to eligible employees under the Payment of Bonus Act. an equivalent must be computed by the pay master as and when approved by the management and include it in their salaries. Target-based incentives are offered to sales and production teams in some organisations. an equivalent must be computed by the pay master supported formulae and raw inputs received from the teams.

Garnishments & other non-statutory remittances

Paymasters are frequently compelled to follow instructions from financial organisations, such as scheduled and cooperative banks, to collect and remit a particular amount from an employee’s income to cover loan default repayments. These garnishment orders are either time-bound, amount-specific, or have a certain number of instalments. Hence, these must be monitored closely by the pay master.

Certain other deductions made up of the salaries like premium , food subsidies, transport fees, etc got to be reconciled and remitted to relevant parties or appropriate vendors.

Some perquisites provided to certain sections of employees like car lease or company lease deductions too got to reconciled and remitted to the vendors.

Some basic checks and balances

While pay masters might not be required to follow up regularly with stakeholders for inputs, they’ll need to check & obtain certain inputs mandatorily like PAN, AADHAAR and Bank details from employees, which otherwise may cause disruption of process.

To avoid errors and miscalculations, the pay master is responsible for evaluating and approving any Payroll HRMS Software modifications, as well as any statutory table updates. Moreover, if there are upgrades to employee or manager self service modules, then a comprehensive educational program or communication is predicted from the pay master for a smooth launch.

Vendor management

A few organisations may need outsourced their entire payroll processes or a neighborhood of it to vendors. These could include consultants and professional advisors too. The pay master is predicted to conduct regular reviews of their performance consistent with their contracts and also approve their invoices for payments.

Other engagements

Certain other unscheduled engagements do occur within the midst of normal schedules and activities of a pay master. Audits, inspections by government agencies, appearing for assessments or hearings in tax or compliance related matters, employee grievances, etc that a pay master must steel oneself against and represent the organisation.

Employee engagements like fixing of helpdesks, sending communications, attending round table meetings or town halls, etc would even be a neighborhood of activities of a pay master.

The paymaster will be aided in monitoring the above important tasks and data by a smart payroll system or software.